Thanks to the wealth of information on here - and a bit of trial and error - I've got my new welder up and running ok. It's a Supermig 180 and i'm using 0.8 wire with some Hobbyweld 15 and currently practicing on 3mm plate.
Once i'd got the wire speed OK I tacked together a few bits of 3mm steel - and some 2mm wall box section. I can't go round corners - but otherwise got the pieces well attached together (well - I couldn't break them with a big hammer - and they looked good when I cut through them with a grinder).
I do suspect I am using too much power - but getting away with it because of the thickness of the plate. Some of the welds on the box section were lumping through on the inside of the tube - although I wasn't blowing through the metal.
The one thing I wasn't sure about was a coppery reside that was showing in some of the weld pools. Is this down to the gas being on the low side?
Once i'd got the wire speed OK I tacked together a few bits of 3mm steel - and some 2mm wall box section. I can't go round corners - but otherwise got the pieces well attached together (well - I couldn't break them with a big hammer - and they looked good when I cut through them with a grinder).
I do suspect I am using too much power - but getting away with it because of the thickness of the plate. Some of the welds on the box section were lumping through on the inside of the tube - although I wasn't blowing through the metal.
The one thing I wasn't sure about was a coppery reside that was showing in some of the weld pools. Is this down to the gas being on the low side?