Current for thin sheet

[Chris Stevens]

Cant see any real point in making a very positive video review which is likely to help a fair bit with the sales of whatever might be the subject of the review, unless there is something in it for the person carrying out the review?

In relation to R-Tech the suggestion is that as they supply Rolls Royce, Morgan, British Energy, and Network Rail, that the equipment is industrial quality and directly comparable to EWM, Fronious, Kemppi, Miller, or any of the other manufacturers which you would think would be the usual choice of the R-Tech customers denoted on their site?

This being the case the various video reviews are of little real value, as not seen a single one related to how the equipment performs in anything other than an occasional use DIY environment, which is not appropriate in the case of equipment designed for serious industirial use, which is what R-Tech seem to be suggesting on their site....................

According to R-Tech web site Doubleboost is a happy customer of theirs (which suggests he has paid for his gear?), and someone from Jaguar cars claims R-Tech equipment of theirs is used daily industrially (?), and another happy customer (Morgan cars) suggests their R-Tech units are better than Miller..................

 

[Paul G]

I find it a little strange that almost everyone on this site talks in amps;

but hardly anyone has an amp gauge on their machine, so haven't a clue what amps they're using.


Just a thought.
Paul G

 

[optima21]

^^^^^ I tried to fit a 200a digital ammeter to my transformer mig, but but the reading was all over the place so I gave up on that idea, and unless I was welding next to the meter it was too dark to see it.

 

[BrokenBiker]

It only appears to be the most recent machines that have digital read out and even then it only reads while you are welding so unless you are firing up on scrap first you can't really look at the read out

 

[Blizzard95]

i have only seen a latching trigger on migs being used in an assembly line, basically pull the trigger once to start the weld then again to stop it, in between it just keeps throwing wire out. The spot weld timer is fairly simple, you set the time you want to weld for, pull the trigger and when the time is up it cuts out on its own, gives great consistency to plug welds etc, and the burn back is quite simple too. Once you have finished welding you hold the torch at the same distance to the work piece and the machine set the wire stick out to the correct length for you. If it's adjustable you can alter it manually, if it isn't adjustable then it just sets it to what ever gap you have between the top and the work piece

thanks for explaining those

 

[Blizzard95]

I wonder have you owned a quality transformer MIG before? There are still a few ma


I would suggest a good quality used 200amp copper wound MIG set with wire feed pulse feature, which will make welding thin sheet material a good deal easier and faster. Worth bearing in mind that some of the YT vids promoting Chinese made welding sets, are made by people who have been provided with the equipment FOC, so may not be particularly objective, or mention anything about the sets not being tested before despatch, which leads to high DOA and failure within a couple of days in many cases.

Thanks,
would feel pulse be similar to a latch trigger?

 

[Blizzard95]

I wouldn't be too concerned about how low a MIG will go, I have a TecArc 231 and supposedly the lowest current is 25 amps and yet even when I was welding 0.5 mm steel the lowest of the 12 current settings was too low, in the end I think I settled on setting 3 out of the 12.

Good to know this, is the voltage adjustment generally stepped, or variable over the entire rotation of the switch on wleders?

 

[Blizzard95]

Thanks for all the replies, i know reviews and videos are there for each person to make there own opinion of. The r tech ones i was referring to were by doubleboost,


In the grand scheme of things, ignoring price for the moment, is a transformer welder better compared to an inverter one, i personally am not worried about it having an mma function, so that takes one less factor out of the comparison.

 

[BrokenBiker]

Also, pulse is different from latched trigger, pulse is a program in the welder where is goes from high to low repeatedly to reduce heat input on thinner material and certain joints

 

[Blizzard95]

Also, pulse is different from latched trigger, pulse is a program in the welder where is goes from high to low repeatedly to reduce heat input on thinner material and certain joints

Would this be neccesary, im guessing witha bit of practice it should be possible to weld thin metal without it?

 

[BrokenBiker]

It's not at all necessary to be honest. I feel it is more for high output production welders etc. Very few hobby welders doing up rusted out cars have pulse, we mostly just use the stitch welding technique which is just a series of overlaying tacks until the job is sealed up

 

[optima21]

It's not at all necessary to be honest. I feel it is more for high output production welders etc. Very few hobby welders doing up rusted out cars have pulse, we mostly just use the stitch welding technique which is just a series of overlaying tacks until the job is sealed up

as broken biker says this is my welder on its lowest setting using 0.9mm steel and its blowing holes where I'm trying to weld the seams continiuosly.

and using the same setting with overlapping tacks

thats from this thread, so now I'm trying to modify the welder to do it automatically (no idea if it'll work or not yet), but I should know by the end of next weekend

http://www.mig-welding.co.uk/forum/threads/mig-welding-thin-metal-and-distortion.57661/

 

[Chris Stevens]

Wire feed pulse feature makes welding thin sheet material a good deal easier. I can quickly weld exhausts which are about .5mm using pulse. Copper wound transformers also seem to make thinner stuff easier. Its possible to weld thin material without pulse, but its easier with. Murex Tradesmigs used often appear on Ebay for around £250-400, and have pulse feature on all I have seen. Setting up pulse is a bit fiddly at first, but once you have the settings for specific jobs its easy to use the same ones for same sort of jobs.

 

[BrokenBiker]

I find it a lot easier I weld thin stuff with an inverter than a transformer. I haven't found a hobby transformer yet that has a voltage setting where you can just weld a bead on thin steel under 1mm but my mates inverter can be set perfectly and run straight beads all day long

 

[Chris Stevens]

Would agree entirely! Hobby type MIG sets are not great for very thin materials, and as such its maybe worth looking at a used industrial set, or something a bit better than basic hobby equipment?

Bottom line today though is very much related to price, and things such as copper wound transformers do tend to get overlooked in favour of cheaper alternatives which mean higher profits for manufacturers.

I have a Kemppi MLS Tig inverter, and while it works very well indeed, can be set up perfectly for any specific job, its not as smooth as my ancient L-Tec transformer Tig, which cost £300.