First Attempts at MIG

[Growler]

Hi Folks, Been lurking here for a few weeks reading, reading and re- reading the posts and tutorials. Ive been using a stick welder for a couple of years for various hobby jobs but have fancied upgrading to a MIG for a while now. Finally after lots of thought I jumped in at the deep end and ordered a Portamig 215 from Weldequip. Having bought cheap in the past and ended up regretting it I decided a full on assault on the Credit card was in order... It arrived on Friday but its taken until this morning for me to get near it..

I'm currently adapting a powered wheelchair to take full larger Quad style wheels...

I've had to make/ extend the hubs and this morning after a couple of practise runs I dived in.. The results are below and Im fairly please for my for morning with the MIG.. A couple of questions though?

The hub extensions have been made from 4mm plate and 4mm scaffold tube (with Galv grindered off). Some parts of the weld seem to have a brown powder residue? What is this? Im using 0.8 wire and BOC Argonshield Light Gas at 11 lpm. All parts were completely clean/ grindered before the weld.. Is this a normal residue? Also seems to be quite a bit of spatter (or seems a lot to me!).

Setting was Coarse 2 Fine 3 wire speed 5

Any comments/ crit/ tips on the welds would be appreciated as I really want to learn/ improve.

Many thanks in advance...

 

[cumbriasteve]

It looks to me like you are losing gas coverage, hence the deposits..may be due to torch angle differing as you work your way around or perhaps there has been a draught blowing the gas from the weld.

 

[backpurge]

Not too shabby for early attempts, as Steve has said try and maintain the same angle all the way around the joint, also, the weld has far too much reinforcement, the profile is far too "built up", try to travel faster so you get a flatter weld profile, this should help reduce the amount of spatter you are getting. You could also try either turning the wire speed down a bit or increasing the voltage

 

[Growler]

Thanks for the tips guys.. What you say makes perfect sense.. I did feel the welds were a bit thick and probably lingered too much.. Had some more practise this afternoon and on straight runs no brown residue.. As you say some of the gas must have been escaping due to torch angle.. Will have a few more goes tomorrow specially on tube, as the frame of the chair is getting cut next to widen and lengthen the wheelbase so hope to get some tidier weld on the frame..thanks again ;-)

 

[johniban]

what do you think on them welders for the price? im thinking about splashing out on one, i wanted a supermig but these look great and your welds look good

 

[Growler]

what do you think on them welders for the price? im thinking about splashing out on one, i wanted a supermig but these look great and your welds look good

Really happy with the Portamig.. I have zero experience of MIG and the first time I flicked the switch on the Portamig was my first Mig attempt. A friend had a look at the welds and thought they were fine just technique issues. He had a go with the unit and was impressed with it. So far I've had it up to 10 out of 12 power settings on a 13 amp supply with no fuses blown. In middle of building a folding weld table at the moment and really pleased with the machine. Polished off the BOC PD size gas bottle in no time so upgraded to the Volkszone deal too.

I hummed and heyed for a couple of weeks originally planning on spending around £300 and Im sure Id have got a fine machine for that (Clarke 160TM was the one I considered) however my experience in the past with tools was buy cheap buy twice... £300 far from cheap but wanted a welder that as a hobby will hopefully last a lifetime... (Spares supply guaranteed for 20 years!).

If you have the budget go Portamig and you'll not have any 'I wish i'd...' moments down the line. I originally ordered the 185 from Weldequip but changed to the 215 after a week as Id read the posts on here about it having better quality and replaceable components. For the extra £60 quid Im glad I did.

Hope this helps but any other questions just shout..

 

[johniban]

thats great advise cheers