First attempts with Clarke MIG151EN - with question !

[Coo]

Hi all,

Recently bought this Clarke MIG151EN welder and have started to learn to use it.
All comments welcome, good and bad !

Unsure at the moment on pros and cons of different gases, with this machine being Gas/NoGas I thought I'd try both..

The machine:



First attempt with NoGas wire, as mentioned all over this forum, messy messy messy.
Loads of splatter, oh and I also bunged the shroud tip up with holding the torch too close.
No Gas:




Then bought small disposable, and 0.8mm wire to try with CO2.
These are the first and second tries:



Then tried runs and a bracket. I was really please at the bracket, went on well.




Quite good I think, but I do have a question....

When doing these it started 'pulsing'...so I had to pause and continue to match it.
What would have caused that ??

Thanks

 

[Shug]

When you say pulsing do you mean the wire stopped and started?
Wire might be slipping on the roller. Try tightening up the tensioner.
Incidently, I found that welder to work much better with a 95% argon gas.

If you still have problems, change the torch liner. The spare I gave you is better than the original. (bought it as part of a 'service kit')

 

[Coo]

The gas was pulsing (open full), wire was feeding okay...
...although after letting it go when loading it I had to retension a roll :lol: !!
I tried different wire speeds, although thinking about it, higher speed did'nt quite get it coming out faster...so that may have been too tight.

I know I will/should get better results when I get a bigger bottle, but not ready for that yet

 

[JayRS4]

Gas pulsing could well be the reg freezing up, i`ve never used the little bottles so i`m not sure if you get the same problem as with bigger ones.

Looks like your making a bit of progress with the welds, certainly getting tidyier, When using CO2 the`ll never be as pretty as ArCO2, but it`s probably th cheaper way to learn, especially if you find yourself a reg and get a pub bottle.

How thick is the plate your practiceing on, may be a little overkill. I can`t remember the proper term but it looks like cold lap around the edges of the last beads.

Someone that knows what there talking about will be along to set you straight soon, i know what i`m doing, but i just can`t translate it into words.

Oh, and welcome to the forum

EDIT: Had a thought, did you change the polarity when you went from gasless to gas?

 

[Coo]

Hi, yep polarity changed okay ...

Had'nt done any homework on what difference gasses make... will keep that in mind though.
Plate was about 2mm thick.

I'm quite happy with them .. and going by the number of 'no comment', it must be a'about' right

Thanks all

 

[JayRS4]

For a good idea on what differences gas makes look here http://www.mig-welding.co.uk/welding-gas.htm or here http://shdesigns.org/Welding/gasmix.html Shenion`s page i found particulary interesting and informative