First time using mig welder

[ILLaViTaR]

Hi everyone I just bought a gasless mig welder and have actually never welded before in my life! So I set it up and tried it on an old wrench (cleaned) and the weld was awful, there wasn't even anything remotely close to resembling a weld.. nothing but a bad sizzling sound and green spark. closer analysis shows the wire isn't melting into the wrench at all and is basically "exploding" into tiny balls of metal all over the floor, only around 5% of the wire made it onto the wrench and it looks terrible, black burn marks are also all over the wrench. I flicked it to max power and it seemed worse (the wire seems to explode even more and was glowing yellow after use) the wire speed setting doesn't seem to help much either.

It's so bad the wire wasn't even melting at one point I had to stop because I felt the wire feed out into the metal and push the gun back, so I stop to see over an inch of wire extended out of the gun that has failed to melt at all.

Maybe my new welders stuffed? Or the piece of scrap metal I'm using might be no good somehow? If anyone knows anything any advice would be greatly appreciated!! Thanks

 

[Lawnmowerboy]

Well firstly the spanner/wrench? will probarbly be chrome plated so will not weld, Also it seems that the wire feed setting sounds all wrong. it should be a smooth sizzling or crackling sound, With gasless you will always get lots of soot and a little bit of slag.

 

[shenion]

What make/model welder do you have?

 

[ILLaViTaR]

hey cheers I'm not sure what the spanner is made out of it isn't chrome plated but looks to be made of some sort've galvanised looking metal. I tried the welder on some 6mm steel and an old cataylic converter and got no spark at all, I've got an old car bootlid if that'll work? I've got some stainless extractors and an alloy cat ready to be welded but I want to practice first before I touch those!

This is the welder http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/NEW-DYNA...30862258485?pt=AU_Welding&hash=item1e77ff9935

 

[Lawnmowerboy]

Looks like a generic cheap ****** gasless machine, Stainless will weld but nit nicely with a gasless mig, The spanner will probarbly be chrome plated most likely or BZP (bright Zinc plated)

Car boot lid will be so thin it is not worth attempting, the catalytic converter will most likely be stainless too.

 

[shenion]

You will struggle with that MIG as as low it can go is 60A. That combined with gasless wire will blow holes in anything under about 1.6mm. Probably CHinese junk that may not even be usable.

Galvanized will not weld well unless the coating is ground off (and the galv fumes can make you sick.)

Grind some metal so it is real clean and try again. CLip the ball off the end of teh wire to help it start again.

 

[ILLaViTaR]

hmmmm I tried grinding back the bootlid and it's the same sort've thing, im trying to find a better piece of metal but it hasn't blasted through the boot just left a tiny dimple, like there's no welding happening at all. The wire just flies off the metal and doesn't penetrate maybe I can't get a bead happening at all

I took a photo sorry it's not the best quality hopefully it shows more what I mean

I've pretty much used all the controls and it doesn't change much really. I don't really know what to try next haha it comes out like that everytime!

 

[rtbcomp]

Is the mains supply upto the job? Are you using it on an extension lead? Do you know someone who can weld who can test the machine for you?

 

[shenion]

You are using gasless wire?

 

[Lawnmowerboy]

Correct tip?

 

[carlos420uk]

Which way round do you have the + and - in the welder? If your using gas-less it needs to be torch negative and ground positive. If it's made for use as gasless only then it should be right from the factory.

Are you attaching the earth clamp properly to a clean piece of the metal being welded? Is the earth clamp in good condition?

Seriously though you really need to get some thicker metal (2-3mm) and try on that after grinding it clean.

 

[linuxfreak]

Which way round do you have the + and - in the welder?

It is one of the AC output wire feeders, no DC!! Had one of these POS, had crappy luck till I went and got a gas/gasless machine. People have reported that using a good name brand (Lincoln NR-211) E70T-11 wire helps rather than the usual crap E70T-GS "Chinese" wire supplied with the welder.

George

 

[shenion]

The ebay ad and others say it is DC out.

The weld looks like gas wire was used without gas. Gasless would have white/grey ash all over.

 

[linuxfreak]

Scott, Harbor Freight claimed their welder was DC also, even the owners manual stated so, kinda weird that there was no rectifier anywhere in the machine for the weld current side, but on the speed control board there was a small bridge rectifier!

Guess that made theirs DC also.

George

 

[ILLaViTaR]

Hi the wire is gasless sorry and is the correct gauge, I've been busy the past few weeks but managed to fiddle with it a couple time since with my mate, We cant seem to get a "clean" weld they always come out black/dirty and with a lot of wire spitting (not sure if this is normal), these are my welds which aren't as good as his but you can see how grubby the look! Would this be the torch or our technique?

 

[keith19]

I would guess that is poor wire. The flux on decent gasless wire leaves a white ash-like powder, as Scott says. The white powder is easy rubbed off.

The slag inclusions in your pic remind me more of those from an AC arc welder using a little 1.6 mm rod with an unsteady hand.

Might be worth trying a small reel of Lincoln wire, as linuxfreak suggests, and playing around with that.
But if it is a really cheap AC mig I wouldn't expect much