first welds with the new machine

[HughF]

You'll be hard pushed to get more than about 180-200a in spray out of 1mm 5356. I do my bellhousings with that wire at around 25 Ish volts. Sprays in like molten butter, no spatter, clean, solid and fast. But you do need the duty cycle

 

[Chris Stevens]

By the time I had messed around setting up Kemppi MIG for aluminium, job would be done with GP2, which on mixed is perfect for thicker material.

 

[HughF]

Forgot to turn the cooler on last night... Oops.... No harm done as I was only running an inch of bead at 100a. Must wire the cooler into the rpc so it comes on when the welder is powered up, must check the wiring of the water flow switch on the gp2, it shouldn't have arc'd up without water flow...

Remember folks, turn your coolers on!

 

[Richard.]

Forgot to turn the cooler on last night... Oops.... No harm done as I was only running an inch of bead at 100a. Must wire the cooler into the rpc so it comes on when the welder is powered up, must check the wiring of the water flow switch on the gp2, it shouldn't have arc'd up without water flow...

Remember folks, turn your coolers on!

Lucky boy!!!!!!!!!! That could of been a costly mistake. I made a short 2ft extension cable with double socket for the welder and cooler. That way I turn them both on when I plug it in. I did it this way so I can unplug the welder and leave the cooler at home on my travels. Yours isn't as easy to travel with so linking them Would be the best way.
100 amps is more than enough to ###k that torch. I'd say you got very lucky.

 

[HughF]

Yes, the torch head was a bit warm, but at least it had water in it and wasn't totally dry. I don't anticipate taking the machine out of the workshop so I will permanently wire the cooler into the live and neutral inputs to the rpc.

 

[HughF]

Definitely need to check the water/has cooled torch switch on the machine... It should have caught the mistake and prevented the arc from starting. Perhaps it's an American style rocker switch and is wired back to front?

 

[Chris Stevens]

Forgot to turn the cooler on last night... Oops.... No harm done as I was only running an inch of bead at 100a. Must wire the cooler into the rpc so it comes on when the welder is powered up, must check the wiring of the water flow switch on the gp2, it shouldn't have arc'd up without water flow...

Remember folks, turn your coolers on!

Pressure switch on mine was faulty and replaced when other repair work done. Its a useful feature, well worth sorting out. Also make sure its set to watercooled on panel.

 

[WorkshopChris]

Pressure switch on mine was faulty and replaced when other repair work done. Its a useful feature, well worth sorting out. Also make sure its set to watercooled on panel.

When I finish my welder and cooler build will be fitting a flow switch, decide against a pressure switch as in theory if the torch was blocked or a hose kinked there would still be pressure at the switch, but no flow. As i presumed a pressure switch would need to be on the flow rather than at the end of the return line.