A little introduction: My pop was a boilermaker, so I learned how to weld before I did to drive.
Later in life, I worked for a company doing TIG welding under a microscope, working on aerospace applications.
Summary: I am familiar with the process of welding and what it "should look like", but I am having issues with the setup, and realize I rarely if ever did the setups I worked with, 20+ years ago.
Fast forward to last year or so, I purchased a very featured TIG welder that I have yet to effectively apply, and recently a true 250a 220v mig welder, with the intention of having something powerful enough to do automotive frame work.
Most recently I am in the process of repairing frame rust on a 1999 Tacoma (closest thing we have to a Hilux) and although I was finding good success with practice metals, I have coming across many difficulties in actual application.
The frame material is 3.5mm.
I am using the 250a 220v Mig with 25/75 Argon/CO2 mix, .035 (.9mm) solid core wire.
I started at 150a as per the "Miller welds calculator" and on this welder it has a "synergic mode" that is supposed to set the feed rate according to the material and amperage, with some adjustment available for fine tuning, each parameter having +10-[-10].
@150a it shows a feed rate of "12.8".
At this rate I was SEEMING to get a decent weld but poor penetration and the weld seemed to pile up and most of the wire seemed to remain on the surface.
Decreasing wire feed speed produced popping and jumping, as if the wire wasn't melting and pushing back in the welding handle itself. I was surprised to find that increasing the wire feed speed stopped this, as it seemed counter productive to what I thought was going on.
I ended up at closer to 200a which put me at 15.5 feed rate. At this point I was getting more penetration and was able to move more quickly but it still seemed like the material was widely remaining on the surface.
I'm attaching photo as well as this YouTube short:
Thank you very much in advance for any input.
Later in life, I worked for a company doing TIG welding under a microscope, working on aerospace applications.
Summary: I am familiar with the process of welding and what it "should look like", but I am having issues with the setup, and realize I rarely if ever did the setups I worked with, 20+ years ago.
Fast forward to last year or so, I purchased a very featured TIG welder that I have yet to effectively apply, and recently a true 250a 220v mig welder, with the intention of having something powerful enough to do automotive frame work.
Most recently I am in the process of repairing frame rust on a 1999 Tacoma (closest thing we have to a Hilux) and although I was finding good success with practice metals, I have coming across many difficulties in actual application.
The frame material is 3.5mm.
I am using the 250a 220v Mig with 25/75 Argon/CO2 mix, .035 (.9mm) solid core wire.
I started at 150a as per the "Miller welds calculator" and on this welder it has a "synergic mode" that is supposed to set the feed rate according to the material and amperage, with some adjustment available for fine tuning, each parameter having +10-[-10].
@150a it shows a feed rate of "12.8".
At this rate I was SEEMING to get a decent weld but poor penetration and the weld seemed to pile up and most of the wire seemed to remain on the surface.
Decreasing wire feed speed produced popping and jumping, as if the wire wasn't melting and pushing back in the welding handle itself. I was surprised to find that increasing the wire feed speed stopped this, as it seemed counter productive to what I thought was going on.
I ended up at closer to 200a which put me at 15.5 feed rate. At this point I was getting more penetration and was able to move more quickly but it still seemed like the material was widely remaining on the surface.
I'm attaching photo as well as this YouTube short:
Thank you very much in advance for any input.