How to start.

[gholian]

Hi,
I have been dodging this for quite awhile now but the time has come. I spent a lot of time going through the "Best Welder to Buy" posts and the general view is the Portamig 185 is the one to go for if you have the funds. The day before I was going to order I came across the below Oxford 200-1. The reviews for this were also good being made in the same factory. I rang a place in the UK that had one in stock with cheap shipping to Southern Ireland so jumped at it. Came with regulator and torch. I also got an auto darkening helmet. I got some gas and 5kg roll of 0.6mm wire last week. I also have a 1980's Fiat which is not disappointing in terms of welding.

First thing is to practice so have a sheet of 1mm mild steel. For light steel I think I am supposed to set welder to 20A (which is lowest setting, Portamig does 15A) but how do I do this. Below is picture of the knobs on the front panel. The wire feed is variable by switch on the right I think so suppose will have to mess around to get it right. It didn't come with instructions as I suppose you are ment to know all this.

Can anyone give me some instruction.
Thanks.

 

[BrokenBiker]

basically the rotary switches control the voltage. You want a low voltage for thin material. The wire feed knob does 2 things. It varies the rate ar which the wire feed out of the tip, which in turn varies the amount of welding current you use. That is pretty much all you need to know at this point otherwise you will get bogged down in details. If its your first time welding i would suggest starting on some thicker metal as it can be extremely frustrating learning on thin sheet. And just to warn you, it will take a fair bit of practice, then when you move down to thin stuff it will be like starting all over again, then when you hit the car it will be like starting over yet again

 

[blenkie1]

If it's like my 240 oxford it will be semi syngenic. Not a system I like wish I had gone for the 270 which is manual control. Once the wire speed has been set you can change the power and not touch the wire speed it should change automatically although you do have an option to make it slightly slower or faster. Get some scrap and have a bit play and see what happens.

 

[BrokenBiker]

i hate synergic machines. Can never get on with them

 

[gholian]

Wow, all that is very confusing. Will have a go on some thick stuff and see what happens. If I lower the wire feed rate will that lower current. What voltage am I supposed to use for different thickness steel.

Thanks.

 

[BrokenBiker]

yes the wire feed rate and welding current is proportional. Or atleast for what you need anyway. Thicker material needs more voltage and current, thinner needs less. It will take a bit of playing about and trying out different settings before you get the hang of it

 

[Robotstar5]

There's a handy calculator in the mig tutorial pages.

 

[gholian]

Okay will mess around and see what happens.

Thanks.

 

[waddycall]

Have a read of the mig welding tutorial. Click on mig at the top of the page I think. You have two voltage switches - coarse and fine. Coarse switches from low range to high range and fine sets the voltage within that range. As others have said your best off starting on thicker material e.g 3 - 5mm. With that kind of thickness it will be much easier to see the effect of varying voltage and wire feed speed. For thin stuff you will keep burning holes, you won't do that on thicker steel. If you have the machine connected to a standard 13amp plug then you won't get much more than 150 amps out of it without blowing the plug fuse. My tec arc 211 will go to setting 4 in the high range without blowing 13amp fuses. that voltage setting is just about ok for 5mm. You could start with the wire feed speed somewhere in the middle and go from there. You can set the wire feed by welding with one hand and adjusting the speed with your other hand until you get a smooth sizzle like frying bacon. You should get this on your machine as it has smoothing capacitors. With my tec arc it's more like getting the most consistent machine gun rattle. You don't need to be doing a real weld to do this just aim the torch at some scrap and allow a puddle to form whilst adjusting the speed. I've never used 0.6 wire but I'm guessing that you would struggle to get enough feed speed on that machine to weld 5mm. The semi synergic control does make these a bit strange to set compared to standard manual controls. Like other have said I don't really like it either. I think it's more of a cost cutting exercise the manufacturers as it eliminates another transformer. Good luck and take your time!

 

[Jan]

Looking at the icons above and below the 2 left hand switches I would guess that the right hand of them is the coarse control and the left one is the fine control. If you're just running dummy welds on top of 3 mm mild set flat on the workbench I would set the coarse control to position 3, the fine to 4 and the wire feed to 6 as a start. From that point you can soon work out if they are correct or not and 'fine tune' as you go along. However once you start to actually weld 2 pieces of metal together with one NOT in contact with the workbench you may find that the puddle may start to blow through so you will have to turn the machine down a bit. First with the fine control and then the wire feed. After you're comfortable with that thickness of metal it's ... merely a matter of more practice with thinner and thinner metals reducing the amperage and wire feed accordingly. As I've put elsewhere; the trick is to remember that any metals laid flat on the workbench are much easier to weld onto due to the worktop soaking up the excess heat. Once you've got air on both sides then you have wind down the power, but not always the wire feed or you'll be blowing through all the time. However your speed of travel as you weld can turn out to be just as important, if not more so. Once you've started doing some practice welds try to take some pics of them and post them on here. Try to make them as good as the ones above and completely in focus - probably using the 'macro' setting on your camera - so the more seasoned hands can make such hints & tips as they see fit to help you achieve better welds.

At least you've started out with the better option of a 'Y' (20 litre) size gas bottle rather than the ineffective disposable bottles. Where did you get it? If it was from BOC did you sign up for the VolksZone offer'? If not then take it back to get the rental refunded and alter your contract. You'll save a sh!tload of cash if you do.

The 3 important things to remember are ... Practice, practice, practice!

 

[gholian]

Looking at the icons above and below the 2 left hand switches I would guess that the right hand of them is the coarse control and the left one is the fine control. If you're just running dummy welds on top of 3 mm mild set flat on the workbench I would set the coarse control to position 3, the fine to 4 and the wire feed to 6 as a start. From that point you can soon work out if they are correct or not and 'fine tune' as you go along. However once you start to actually weld 2 pieces of metal together with one NOT in contact with the workbench you may find that the puddle may start to blow through so you will have to turn the machine down a bit. First with the fine control and then the wire feed. After you're comfortable with that thickness of metal it's ... merely a matter of more practice with thinner and thinner metals reducing the amperage and wire feed accordingly. As I've put elsewhere; the trick is to remember that any metals laid flat on the workbench are much easier to weld onto due to the worktop soaking up the excess heat. Once you've got air on both sides then you have wind down the power, but not always the wire feed or you'll be blowing through all the time. However your speed of travel as you weld can turn out to be just as important, if not more so. Once you've started doing some practice welds try to take some pics of them and post them on here. Try to make them as good as the ones above and completely in focus - probably using the 'macro' setting on your camera - so the more seasoned hands can make such hints & tips as they see fit to help you achieve better welds.

At least you've started out with the better option of a 'Y' (20 litre) size gas bottle rather than the ineffective disposable bottles. Where did you get it? If it was from BOC did you sign up for the VolksZone offer'? If not then take it back to get the rental refunded and alter your contract. You'll save a sh!tload of cash if you do.

The 3 important things to remember are ... Practice, practice, practice!

Thanks for your replies. I have been reading up on welders and welding for about two months now. I saved and went for the Oxford as they have such good reviews. I got the welder three weeks ago and the gas last week. I got the bottle from any online place in Dublin. I am eager to get started now. I have been putting welding off for a lot of years now. Will see how I get on next week.

Thanks.

 

[Davidcardiff]

Where bouts are you located

 

[gholian]

Located in Galway. Why?

 

[Jan]

Your nearest Linde agency (BOC is part of the Linde Group) is

Caulfield Industrial
Tuam Road
Galway
Co. Galway

Contact
Adrian/Mike
Tel: 091 795007

They don't appear to sell equipment such as gauges, hoses, etc, but they do stock gasses.

Whether or not you can open a Volkszone account I couldn't say, but the massive savings have to be worth a phone call.

 

[gholian]

Called Caulfields before. Complete rip offs!Don't know why anyone buys from them as there are so many other places about. Bought from a place in Dublin called Wholesale welding supplies.

Thanks.