I'm ok with stick, but new to this MIG malarky - guess I've only run about 20 feet of MIG bead so far, so I'm down at the bottom end of a learning curve ....
At the moment I'm making up some frames using s/h 1" square tube - with a varying wall thickness of around 0.8-1.5 mm.
The machine is a MightyMIG 120XT, set to maximum voltage, wire speed around 50%, using 0.6mm wire ('cause that's what I've got), using pub CO2 (again, 'cause that's what I've got) at around 4l/min, work-piece to shroud gap is being held around 0.25 - 0.5". It's 'dirty' steel, but all weld areas are prepped back to white.
The problem I'm encountering is that sometimes I achieve a nice stable arc with a gentle bacon-sizzling sound, and I know even without looking that that weld will be ok. In contrast the next run might be of the intermittent-arc variety being accompanied by a 'machine-gun' 'rot-a-tut-a-tut' sound, the weld (if you can call it that !) of which I know before I even look is going to resemble the bottom of a parrot's cage. There's also significant spatter when this happens.
Now what's really hurting my brain is, if I clean up the 'parrot-dropping' weld surface with an angle-grinder, I can then sometimes run a nice clean 'bacon-sizzling' weld in it's place - without changing any settings or using a different technique. But sometimes the parrot messes his cage again (!).
I'm reluctant to blame the kit as I'm just setting-out - does this scenario sound familiar to anyone, and is there an instant cure ? For example would heavier wire with a lower voltage setting help ?
Forever the optimist,
Colin
At the moment I'm making up some frames using s/h 1" square tube - with a varying wall thickness of around 0.8-1.5 mm.
The machine is a MightyMIG 120XT, set to maximum voltage, wire speed around 50%, using 0.6mm wire ('cause that's what I've got), using pub CO2 (again, 'cause that's what I've got) at around 4l/min, work-piece to shroud gap is being held around 0.25 - 0.5". It's 'dirty' steel, but all weld areas are prepped back to white.
The problem I'm encountering is that sometimes I achieve a nice stable arc with a gentle bacon-sizzling sound, and I know even without looking that that weld will be ok. In contrast the next run might be of the intermittent-arc variety being accompanied by a 'machine-gun' 'rot-a-tut-a-tut' sound, the weld (if you can call it that !) of which I know before I even look is going to resemble the bottom of a parrot's cage. There's also significant spatter when this happens.
Now what's really hurting my brain is, if I clean up the 'parrot-dropping' weld surface with an angle-grinder, I can then sometimes run a nice clean 'bacon-sizzling' weld in it's place - without changing any settings or using a different technique. But sometimes the parrot messes his cage again (!).
I'm reluctant to blame the kit as I'm just setting-out - does this scenario sound familiar to anyone, and is there an instant cure ? For example would heavier wire with a lower voltage setting help ?
Forever the optimist,
Colin