is my gas on ??

[karhn]

hi first of all i would like to say thank you to weldequip for sorting me out a really good deal on my welder

i started a few test welds today and its alot harder than it looks .i have managed to get a steady weld now but i cant get any penertration on a 3mm plate also i dont know if my gas is going through i am using a dispoable one at the min on a clarke 160te . i cant hear it coming through but i dont know if the wirefeed motor is droning it out .anybody know of how i could test it
cheers ian

 

[JimM]

With my Clarke 151 as you squeeze the trigger there is a biting point where the gas starts to flow but the wire feed doesn't kick in. This is what I use to set the gas flow, keep opening the valve until I can hear the gas and assume this is giving the correct flow rate.

Another possible test is to switch the welder off as I don't think the gas flow is dependant on the power being on - could be wrong though.

HTH

JIm

 

[cobminor]

If you're using disposable cylinders and you have done a few test welds you are probably out of gas.

 

[karhn]

hi i still cant tell if my gas is coming out also i cant seem to get any penertration on 3mm plate steel i have tryed it on full whack wire speed at 8 and it still wont go through i am using 6mm wire could that be the problem ????
cheers ian

 

[karhn]

i have just taken the cylinder off .and put the valve back on .i have turned it all the way to 6 and nothing then when i turn it down it starts to go on oh well i assume i have been welding without gas but they still seemed ok and they looked quite neat and almost went all the way through the 3mm plate well looking forward to tommrow now

 

[cobminor]

I hope you mean 0.6mm wire. I was serious about the gas running out. Have you tried changing the cylinder? You could go to 0.8mm wire but 0.6 should do. I do not know how fast no.8 is in meters per second. When you say it won't go through what are you getting? A pic. of the weld would be helpfull. Have you tried on a thinner piece of material? Have you tried anything, apart from opening the machine to maximum and dumping the wire on to the job? Shaken the cylinder for gas content?

 

[karhn]

i started off on the 1 on the min setting and have gone through the settings 1,2,3,on min then i went 1,2,3 on the max settings .the welder i got comes with a gas regulator for a big bottle and i got a cheap regulator for the small bottle . this is the first time i have done any welding and i havent just put it on max and used it .i have grinded the metal down so its complete clean read the manual a couple of times .the problem has been the regulator ,hopefully i have fixed it now even tho its back to front ie 6 is off and 1 is full .i can definatly hear gas coming out of the bottle now so hopfully tommrow i will beable to hear it coming out of the welder
cheers ian

 

[MarkMG]

Do take the valve off when you finish welding, otherwise there will be no gas the next day, they leak !!!