I bought a Portamig 185 from someone on here some time ago, and then events overtook me and I had to shelve the plans for using it. Have managed to get back to it now and have been preparing the steel for a pair of doors for the new workshop:
Thought I better try a few practice runs so here goes, 0.6 wire and 3mm box offcut:
Clearly I’m a bit rusty after 2 years of not welding. Top left - forgot to switch on the gas! Stupid. After so long not being used the regulator was making a few popping noises (I think the diaphragm must have been sticking a bit) but it settled down by the third run. The rest of the runs were just playing with the settings. Annoyingly the wire snagged up at one point, just after the feed roller, but easily sorted out. Also, having been taught to arc weld a long time ago, with a hand-held mask, I’m finding it weird having two hands to guide the torch - I need to get used to using them both to help get a nice straight run. Seems to be a lot of brown soot around the weld bead - is that normal or is it not enough gas?
Thought I better try a few practice runs so here goes, 0.6 wire and 3mm box offcut:
Clearly I’m a bit rusty after 2 years of not welding. Top left - forgot to switch on the gas! Stupid. After so long not being used the regulator was making a few popping noises (I think the diaphragm must have been sticking a bit) but it settled down by the third run. The rest of the runs were just playing with the settings. Annoyingly the wire snagged up at one point, just after the feed roller, but easily sorted out. Also, having been taught to arc weld a long time ago, with a hand-held mask, I’m finding it weird having two hands to guide the torch - I need to get used to using them both to help get a nice straight run. Seems to be a lot of brown soot around the weld bead - is that normal or is it not enough gas?