With any new machine you need to experiment as they all weld differently, then the rods, they all weld differently in the same machine so select your rods and try varying the amperage, you should find the sweet spot for the rods in each position and this gives you experience, keep a notebook of your rods and current settings for each position and you have something to refer back to; then do the same for different rods.
You should be ok with bohlers , we used to use fincord all the time but they got too expensive so went over to these and they are a nice rod Let us know how you get on !
So I finally got the Bohler AWS 3.2 rods and tried them out today. Ive done several lines starting at 90 amps up to 140 amps. Apart from the wigglyness as I can’t see ( Ordered ESAB Sentinel ) can anyone advise which line looks the best setting. Using a Thermal Arc 175se. Cheers
90 amps is too low for 3.2 rod , go to 120 and move a bit slower , you need to steady yourself are you propping on something of saving around ?
The only reason I started so low was the box gave the range 90-140amps. I think the main reason for the wavey lines is Im having trouble seeing what Im doing. Hopefully change when I get my new helmet.
I have both an ordinary headshield and an auto-dimming one. I've always got a piece of soft clean cloth for cleaning off the glass and protective lenses which I do regularly. The problem might also be if the glass you have on your current shield is too dark. If you have an auto-dimmer, try selecting a lighter shade or if you have an ordinary shield fit a lower shade glass. My preference has always been a 10. I've also got a small sheet of perspex which is around 2-3mm thick so I can cut new clear protectors whenever I need them.
Finally got around to trying the new rods out with my new ESAB Sentinel helmet. Helpful to see what I’m doing a bit more. I am much happier with the straight runs but still struggling a bit with fillets. I had the amps set at 120 on the straight runs and 110 on the fillets. 3.2 rods 6mm plate. Is this about right as a starting point? I’m guessing a lower setting on fillets as the heat is more contained. I’m still struggling to remove the slag on fillets but I think some of it is letting the rod angle change from leading to pushing as I go. Cheers
Id say stay on 120 amps on the fillets burn it in , chip off and have a look if your angles are wrong you will have undercut , unequal leg length , if amps are too low you will get slag inclusion where your not melting both sides of the fillet , it takes a bit of practice , keep going show us more pics ?
Thanks for the tips. I’ll try keeping power the same. Will post pics. Would have done today but I have a new phone and having trouble setting it up. Need a child to show me
