Hi had my first go at welding yesterday but having a couple of issues, the welder i have is a BOC Migmaster 130 turbo with 0.8 wire and small hobby bottles of Co2 Argon Mix. im trying to weld 3mm mild steel plate. but even though im on max settings i cant get it to penatrate. Should this welder be up to the job for 3mm?. also the wire feed is/seems to be to fast and thats on the lowest setting. any advice would be very helpfull Thankyou.
- Thread starter Brismike
- Start date
redwine300
Silly Rabbit
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- 308
Firstly, welcome to the forum.
I am no expert, but it sounds to me that the welder should be up to the job.
Question, if you just hold the torch still and weld in one spot,on full power, does the base metal glow red hot?
I think once you have determined this the next stage might be to try and blow through using the same technique, may be worth a try.
As for wire speed, does the feed rate change as you adjust it? if not could be a fault with the control knob. May be some pictures might help.
I am sure the clever guy's will be along any time soon.
I am no expert, but it sounds to me that the welder should be up to the job. Question, if you just hold the torch still and weld in one spot,on full power, does the base metal glow red hot?
I think once you have determined this the next stage might be to try and blow through using the same technique, may be worth a try.
As for wire speed, does the feed rate change as you adjust it? if not could be a fault with the control knob. May be some pictures might help.
I am sure the clever guy's will be along any time soon.
mike 109444
Member
- Messages
- 4,821
Welcome brismike. Not to sure from your discription what could be causing your fault. Is this a new m/c? Anyway will keep an eye on this post to see your response to redwine300. What part of Bristol are you in, I'm in south Bristol. When you do get up and running and get fedup with the disposable bottles, if you want to go down the pub gas cylinder try Ellotts celler supplies South liberty lane or Whites celler supplies near lawrence hill rail station. Much cheeper than the throw aways.
Mike G
Mike G
'I am sure the clever guy's will be along any time soon'.
Be careful Redwine, some of us are a bit modest to want to follow an intro like that...
Welcome Brismike.
I'm afraid I'm not one of the clever guys, they come on later and point out all the bits the early posters have missed, which is usually a good education for us, of course.
First, are you just running a bead across a 3mm sheet, or are you doing a joint of some kind? With a top output of 130 Amps there may not be enough power to penetrate through the sheet if it's a bead, unless you hover slowly over one place, as Redwine suggests. The Migmaster 130 should be able to do a butt joint on 3 mm, taken reasonably slowly.
What is under your sheet? A metal table with the sheet clamped to it will tend to disperse even more heat, more quickly. Good for thin stuff, not so good for thicker material if there is only 130 A to throw at it.
If you have any CO2 gas, try that instead of the Argon/CO2 mix, as it should run the weld a little hotter.
So far as technique goes, are you holding the torch into the weld area real close to get some heat into it? Is your angle of travel correct? (Check out the learning videos on here).
Is your welding travel speed slow enough? A quick travel speed on thick metal, with the torch held too far away, is something we all suffered from as beginners; it just blobs the melted wire on top without penetration.
It may be there is a wire feed problem if your wire feed isn't slow enough, but it could be the weld is not getting hot enough to continuously burn off the wire, so the wire may seem too fast, especially if the torch tip isn't held consistently close to the weld pool.
So first try a few short tacks. Hang the torch in there good and close for a few seconds each time, and see if that helps. Forget the bead till you get the tacks right.
Shouldn't need to add that the metal surfaces must be very clean, no rust, paint flecks, oil, etc., both where you're welding and under the earth clamp. Bad earthing makes for some puzzling problems.
And try to make a few photos and get them up here, the clever guys on here are real smart on photo-reading. Let us know how you get on.
Be careful Redwine, some of us are a bit modest to want to follow an intro like that...
Welcome Brismike.
I'm afraid I'm not one of the clever guys, they come on later and point out all the bits the early posters have missed, which is usually a good education for us, of course. First, are you just running a bead across a 3mm sheet, or are you doing a joint of some kind? With a top output of 130 Amps there may not be enough power to penetrate through the sheet if it's a bead, unless you hover slowly over one place, as Redwine suggests. The Migmaster 130 should be able to do a butt joint on 3 mm, taken reasonably slowly.
What is under your sheet? A metal table with the sheet clamped to it will tend to disperse even more heat, more quickly. Good for thin stuff, not so good for thicker material if there is only 130 A to throw at it.
If you have any CO2 gas, try that instead of the Argon/CO2 mix, as it should run the weld a little hotter.
So far as technique goes, are you holding the torch into the weld area real close to get some heat into it? Is your angle of travel correct? (Check out the learning videos on here).
Is your welding travel speed slow enough? A quick travel speed on thick metal, with the torch held too far away, is something we all suffered from as beginners; it just blobs the melted wire on top without penetration.
It may be there is a wire feed problem if your wire feed isn't slow enough, but it could be the weld is not getting hot enough to continuously burn off the wire, so the wire may seem too fast, especially if the torch tip isn't held consistently close to the weld pool.
So first try a few short tacks. Hang the torch in there good and close for a few seconds each time, and see if that helps. Forget the bead till you get the tacks right.
Shouldn't need to add that the metal surfaces must be very clean, no rust, paint flecks, oil, etc., both where you're welding and under the earth clamp. Bad earthing makes for some puzzling problems.
And try to make a few photos and get them up here, the clever guys on here are real smart on photo-reading. Let us know how you get on.
Getting better
Sorry for the late reply had a few goes with the migmaster 130 but had no joy just couldnt get hot enough, so i got a clark 151te which is better ive put two pics on, the bottom one are welds from the migmaster (if you can call them welds). and the top from the clarke 151te which look good to me but new to this so some feed back would be helpfull.
Sorry for the late reply had a few goes with the migmaster 130 but had no joy just couldnt get hot enough, so i got a clark 151te which is better ive put two pics on, the bottom one are welds from the migmaster (if you can call them welds). and the top from the clarke 151te which look good to me but new to this so some feed back would be helpfull.
