BrokenBiker
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Just for fun, 250amp uphil with a very slight weave. Torch was getting hot at this point so only short runs
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Just for fun, 250amp uphil with a very slight weave. Torch was getting hot at this point so only short runs
BrokenBiker
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And finally a 200 amp fillet.
Thats it for today.
I'm not sure if its the wire as I didn't really do anything with it in the old welder that required me to actually look at the welds afterwards, but it seems to pick up porosity quite easy, but then that could be me or the welder. It seems to be very 'twitchy' with regards to torch/travel angle and if the torch is slightly off (too much angle) it seems to flare up and if its too upright the spatter is crazy (yes ive got the polarity correct) but when I concentrate on torch angle it welds quite nicely. Only problem is im so used to being able to just do whatever I want with the transformer and still get decent results that having to concentrate on torch angle means I stop paying attention to where the puddle is
Thats it for today.
I'm not sure if its the wire as I didn't really do anything with it in the old welder that required me to actually look at the welds afterwards, but it seems to pick up porosity quite easy, but then that could be me or the welder. It seems to be very 'twitchy' with regards to torch/travel angle and if the torch is slightly off (too much angle) it seems to flare up and if its too upright the spatter is crazy (yes ive got the polarity correct) but when I concentrate on torch angle it welds quite nicely. Only problem is im so used to being able to just do whatever I want with the transformer and still get decent results that having to concentrate on torch angle means I stop paying attention to where the puddle is
BrokenBiker
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Few practice beads on admittedly not very clean steel (and turns out waaayyyyy too much gas)
Not entirely sure I've done it any justice, been a while since I've welded with solid wire but varying amps and voltage and seems to lay a nice weld. I will admit, I did expect a supposed 250amp machine to penetrate through 5mm a bit better, but then I supposed you'd want 1mm wire for that.
Got a few things to make so I'm sure I'll get the hang of it again
Not entirely sure I've done it any justice, been a while since I've welded with solid wire but varying amps and voltage and seems to lay a nice weld. I will admit, I did expect a supposed 250amp machine to penetrate through 5mm a bit better, but then I supposed you'd want 1mm wire for that.
Got a few things to make so I'm sure I'll get the hang of it again
BrokenBiker
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yes...not sure why though as a few of them were set flat out 250 (claimed) amps and full voltage!
i will have a proper play with settings saturday morning and see whats actually going on but the bracket repair for a mate was made from 2mm wall box section and set at 100amps and 16.5V it felt and welded like my old mig, full penetration on the butt and fillet welds and they were a lot flatter.
i think realistically, now the fun of having a 250 amp mig has worn off, with 0.8mm wire i will likely need to stick below around 150amps, whcih is fine as ill rarely weld anything thicker than 3mm with it, and 150 amps is what i estimated my old mig to be putting out with the same wire based on penetration etc.
BrokenBiker
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Ok...entirely my fault, I'm an idiot...
Just gone back out for a play and while I still believe I need 1mm wire to achieve much over 160ish amps...I also believe I'm an idiot
I must have bumped the mode button while setting up as I had it set to 1.2mm AL MG wire...but wire and polarity still set for normal mig...
I've just changed the menu back to 0.8mm steel wire and mixed gas and run a quick butt joint at 130amps on some 3mm box side to side and it's a lot more like an actual mild steel mig weld now...sound more like mig too, before it sounded like spray transfer but from what I can see, in ALU modes it is pulsed, but I just assumed I was in spray being at the higher voltages and with 5% gas mix...but no, I had it set completely wrong
(I also turned my mask shade down as that was still on 12 from stick welding the other day...surprising how much difference it makes, being able to see)
Just gone back out for a play and while I still believe I need 1mm wire to achieve much over 160ish amps...I also believe I'm an idiot
I must have bumped the mode button while setting up as I had it set to 1.2mm AL MG wire...but wire and polarity still set for normal mig...
I've just changed the menu back to 0.8mm steel wire and mixed gas and run a quick butt joint at 130amps on some 3mm box side to side and it's a lot more like an actual mild steel mig weld now...sound more like mig too, before it sounded like spray transfer but from what I can see, in ALU modes it is pulsed, but I just assumed I was in spray being at the higher voltages and with 5% gas mix...but no, I had it set completely wrong
(I also turned my mask shade down as that was still on 12 from stick welding the other day...surprising how much difference it makes, being able to see)
Last edited:
BrokenBiker
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update to this, slightly annoying deature has been discovered...every time you turn the welder on it defaults to AL Si settings...i stupidly assumed it would remember the last used program but clearly not.
got a fair bit of steel turning up either tomorrow or thursday though so plenty of torch time with it coming up though
got a fair bit of steel turning up either tomorrow or thursday though so plenty of torch time with it coming up though
