Thermal Arc 181 help setting up

[diywelder]

Hi,
This is my first post on here, I've been reading and looking through the forum for a long time, it is excellent. Hello to everyone!

I'm wondering if some one could help out with settings for a thermal arc 181i.

I'm using 0.6 wire, argon shield light, and the material is 1.2mm zintec.

I cant find settings on the side for 0.6 wire, but I've the
wirespeed set to 4
voltage set to 4
inductance set to 7
brunback about half way.

Basically no matter what I do I cant stop the wire burning back to the tip and sticking there.

I have far more experience stick welding, but I think I must have the setup way out, but the settings above are the best I've found.


Any help appreciated.

 

[Drains]

Check the wire is running freely through the torch - disengage the feed roller and pull the wire by hand from the torch end. There should be little resistance; and check the feed roller is correctly adjusted and is feeding the wire through without slipping.
I can't help with the settings, sorry, though burn back normally means the wire feed is too slow, or restricted.

 

[diywelder]

Hi Drians,
Thanks for the suggestions, I reduced the tension on the spool roll so that it could run more freely. It didn't make much difference. I can pull the wire through with a little resistance.

The feed rollers are not slipping, what is happening more then a lot is that the wire gets stuck to the tip and the feed mechanism mangles up the wire.

It seems to be burning the wire off at the tip and then sticking to it.
The tip is new as is the rest of the machine, it is an 0.6 tip, though there is play around the wire, I tried to put a piece of 0.8 wire through the tip and it would not go, how much play should there be around the wire, is it possible for it wear very very quickly, the tip hasn't laid 12 inches of weld since new.

Again thanks for any input...

 

[Wozzaaah]

If it's continually burned back to the tip then the tip is probably shot anyway so for the sake of 50p stick another one in and at least eliminate that from the list of possible reasons.

 

[diywelder]

Thanks Wozzaaah, I don't have a spare but I will try to get another one asap, it would be great if that was the problem.

I will try the 0.8 wire again as I have a barely used 0.8 tip, see what happens.

I'm pretty disappointed by the amount of effort required to make it mig weld correctly. Maybe I'm not using it right, I can't help but think I have the settings way off.

Its a pretty decent stick welder but a little underpowered for thick stuff.

 

[shenion]

Sounds like you need to increase the wire speed. Check the wire speed video in the tutorials.

 

[Mr shiney]

Thanks Wozzaaah, I don't have a spare but I will try to get another one asap, it would be great if that was the problem.

I will try the 0.8 wire again as I have a barely used 0.8 tip, see what happens.

I'm pretty disappointed by the amount of effort required to make it mig weld correctly. Maybe I'm not using it right, I can't help but think I have the settings way off.

Its a pretty decent stick welder but a little underpowered for thick stuff.

I think its user error....... I have one of them and it produces superb,consistent welds all the time. There is a chart in the book and the inside of the wire door with setup information. I use .8 on mine for everything and have yet to see a bad weld from it.

 

[diywelder]

Totally agree, user error.

I figured it out in the end its was a combination of two problems.

The first problem was that I had the tension on the wire feed far too tight, I loosened this until I could make it slip by holding the wire with my fingers.

The second problem was I had the inductance set too high, this had by far the greatest impact on the problem, once I backed it off it was much easier weld.

For any one else using 0.6 as the chart does not give settings for this wire size.
The best I found today for 1.2 mm sheet was
Wire speed 3.5
Voltage 3.5
Inductance 5

This welder is beginning to win me over. Thanks for all the comments.

 

[W.olly]

Hi mate, i dont think you can go go wrong with these rigs, as you say `user error` i am still getting to grips a bit.

I have found that the instructions on the door are good but as you go you can adjust them a little to the weld you are doing.

Today i set mine to 5.5 and 7.5 and got a great weld on 3mm, i think its a little less on the door.