Nick Jones
New Member
- Messages
- 4
- Location
- Somerset, UK
Hi,
Long time lurker, but not posted before as generally I've nothing to add to the expert pool here.....
So inevitably I have to start with a question.
Some background first:
I was taught to arc-weld at school (using ancient ex-MoD rods - brought whole new meaning to the term "stick weld"!). Then self-taught on MIG (Clarke 100E) a couple of years later when I needed to weld up rusty old cars. Did quite alot of this and worked my way up to "average". Fast forward a few years and I worked as a fabricator making staging and fruit picking equipment for about a year. This meant using equipment of much higher standard and was rather nice from that respect.
Now have (for maybe 15 years) a SIP 150 Autoplus. Much of this time it's had very occasional use, but recently my son got a project Spitfire (or the rusty outline of) so it (and I) have been dragged out of retirement. We had some issues at first, but after a really big session on the welder including a new torch, general clean up and, crucially, cleaning and remaking all the high current connections inside it has been working better than ever before, even on low current settings.
At this point we were using 0.6 wire and CO2 with a newish 2 stage regulator. We were getting pretty decent and consistent results.
I've been having issues getting my CO2 bottle refilled properly. They've not been getting much liquid into it in the filling process, so bottle life has been short/very short. Christmas eve we ran out again after just 4 days and the company was shut until after New Year. Reluctant to loose 10 days potential working time I splashed out on a 10L SGS 5% mix from a local motor factor. Problem no 1 is that my nice new regulator doesn't fit. I knew it wouldn't and have an old argoshield one which fits, but has no gauges/flow meter. It does seem to to work though, just some unwelcome guesswork on flows. I will get an adaptor to use my new (300Bar) CO2 reg when the world gets back to normal.
Problem number two was running out of wire almost immediately afterwards (just bad management I'm afraid) so we were cornered into buying a 5 Kg reel of wire from Halfords. SIP branded, available at 4.30 on Christmas eve and cheap.......
Fitted new wire (still 0.6mm) with a new tip. Settled down to work. Spent some time getting set up on scraps (1mm sheet offcuts) and initial impressions were that lower power settings were needed and a much cleaner weld with less spatter, as would be expected.
However, something bad is happening and it's not consistent. Sometimes, usually immediately after I've spent time tweaking settings, we get nice results. The rest of the time it feels like I've never welded before, blowing holes and iron chicken attack. The most notable feature when it's acting up is a very wandery arc and the metal pool does not want to flow or stick to the work, but would rather climb the wire or fill the shroud. Blobs form - less of a problem when working horizontally, but hopeless on vertical. Dare not try overhead! This tends to be accompanied by an unusual hissing sound (rather than the sizzle of healthy weld). Also seems to be more sensitive than previously to even traces of rust.
I've tried adjusting wire feed settings, which seems to be controllable and have the expected effect, likewise gas flow. I suspect the wire feed speed is varying, but cannot replicate the effect when not actually welding. It is also somewhat suspicious that the welder was absolutely fine until the gas and wire were changed. Could be co-incidental but.....
I don't recall ever having this issue before and I'm foxed. Would be helpful it it could at least be narrowed to gas or wire related.
Summary
SIP Autoplus 150
Welding automotive sheet steel, 1 - 1.2mm. Mostly clean and un-rusted.
Before
0.6 wire, 5 kg reel source/brand unknown
CO2 (not pubgas)
Decent regulator with flow meter, 8 l/min
Now
0.6 wire, 5 kg reel SIP brand from Halford. New tip fitted at same time.
SGS Argoshield 5% CO2 (10L bottle)
Old regulator, no flow meter, fairly wide range (by ear!) tried but doesn't appear to affect the issue.
Any thoughts?
Thanks
Nick
Long time lurker, but not posted before as generally I've nothing to add to the expert pool here.....
So inevitably I have to start with a question.
Some background first:
I was taught to arc-weld at school (using ancient ex-MoD rods - brought whole new meaning to the term "stick weld"!). Then self-taught on MIG (Clarke 100E) a couple of years later when I needed to weld up rusty old cars. Did quite alot of this and worked my way up to "average". Fast forward a few years and I worked as a fabricator making staging and fruit picking equipment for about a year. This meant using equipment of much higher standard and was rather nice from that respect.
Now have (for maybe 15 years) a SIP 150 Autoplus. Much of this time it's had very occasional use, but recently my son got a project Spitfire (or the rusty outline of) so it (and I) have been dragged out of retirement. We had some issues at first, but after a really big session on the welder including a new torch, general clean up and, crucially, cleaning and remaking all the high current connections inside it has been working better than ever before, even on low current settings.
At this point we were using 0.6 wire and CO2 with a newish 2 stage regulator. We were getting pretty decent and consistent results.
I've been having issues getting my CO2 bottle refilled properly. They've not been getting much liquid into it in the filling process, so bottle life has been short/very short. Christmas eve we ran out again after just 4 days and the company was shut until after New Year. Reluctant to loose 10 days potential working time I splashed out on a 10L SGS 5% mix from a local motor factor. Problem no 1 is that my nice new regulator doesn't fit. I knew it wouldn't and have an old argoshield one which fits, but has no gauges/flow meter. It does seem to to work though, just some unwelcome guesswork on flows. I will get an adaptor to use my new (300Bar) CO2 reg when the world gets back to normal.
Problem number two was running out of wire almost immediately afterwards (just bad management I'm afraid) so we were cornered into buying a 5 Kg reel of wire from Halfords. SIP branded, available at 4.30 on Christmas eve and cheap.......
Fitted new wire (still 0.6mm) with a new tip. Settled down to work. Spent some time getting set up on scraps (1mm sheet offcuts) and initial impressions were that lower power settings were needed and a much cleaner weld with less spatter, as would be expected.
However, something bad is happening and it's not consistent. Sometimes, usually immediately after I've spent time tweaking settings, we get nice results. The rest of the time it feels like I've never welded before, blowing holes and iron chicken attack. The most notable feature when it's acting up is a very wandery arc and the metal pool does not want to flow or stick to the work, but would rather climb the wire or fill the shroud. Blobs form - less of a problem when working horizontally, but hopeless on vertical. Dare not try overhead! This tends to be accompanied by an unusual hissing sound (rather than the sizzle of healthy weld). Also seems to be more sensitive than previously to even traces of rust.
I've tried adjusting wire feed settings, which seems to be controllable and have the expected effect, likewise gas flow. I suspect the wire feed speed is varying, but cannot replicate the effect when not actually welding. It is also somewhat suspicious that the welder was absolutely fine until the gas and wire were changed. Could be co-incidental but.....
I don't recall ever having this issue before and I'm foxed. Would be helpful it it could at least be narrowed to gas or wire related.
Summary
SIP Autoplus 150
Welding automotive sheet steel, 1 - 1.2mm. Mostly clean and un-rusted.
Before
0.6 wire, 5 kg reel source/brand unknown
CO2 (not pubgas)
Decent regulator with flow meter, 8 l/min
Now
0.6 wire, 5 kg reel SIP brand from Halford. New tip fitted at same time.
SGS Argoshield 5% CO2 (10L bottle)
Old regulator, no flow meter, fairly wide range (by ear!) tried but doesn't appear to affect the issue.
Any thoughts?
Thanks
Nick