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Do I **** at welding or does my machine?

csp

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Hence why I had mr electrician install 220. Gotta upgrade the machine. I want enough juice where I can accidentally burn through 1/8". This machine claims 1/4" capability but I could sit on 1/8" with the trigger on all day and it wont burn through. Thats on a 120v dedicated outlet.

The claims of the machine are accurate. It's the weldor (person), not the welder (machine) which is giving the results you're seeing. There's nothing wrong with your machine.

Have you tried slowing down the wire speed?
 
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Fender1325

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I fully admit my shortcomings as a welder, but its not a lie that the weld just builds up on 1/8". It wouldnt burn in or through. But maybe 35 wire is hurting it. I always thought larger wire burned hotter but I guess its too cold with this machine.
 

mrolds88

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One question, where did you source the angle from. Bed frame by chance?
 

Noland

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More like fell through the gap and filled against the concrete backing.

Ive found that welding directly on concrete ***** away alot of your heat while welding. Sorta like a big heat sink. Try supporting the angle iron in the air like blocking it up with a 2x4 or another piece of metal and see if you still have the same problem. Thats my suggestion, good luck
 

wyliebrent

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Its not the machine. .025 wire and you will "melt " 1/8 all day long assuming everything on operator side is correct. I mostly weld 3/16 with mine with zero issues. Only thing slowing it down for me is duty cycle.
 
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Fender1325

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Its not the machine. .025 wire and you will "melt " 1/8 all day long assuming everything on operator side is correct. I mostly weld 3/16 with mine with zero issues. Only thing slowing it down for me is duty cycle.

Thats good to hear. The strange thing is, I thought guys used 25 for body panel work. If that burns extra hot Id imagine that would be a bit of a challenge for body work.

Im anxious to try that in the machine.
 
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Fender1325

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On a side note, I swear my tank has lost gas, even though Ive had the valve shut. Do you guys use teflon tape around the threads for your regulator and line? I dont but Im considering it.
 

DenisG

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Biggest variable affecting weld penetration is current:
http://www.lincolnelectric.com/en-u...-theory/Pages/variables-weld-penetration.aspx

Also it might not help where you're fit-up is so poor that you have to jump to bridge the weld. You're having to spread the heat over a much wider area instead of concentrating the heat in a smaller spot. You're wasting energy that could be giving you better localized melting. (Just my opinion.)
 
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Superbec

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I fully admit my shortcomings as a welder, but its not a lie that the weld just builds up on 1/8". It wouldnt burn in or through. But maybe 35 wire is hurting it. I always thought larger wire burned hotter but I guess its too cold with this machine.

the thicker the wire the more energy it takes to melt it, thus less energy to melt the parent material.
 

BD1

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I have a MILLER 140 like the Hobart, .023 wire as stated is the answer.
As for the leak, no teflon tape required. Make some soapy water,[ Dawn and water ] and brush on joints to check for leak. Depending on the valve on your tank, it is best to open fully and backseat. Some valves will leak IF NOT OPENED FULLY. They seat both open and closed. A partial opened valve on tank may leak at tank valve.
 

Lx460

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you would surely see a difference in using better steel. Bed frames, although cheap, **** for welding projects. Don't get me wrong, I've used it before. Some is better than others but for a project you actually want to be attractive get some real material to work with.
 

MoonRise

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Fender, you have a bunch of 'issues' going on there.

First off, as mentioned (multiple times), run some 0.030 diameter solid wire for most work with that size/class machine. If working on sheetmetal, then use 0.023/0.025 wire.

Next, although you did grind a bevel edge on your workpiece, your fit-up gap is waaaay to big. You are attempting to 'weld' air there bud!

The reason for a gap and the bevel edge prep when fitting up for a weld is to allow physical access for the electrode and the arc to 'reach' down into the bottom of the crevice between the two edges of the workpieces and help the operator get more complete weld penetration/fusion.

But your excessively wide gap there on that thickness of workpiece just means you have to bridge your weld puddle across that air gap and also fill in that air gap with metal from the weld puddle (which all has to come from the melting electrode wire you are using).

Your two tack welds with that much air gap just barely melted into the edges of the workpieces and left a rather 'cold' puddle trying to bridge across the (excessive) gap which then just dripped right through the air gap and landed on the 'cold' concrete floor. Barely adequate for a tack weld and it's not all that surprising (to me) that you could rather easily break the two pieces apart by hand as the only actual fusion into the workpieces was at the thin feather edges of the workpieces.

A 140-amp 120V class machine can (usually) make adequate welds on 1/8" thick workpieces with solid 0.030" wire and C25 shielding gas. Although IMNSHO, that thickness is kind of pushing the upper limits for those machines with solid wire. 16 or 14 gauge workpieces, easily, but going up to 1/8" thick is a bit much with the 120V machines and solid wire.

Run those 120V machines with some 0.035 dia NR211-MP FCAW-S wire and you can blow right through a 1/8" thick workpiece if you don't pay attention and/or have the welding parameters set right. :D

As an exercise, take two pieces of your 1/8" thick angle iron (bed frame) and remove the mill scale and paint off of some of the surface. Lay one piece on top of the other piece at a 90 deg angle and clamp them together. You will then do a lap weld of the top piece onto the bottom piece, running the weld puddle (watch the actual weld puddle of molten metal and not the bright welding arc!) right along the edge of the top workpiece and watching the puddle melt that top edge and melt into the bottom workpiece at the same time.

Practice that for a while before trying to weld an excessively gapped **** joint. :D

With that wide air gap between the two workpieces and basically 'dripping' some molten steel onto your concrete floor you have poor crappy 'hot melt' action going on instead of solid well-fused welds joining the workpieces together.
 

Zeke

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Lots off splatter, and no control on your part. Looks like you need to slow down a bit.. .030 wire works great. Use mine daily. No issues with 1/8"

This^^^^. Slow down and brace your trigger hand better. Little circular movements are fine but they all have to be within the puddle as you advance. With those gaps you should be using more of a switch back method pausing at the edge of the puddle and fusing the weld. Bed frame is hard to weld to begin with.

Don't know about dual seals on 25/75 bottles, that's true for O2 at the high pressures they have. Most welders open all other bottles 1 1/2 turns. You have to close the valve if you aren't planning on welding for 30 minutes or so. They all seem to leak somewhere and I suspect many welding machines.

.035 wire is not impossible but that's a size for flux core and small 120v welders. If you decide to get any .023 you need to change the liner in the hose to a smaller size. Consult the LWS in your area. Read here.

I'm not recommending this seller, just showing the part:
(liner)
 

xtremek

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Apr 13, 2012
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St. Johns, Mi
Second the thought on getting it off the concrete. The more heat kept in the material, the better my welds seem to be. I'm no expert, just something I've noticed.
 

DekeT

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I would spend some time practicing laying some beads on a flat plate to get my wire feed, voltage, technique, travel speed, and gas combinations correct before I even thought about re-trying to weld a project.
 
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Lassen Forge

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I would spend some time practicing laying some beads on a flat plate to get my wire feed, voltage, technique, travel speed, and gas combinations correct before I even thought about re-trying to weld a project.

^^^ this.

Get some scrap, practice running beads on flat stock, go slowly, watch the puddle and what it's doing.

arc-weld-beads.jpg


Extra-3.jpg


Once you can lay a bead that looks like the "good weld" below, work on making parallel beads that are straight.

894769d1369427693-first-welding-class-yesterday-p_00477.jpg


Once you have this down, then work on **** lapping or joining 2 pieces together. Do it a couple times, then you[re ready to do this project. But (to be bluntly honest, sorry!) you need to get control over the weld - it looks like the weld is controlling you, instead.

It's all in having the machine set up right, then being slow, steady, and smooth. Practice, practice, practice (just like the shop teacher says!). Spend s few hours (and a roll of .030) beading up a hunk of plate, and then joining 2 pieces of metal, and you'll find your welding will (by default) become a LOT better!
 

Peter Mc Mahon

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Jul 20, 2014
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What are the settings at on your machine when you are welding this? I would guess that your voltage should be close to maximum and then turn down the wire speed. Try weld again. Turn the wire speed down a bit more. Weld again. Your machine can do this no problem. Just get a lot of voltage and adjust the wire speed until it is burning good. Listen for bacon and eggs cooking and you are real close.
 

laser3kw

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x10 on .030 wire. Clean the nozzle and make sure the tip isn't wore out. Start your feed speed slow where it "stubs" and welds erratic. Step it up a little at a time till the sound turns to a buzz.
another tip: don't run your machine on any extension cord. Only plug it directly into a wall socket. Most 120v extension cords are not heavy enough allow the machine to operate properly.
tip 2: try to keep your gun cable as straight as possible, not curled up and twisted. The small machine have light duty drive roll systems and need all the freedom to push as you can provide.
Some metals are "leaded" and do not weld worth a damn.
 

duhicky

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south west Montana
Lot of great advice here! All gas bottles are set up to seat closed and fully open. The only bottle you don't fully open is acytelene incase of Fire. welding on concrete is bad idea. Concrete will have a ton of mostuire in it that will affect the back side of a weld using it as a backer. Also you will start noticing your floor will have surface cracks from rapidly heating the mostuire in it.
One thing I have not read in the responses is that welds have directional strength. It no surprise that you can break tacks apart. Your suppose to be able too! They are ment for fit up to be strong in one direction. This is why you have to tack in more than one place and why welds pull a piece in and out of square/plumb/level.
 

Playwme

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Do you have the polarity set up right?

It makes a difference if you are using gas or not.

Polarity chart should be on the right side of the label you are getting the settings from.

http://www.hobartwelders.com/products/popups/infochart140.html


Absolute fricken legend! I've been having penetration issues with my new Lincoln 180. I did figure out that it had the knurled roller for the flux core installed out of the box but that little tidbit of info on the polarity change wasn't that clear in the manual ( not that I read it).

Also realised that my mates 180 that I've been using for the last 9 months has also been reversed since he bought it. Thought it was us or the welder just wasn't powerful enough.

My enthusiasm has just been renewed. Hope I dont piss off the neighbours with all the new steel cutting and grinding I'll be doing.
 

bullnerd

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Lot of great advice here! All gas bottles are set up to seat closed and fully open. The only bottle you don't fully open is acytelene incase of Fire. welding on concrete is bad idea. Concrete will have a ton of mostuire in it that will affect the back side of a weld using it as a backer. Also you will start noticing your floor will have surface cracks from rapidly heating the mostuire in it.
One thing I have not read in the responses is that welds have directional strength. It no surprise that you can break tacks apart. Your suppose to be able too! They are ment for fit up to be strong in one direction. This is why you have to tack in more than one place and why welds pull a piece in and out of square/plumb/level.

Whole lotta good info in this post!
 

eddiemeddiem

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Dec 19, 2011
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Make sure to check your cover gas connections also. A couple months back my Lincoln 180C was welding like ****, and checked the cover gas by holding a lighter infront of the MIG nozzle and pulling the trigger... Didn't blow the lighter out. Double checked the connections and found that the gas connection where the gun plugs into the machine wasn't in right... Fixed it, checked again with the lighter, and everything is working good again.
 

kkroger

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Apr 21, 2013
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I would go so far as to say 90+% of the time the WELDOR is at fault not the WELDER...
Generally technique related or trying to do more than the machine is capable of...
 

bullnerd

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Fender, I didn't see it mentioned ,but have you seen the weldingtipsandtricks.com website?

Check it out if you haven't, great vids and info on setting the machine.
 

fergus

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Oct 4, 2009
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Yolo County CA
I couldn't make two pieces stick to save my life with my little wire feed 110v Lincoln. Until, on a whim, I decided to watch the video that came with it. Watching somebody who knows what they're doing makes a HUMONGOUS difference. I second Bullnerd...watch this guy:http://www.weldingtipsandtricks.com

Lots of great free info on that site. And it is harder to weld up such a large gap. Tighter fit up will make the difference.
 
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Fender1325

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Thanks guys. Yes Ive watched many help vids on youtube. Believe it or not Ive owned my welder about a year now, and have built several things without problems. Just been so busy the past couple months I havent had time to practice. Im familiar with how to set my machine and all that. My technique will certainly benefit from more practice. I think the bedframe iron and the fact that 35 wire is a little too large is my main issue.

A few things Ive made:
 

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Fender1325

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Another. Sorry theyre all not rotated right.
 

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crewchief888

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i've had some similar issues with the last couple of pieces of bedframe angle i've tried to weld.

seemed to take a lot more heat to get penetration



:beer:
 
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