MIG Welding help

[Dolfan]

I'm trying to weld a small window net tab onto my roll cage. I've had a horrible time getting a good weld, two tries and no dice.

I'm using a small "hobby" MIG welder Campbell Hausfeld, 110v with .030 wire and Argon/CO2 gas.

The tab is about 1/8" thickness and is curved to match the contour of the roll cage bar which is .090 tubing. I'm grounding to the roll cage using a wide mouth vice grip and attaching my ground clamp to that.

When I weld this I'm getting a big pool of weld onto the tab but getting nothing to take very well to the tubing. Most of the weld is pooling up on the tab and not penetrating to fuse to the tubing. The second time I tried to help it out a bit by preheating the tubing as much as I could with a heat gun, maybe 250* or so I would guess.

I'm far from an expert but I've not had this much trouble before. Any tips to get me on the right track?

Thanks

 

[sberry]

The wire is too big for the machine for starters, 023 for that little unit. About half of them dont work anyway.

 

[Dolfan]

The wire is too big for the machine for starters, 023 for that little unit. About half of them dont work anyway.

I don't understand the comment about the wire being to big? It uses .023, .030, .035. I've used .023 on thinner metal and I just finished up welding some 1/8 angle with the .030 wire and it worked fine?

 

[welder4956]

Did you grind the paint off the roll bar? Try cleaning it to bright metal and attaching the ground clamp to the bar instead of the tab.

 

[Dolfan]

Did you grind the paint off the roll bar? Try cleaning it to bright metal and attaching the ground clamp to the bar instead of the tab.

Check on both of these, I did grind/sand to clean metal. And I'm grounding using a wide vicegrip onto the tube and then my ground clamp on that.

 

[sberry]

If it worked fine on the 1/8 is should work fine on this tab job. A 120V circuit is poor to weld with to start, its nothing personal,,, but it is and this machine isn't going to help. A smaller wire, which it was designed for, especially solid is going to allow it to operate closer to its optimum tuning, help with arc density for lack of better wording. Take some load off it and allow it to wind up a little. Designed to run 030 cored wire. Running larger wire like any 035 like trying to blow a golf ball thru a garden hose.

Watch where you got it plugged in at, cords and where the work ground is, preferably near the work, on occasions with wire feeders you wonder wtf, some wound around ground loop makes them sputter. My benches are connected, welded to a channel in the floor but my small feeder really sputters if you forget to move it one bench to the other. They are electrically connected but grounded on the same bench not a problem.

My small, a 175 is a poster child for correct wire, 030 machine. It will run 035 and the only advantage is to try to wring a bitty more out of the top end, doesn't help much, about 5 % with the liability of running crapier at the other 85% and takes away from this flawless midrange its got where the engineer tuned the inductance, choke etc optimum for this size wire for this class of machine. Its running on 240 got twice the input watts you have with the CH to run this 030 toasty.

A Hobart or Lincoln 140 slightly different machine, can get it to run 030 on a good circuit with fussy operator but even those probably run 023 way better especially if limited to 20A breaker, add to the situation a machine made way more economical, skipped a few things to make cost,, its going to be more fussy and limited.







5

 

[Dolfan]

If it worked fine on the 1/8 is should work fine on this tab job. A 120V circuit is poor to weld with to start, its nothing personal,,, but it is and this machine isn't going to help. A smaller wire, which it was designed for, especially solid is going to allow it to operate closer to its optimum tuning, help with arc density for lack of better wording. Take some load off it and allow it to wind up a little. Designed to run 030 cored wire. Running larger wire like any 035 like trying to blow a golf ball thru a garden hose.

Watch where you got it plugged in at, cords and where the work ground is, preferably near the work, on occasions with wire feeders you wonder wtf, some wound around ground loop makes them sputter. My benches are connected, welded to a channel in the floor but my small feeder really sputters if you forget to move it one bench to the other. They are electrically connected but grounded on the same bench not a problem.

My small, a 175 is a poster child for correct wire, 030 machine. It will run 035 and the only advantage is to try to wring a bitty more out of the top end, doesn't help much, about 5 % with the liability of running crapier at the other 85% and takes away from this flawless midrange its got where the engineer tuned the inductance, choke etc optimum for this size wire for this class of machine. Its running on 240 got twice the input watts you have with the CH to run this 030 toasty.

A Hobart or Lincoln 140 slightly different machine, can get it to run 030 on a good circuit with fussy operator but even those probably run 023 way better especially if limited to 20A breaker, add to the situation a machine made way more economical, skipped a few things to make cost,, its going to be more fussy and limited.

I'm plugged in the same place I always do so no change there. I guess I could change it out to the .023 wire and give that a go???

 

[Dolfan]

One other thing I found reading was that I could switch back to flux-core as that would penetrate better at the same power, but the welding would be "dirtier".

 

[BMW Rider]

A roll bar with tubing of .090 wall could very well be chrome-moly steel which will not weld very well if at all with a MIG.

 

[racingtadpole]

Dumb question.

 

[Dolfan]

Got it done. I switched over the flux-core and got the tabs on. It a bit uglier on the welds but I can clean that up a bit. This tells me I can forget about doing my own roll cages with this machine, not that I was thinking it anyway!

 

[ryoung]

Can you post photos of the completed weld?

 

[IndyGarage]

I started out with one of those cheap Campbell Hausfield welders I got at the hardware store.

I still have it and use it for flux core when I don't want to drag the big boy out. Mine only has a Hi/Low and 1/2 switches, plus a wire speed adjustment. I've never tried to run it with gas.

I used it just the other day. It runs .030 flux core just fine. It's not real fast, but if you take your time it can lay down some nice welds.

You get a lot of smoke and dirt with the flux core, so you have to keep the bead running - or reclean it if you stop.

As I've learned to weld better, I find I can finally run decent beads with it. When I first got it I was embarrassed with the popcorn welds I produced. I had to learn to see the weld puddle and where/how to hold the torch.

2 things it absolutely must have - actually any welder needs these, but that one seems to be overly sensitive - you must have a completely clean part to weld. I mean perfect - almost any dirt or paint or oxidation will stop the weld. Second you have to have a really good ground. I found getting a bad ground was almost always my downfall.

These days I'm not afraid to grind a specific shiny spot on the metal for the ground lead.

Anyway, I can confirm that you actually can successfully weld with it.

 

[Dolfan]

I started out with one of those cheap Campbell Hausfield welders I got at the hardware store.

I still have it and use it for flux core when I don't want to drag the big boy out. Mine only has a Hi/Low and 1/2 switches, plus a wire speed adjustment. I've never tried to run it with gas.

I used it just the other day. It runs .030 flux core just fine. It's not real fast, but if you take your time it can lay down some nice welds.

You get a lot of smoke and dirt with the flux core, so you have to keep the bead running - or reclean it if you stop.

As I've learned to weld better, I find I can finally run decent beads with it. When I first got it I was embarrassed with the popcorn welds I produced. I had to learn to see the weld puddle and where/how to hold the torch.

2 things it absolutely must have - actually any welder needs these, but that one seems to be overly sensitive - you must have a completely clean part to weld. I mean perfect - almost any dirt or paint or oxidation will stop the weld. Second you have to have a really good ground. I found getting a bad ground was almost always my downfall.

These days I'm not afraid to grind a specific shiny spot on the metal for the ground lead.

Anyway, I can confirm that you actually can successfully weld with it.

I think we have the same unit based on your description of it. I think I agree with the comment about the ground, I should have ground off the paint on the tubing where I was putting my ground to get better contact and that may help in getting a better weld.

The other thing is position, given for this I had to weld on the bottom side of the tubing I think that made things harder. Things are much easier in the vice and on the bench!

I have to a buddys car soon, same window net install so I think I've learned a few things here that will help.

 

[1SlowFormula]

I had that same welder, it worked well in my basic learning to stick a few pieces of metal together, but my buddy who welded for his job used it and was able to get good welds on his exhaust. I was impressed but was never able to duplicate his good welds, lol. Anyhow the wire speed control went out on mine and was just always pushing the wire out super fast so I gave it to my buddy for free and told him if he wanted to fix it the welder was his, I am still looking for a replacement of slightly better quality (thinking it will help my welding, lol)...

 

[TeckniX]

I would try it with the flux core, as it runs a little hotter and may be able to get more penetration than the mig setup. Just throwing it out there.

Just post up a vid of what you're trying to do and the setup - May help figure out if you're doing something wrong.

 

[Zeke]

I welded a roll cage with a 100A Lincoln. I welded a sample with .030 FC and had it tested at a lab. Came back with good pen. I tipped and moved the cage so that I was never out of position, then installed the whole thing in the car (which was possible because it was a roadster). Nothing beats the smoothness of a bigger 220v machine set up well.

At welding school I got out a Lincoln 135 and couldn't do anything with it. I ran back to the monster in the booth thinking I might have ruined my skills or something.

 

[Flounder_Pounder]

No disrespect for the Garage... but you might ask and look at a dedicated Welding Site such as one I like here http://weldingweb.com/

Travis T

 

[that-guy]

didn't read all of the comments, so excuse me if i am repeating somebody else, but your wire is too big. problem with the 110V machines is that the first half second of every weld is cold, so as more of the wire comes out of the gun, it is just building on top of the cold piece that is already there. so for the smaller machines, the smaller the better when it comes to wire. i use .023 mild wire on most everything. try dialing in your settings on some scrap of about the same thickness, then do it to the car. start your heat high and see how it does. quick bursts of a hot tack on something so thick should give you some good initial penetration. just play with it and see where things go

 

[reznunt]

I'm trying to weld a small window net tab onto my roll cage. I've had a horrible time getting a good weld, two tries and no dice.

I'm using a small "hobby" MIG welder Campbell Hausfeld, 110v with .030 wire and Argon/CO2 gas.

The tab is about 1/8" thickness and is curved to match the contour of the roll cage bar which is .090 tubing. I'm grounding to the roll cage using a wide mouth vice grip and attaching my ground clamp to that.

When I weld this I'm getting a big pool of weld onto the tab but getting nothing to take very well to the tubing. Most of the weld is pooling up on the tab and not penetrating to fuse to the tubing. The second time I tried to help it out a bit by preheating the tubing as much as I could with a heat gun, maybe 250* or so I would guess.

I'm far from an expert but I've not had this much trouble before. Any tips to get me on the right track?

Thanks

http://www.thefabfoundry.com/showthread.php?56-Basic-Welding-Technique-(-quot-Mig-Like-A-Tig-quot-)