Anything welding

Allright everybody, I've recently bought myself my first welding machine, a Titanium HD170 currently set to 120v using .030 with Lincoln Wire and 75/25 Gas. Been watching YouTube to learn how to weld.. sort-of.

This is where I'm at so far using 1/8", which is probably the max for this machine. I know I can do better, opinions and suggestions please!!

 

I think I’ve got it, just needs some paint!

 

Moving way too slow!

I'll chime in more once I get a chance otherwise someone else might.

 

That's funny, because I feel like I'm moving way too fast. Maybe I need to have a Monster and bump my background music louder

 

So, the reason why you can tell your travel speed is too slow is -

1. You have undercut paired with
2. You have fat caterpillar beads

The one suggestion I make to every new welder is take flat stock, regardless of how wide it is, and run beads on it.

With a silver sharpie, or metal marking pen or pencil, scribe straight lines spaced about an inch apart the whole length of the steel. Don't make the steel any longer than 6-8" or you'll tire yourself out easily.

Doing this you will familiarize yourself with two things -

1. Welding paired with learning travel speed
2. Learning how changes on the machine affect your bead profile

Run your bead the length of that piece, while practicing staying between the lines. Run another bead alongside it at a different travel speed. Run another by changing a setting.

You'll soon find that you're learning to control travel speed, not to mention gaining muscle memory to stay in between the lines. You'll also learn how to watch your puddle as you're welding and adjust as you go.

And most importantly follow the ABCs!

ALWAYS BE COMFORTABLE

 

Then again I don't know shit and I'm just a hobbyist so take my advice lightly.

 

I think you got your wire speed too fast and your heat a little low.

You are in the ballpark, just not in the infield.

 

@MonkeyProof Not sure how far you are from the Fresno County (I'm at the south end of it outside the city), but you're always welcome to stop by and I can run stuff with you on my own machine and metal.

Lord knows I always have tons of scrap metal to get rid of; got about 200lbs worth I just cut up recently that needs to go.

 

what settings are you using? also, the connection at the bottom, are you on positive or negative?


i had to look up what the far right 'inductance knob' does, as i'm not familiar with that function.
https://unimig.com.au/what-does-the-inductance-setting-on-a-welding-machine-do/

and most importantly, what are you planning on using the welder for? it makes little sense to dial yourself in on 1/8" plate if you end up using it all the time on 1/16" plate.

on page 24 of your user manual is a 'troubleshooting guide' to welding bead appearance-- keep that page handy(they also include it in the quick start guide) and reference it for every weld bead made until you get a better feel for the technique and settings needed. generally, i've always found that it's 10% settings, and 90% user input that makes for a good/bad weld.

definitely too slow, and i suspect the voltage is too low with too high a wire speed, it doesn't look like it penetrated great. i would suggest experimenting with flipping the jumper between positive and negative-- it will alter if you're 'pushing' or 'pulling' the arc into the material, which changes how the pool reacts.

i can't tell if that welder gives a wire feet/min readout or a voltage readout. for 1/8", with the welder tip facing down, the lincolns at work, or my eastwood at home, for 1/16-1/8", i'd start with the wire feed at 320-350 depending on my mood, and 21.0v-22.0v. ultra-safe generic settings, i like starting with 220 wire feed, at 20.0v. generally, welding vertically, bump wire speed +50, and upside down is around +100. on your helmet, if it's auto-darkening, i'm normally around a shade 9-10, no darker than 11 to properly see the puddle.
you can also play with your tank pressures-- i'm normally around 30-40psi most times. depending on how much air movement there is around the workpiece.

in a corner bead like your first pic, focus on keeping the welder tip the same distance(ideally about 1/4-1/2" above), and only wiggle the tip enough to move the puddle from material to material to effectively cut into them--normally, that's only about a 1/4" side to side movement. don't worry about the final actual puddle width, it's more important to get good penetration between the surfaces at the center point, the puddle will work itself out as it cools. a good corner bead is going to be slightly curved inwards, yours bowing out indicates too slow of a speed, and possibly too wide of a sway side to side.

 

That looks sharp!

I think that might catch fire and get soaked at the same time if I ran it on my table

 

Props to ya, I cannot and will not do wood work.

 

@Pyrotech

Easyscriber arrived safe and sound, thank you again







Tonight I'll have to draw something up to test tomorrow; I've got steel and aluminum scrap to try on

 

@Kwikvette thoughts on the upgrade from the xp to the pro? Aside from the obvious size difference, anything else in terms of cut quality/accuracy with the more rigid trunnion setup? Now that a bender is in my future...

 

You mean the XL?

You having access to milling makes me suggest making your own.

If you want budget-friendly turn-key, Pro is the way to go.

If you have a bit more to spend but want to keep it turn-key, go STV.

 

I think turnkey - too many of those parts are way longer than I can machine, much less even get in the mill. Plus, I think I should get something that is going to work. LOL. The pro looks pretty nice. And I like that you've had (mostly?) good experiences with Langmuir. I do like the footprint of the 2x4 STL. That looks pretty sweet, but not sure about the gear drive for the axes - seems like that would have a lot of backlash! The pro looks beefy enough. With plasma there's no force on the cutting head - just the drag of the cable - so it shouldn't need to be that rigid.

 

Look forward to seeing the results.

 

Langmuir announced a CNC press brake for $4k. The backstop is going to be extra (unsure how much at this time).

Drooling over the possibilities even with such a light duty machine (33" length and 25 tons).

 

Yep, I'm guessing about $7-10k total to get you going

Still a great deal