Anything welding

Alright, need some more help troubleshooting. Welding mig 75/25 with 0.30 wire. Was working the other day, and everything was great. Get out today, and it looks like a chicken had explosive diarrhea every time I try to lay a bead. Tried cleaning grounds, cleaning material, and I still have gas when I squeeze the trigger.

Went back to flux core, and it welds perfect. Not sure my issue, looking for some help. Material didn't change, and I hadn't changed any settings. I'm stumped.

 

Did you switch your polarity when you went back to Flux Core ??

If you have been having damp weather did the wire rust ??

you did purge the gun before welding ??

Nozzle clean and not filled with splatter .

With these smaller welders changes in input power even the difference in time of day can effect your settings .

Any Electrical demands can cause things to be different

Did you try and dial your settings in again ??

Hard to tell just what might be wrong

 

Yep, changed polarity, gun purged, nozzle cleaned. It has been rainy, but wire looks clean, looks no different after cleaning either. If I remember right, I'm welding about the same time of day. But I am at the very top of this little guys capability as far as size of steel goes, but it was working fine the other day.

I did not try changing settings since it worked the other day. I'll try switching back to mig and see if I can dial it in any further.

I appreciate the help!

 

As with most things in life, starting with the simple stuff will save you time. It looks like the material just wasn't clean enough. I don't know why it was welding fine a few days ago, or why grinding didn't clean it enough. However, after running a wire wheel over a joint and then trying again, boom! Welding like normal. Going to cut apart the slider I've already tacked up and wire wheel all the joints and start again tomorrow.

 

You really might want to just use .023 wire That is all I tell Customers to use on the 120VAC to use

These little machines can be finicky at times

 

I guess it's easier for the machine to handle skinny wire since it doesn't have the power for some of the fat wire?

I will be going back to a smaller wire my next spool, I actually meant to buy 0.25 this time. Just grabbed the wrong one and didn't realize it until I'd opened the package.

What kind of a difference will I see between a bigger wire and a smaller one? I've wondered that, but haven't found the answer yet.

Again, thank you guys for your help

 

Spotted this on someone's rig this weekend on a wheeling trip lol... I'm sure it's recovery rated

 

Took your advice, picked up some 0.023 wire. It was great, I was able to lay down a good bead without thoroughly cleaning everything first.

Thankyou sir!

 

Looks like my welds when I was about 10 when I had no idea what was happening .

Or what to do to make it happen

 

To tell the truth I use .023 for just about everything these days .

Now if someone talked me into rebuilding a loader bucket I would just switch drive rolls and guns and go to .045

The smaller wire gives you a slower travel speed and more control plus depending on the machine the ability to weld body panels and up to 1/4" or 3/8"

 

Why wouldn't you just thoroughly clean and have better results

 

With the 0.023 I couldn't tell a difference in the weld whether I extensively cleaned, or did my normal once over.

 

Sometimes you just can`t get things as clean as you would like for what ever reason .

It is good to know when your making a good weld or something needs to be done to fix things .

Some people pick this up fast others it takes years.

Over the years i have worked in places where the employees were encouraged to do as little prep work as possible or none at all

 

First set of sliders for my wife's 4Runner, done!!! Learned a lot, it's very obvious which side I did first and which was second. I'm happy with them, there are certainly imperfections once you get close. But nothing too terrible, at least not in my eyes

 

^^ they look awesome! great job I don't see the diffrence

 

Got a new job starting Monday. No welder there, so looks like I'm going to have to buy one. damn all these years never had to get my own. oh well

 

Time to build a roll cage for the taco. Getting the 180* bends for more versatility.

 

Nice bender.

Are you planning on doing lots of work with this tool? It was easier for me to give the local muffler shop a pattern made out of coat hangers. They bent me 10 or 12 pieces on a previous job for a case of beer.

 

Yea i gotta make a few bumpers, a couple exo cages and whatever else I can. Got some buddies that need work done and I need it for myself as well. Used to have one back in the day but sold it when I stopped using it cause it took up a bunch of room in the shop lol

 

Good to hear.