185 replies to this topic

[Bubblebobble]

Gas turned up enough ?

[Marshmallow]

Gas turned up enough ?

I'm still using one of the little hobby bottles that came with it and have this set to 5 on the little reg, I was getting decent consistent clean welds with this on thicker metal so using it again... Is that too high? And would too high cause it to blow through?

[sonikk4]

Yes too high a power setting will cause blow through. Those disposable gas bottles are pretty naff to be honest so worth investing in a decent bottle of gas. Hobbyweld or Adams do ArgoShield light for a reasonable amount of monies.

[sonikk4]

Just looked at my picture with the settings, up the wire speed to roughly 7.5 or a tad higher. No more than that though.

[Marshmallow]

Just looked at my picture with the settings, up the wire speed to roughly 7.5 or a tad higher. No more than that though.

Ahh! That may be my issue then! I've been setting it dead on 7, will try again when it stops snowing -.-
And regarding the gas, I will invest in getting a decent gas bottle, the farm shop not too far from here does them at a decent price, thanks for your help, much appreciated :)

[Marshmallow]

Sorry, misread that as yours being set to 7.5... Will still give it a try though!

[mikep12]

Nice thread not read all though but a word of advice, rather than buy one of the cheap Clarke or sip welders it would be better to try to pick up a higher quality machine s/h on eBay or such. If you can get one with a copper wound transformer the quality of weld is far superior and it can maintain a better and smoother arc than aluminium wound ones. Also you will find the wire feed is a higher quality and the duty cycle much higher. The hobby welders often have poor torches and use small tips which again are not helpful in the weld quality area.
Using a better welder will give a better flatter weld as they are much easier to set up and much more forgiving.
Not knocking the hobby welders but when you use professional equipment it shows why there is such a price difference. If you are lucky enough to have three phase most welders are very cheap s/h.

One tip for all types of mig is to regularly blow out the liner to remove wire dust, its amazing how much crap you can get in them.

[Scoobyfanatic]

Just out of curiosity I've never welded before so as a beginner doing a new project involving a fair bit of welding is there any particular reason you use a gas and electric welder rather than just an electric ?

I was in the frame of mind of just going for an electric only version but don't want poor welds or worse yet weak ones ?

Thank you in advance

[sonikk4]

Just out of curiosity I've never welded before so as a beginner doing a new project involving a fair bit of welding is there any particular reason you use a gas and electric welder rather than just an electric ?

I was in the frame of mind of just going for an electric only version but don't want poor welds or worse yet weak ones ?

Thank you in advance

 

There are two types of MIG out there in welder land, gasless and gas. Now the gasless uses a special fluxed wire to enable you to weld outside in windy conditions. Now if you have no garage then that is a plus BUT unless you are really good with a welder it leaves a very messy weld so for a beginner this is not ideal.

 

Now with the gas type MIG this gas is used as a shield to prevent a poor weld ie porous using standard welding MIG wire. Now for the majority of us this is the preferred type of welder to use. It does need to be used in a draught free area otherwise the gas will be dissipated causing a porous weld.

 

HOWEVER you can get a combination welder that uses both methods but you will need to change the wire over for each method. So that can work out quite expensive.

 

I would suggest buying a gas MIG over a gasless one. Learn how to weld with this.

[Scoobyfanatic]

Thank you very much, will look at what's out there and see what I can find to do the job after several hours of practising I imagine !

[Ethel]

Get steel hot enough to fuse together and it will oxidise, making for a weak weld. They shield gas keeps the oxygen in the air away from the weld. Gasless uses a flux, like arc welder rods that combines with the oxygen more readily than the steel. The downside is the oxidised flux creates *******.

[GT Jimmy]

Gonna sound like a numpty now, I need to buy a gas regulator for my mig welder. I have a regulator for disposable bottles but want to upgrade to larger gas bottles. Which regulator should I buy and are all fittings/connectors the same? Thanks, Jim

[sonikk4]

The regulators are different fittings for CO2 and Argoshield light. Twin gauge, single gauge, so personally I always use a twin gauge, pressure flow and contents pressure. And I use Argoshield light.

[GT Jimmy]

Thanks for the reply, there's a gas supplier local to me, I'll see if they supply them when I go. They do a co2 argon mix so I'll go with that I think

[HarriBlow]

I found this really helpful as I have never welded before, I am looking at buying one asap any ideas on what's I should go for. I spoke to a guy who had a Clarke en90 said it was a superb welder as it goes down to 24amps and was great for welding mini panels, he could have been pulling my leg I don't know. Any help would be great

Cheers
Paul