new to mig welding

>Hi Thomas (?),
>Im in mt isa at the moment but grew up in sydney. If you're local ill give
>you a lesson for a 6 pack, but none of that XXXX crap!
>
>Here's a reply that i posted a while back for another guy in a similar
>position to you. The advice therein is just as relevant.
>
>If i were in your position, what i would do is seek out someone who is clued
>up about welding and get them to show you a few things. you'll learn a lot
>more in 10 minutes with someone who's in the know than you will in weeks of
>tinkering and reading about it on the web. talking about welding is like
>dancing about singing. Trade qualifications mean surprisingly little in
>this area - ive met so many tradesmen in my time who have 20+ years in the
>industry but still dont actually know how to set a welder. they often rely
>on pencil marks on the welder itself for the settings, and they get crazy
>mad if you adjust it!
>
>There are no hard and fast fules about welding.... every material is
>different, as is every weldment. a butt joint will require a different
>setting from a mitre. as a general rule though, an outside mitre requires
>about 30% less current than a butt joint while an inside mitre requires
>about 30% more. vertical up requires a lot less heat than welding on the
>flat or vertical down. All this talk is really pretty useless though except
>in terms of a general understanding of more or less is required.
>
>starting with gas coverage, about 15lpm is a good start. keep your nozzle
>clean of spatter, aim your gun towards the direction of travel, and make
>sure that you dont have any wind/fans blowing your shielding away.
>shielding in itself is an art, but the basic points mean consistency.... a
>consistent gun angle, avoiding jerky movements of the gun. since you have
>come from gasless wire (flux core) you'll need to change your gun technique
>a bit. fluc core usually uses a 'pull' gun technique where you drag the
>gun, and a bit more stickout (the distance from the end of the tip to the
>steel, or the length of wire hanging out of the tip). Solid wire with gas
>on the other hand requires a bit less stickout, and a 'push' technique with
>the gun.
>
>removing the mill scale is nice, but most people rarely bother unless the
>weld is to be certified. Im not familiar with your machine, but im assuming
>that it has a few settings on the front for voltage, maybe A through E? If
>so, your going to want to go with 'E' for anything 1/4" and over. 185 amps
>really isnt much to work with, but with chamfering you could realistically
>weld 1/2" material in a few passes.
>
>so, start with your highest voltage setting. now, get close to the feeder.
>hold the gun in which ever hand you normally use, and put the other hand on
>the wire feed control. If your feeder has a '4 touch' setting or 'latch'
>setting whereby once you press the trigger it keeps welding until you press
>the trigger a second time, then use it. This is one of the secrets to
>accurate consitent welding in all positions. start welding, and adjust the
>wire while you are moving. turn it up to the point that the gun is kicking
>back in your hand, making a machine gun sound..... this is too much wire.
>now turn it down until it feels and sounds 'smooth', this is the earliest
>point where it feels and sounds good to you. This setting will be a
>slightly 'cold' or 'proud' bead. weld for a while, stop and have a look at
>the bead.
>
>now keep welding, and adjust it down further... keep going until it seems
>to 'stall' and drip off the end of the wire... this is too low. but do a
>weld anyway... look at the finished bead. notice the browning? see how
>the spatter is really hard to remove? now weld again and turn it up, turn
>it down... you dont want that dripping, but you dont want it kicking back.
>while everything is a personal preference, and gun technique changes many
>things, you will probably want a setting just above the 'drip' setting,
>rather than just below the 'kick' setting.
>
>as a general rule... more voltage = a flatter wider bead with more
>penetration, while more wire *reduces* the amount of heat. in general, set
>voltage for the penetration you want, and then adjust wire to suit. one way
>of thinking of it is like this; the voltage digs a hole, the wire fills it
>in. want more penetration? turn up voltage. Bead too proud? turn down
>wire (fill in the hole less) or turn up voltage (digs a deeper hole for the
>wire to fill up). too
>cold? turn voltage up then adjust wire again. too hot? turn voltage down
>and adjust wire to suit. browning would usually indicate too high a
>voltage, or too little wire, or not enough shielding gas. the overall
>verdict is too much heat. when you have excessive spatter, or the spatter
>is really hard to scrape off but you have a good looking bead, its a sign
>that you could probably tweak your wire a little bit.
>
>every welder (machine) is a little bit different, even the same model.
>every weldor (person) is also different. gun technique does make a huge
>difference in the way the heat is applied, with gun angle, stickout and
>weave being the main components. many weldors are really bad at setting
>their welder, but very advanced at using gun techniques to increase or
>reduce heat. My personal technique is very adaptable, but a signature of my
>style is using a short forward step with a longer backstep for tha roll of
>dimes effect. at higher currents (300amps+) i tend to avoid direct arc at
>the edge of the bead, instead 'washing' the pool to the edge of the bead on
>the backstep to avoid undercut.
>
>Shaun
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