Welding question. No penetration.

Dude, I've welded half an exhaust system with the welder out of gas (why is this damn thing popping so bad?). My half-the-power-of-yours machine would burn the sh*t out of the metal, it just popped like crazy from oxidizing reaction.

Check your connections, at the ground clamp, at the gun, and in the machine. Then verify your polarity. The basics of welding are not rocket science, I can personally get em all wrong with better results than you are reporting. Have I mentioned check your polarity??????

good luck

 

I really think that unless it used to run fine and just started this, you welder has the polarity reversed. inside the cover there should be two plates that connect the leads to the power source they should be set DCEN (direct current electrode negative)for solid core wire. What you are describing sounds like that is all that is really wrong. .035 wire would be a better choice for the high amperage range. Good Luck.

 

very good fellas!

 

second that!

 

Nailed it!!! Need thicker wire. The .023 is made for body panels, not frames or thicker brackets.

 

I agree with shifty, polarity is important when welding thicker metal. I was looking for someone to come up with that. Been awhile since my time as a shipfitter in th Navy.

 

Polarity is important and you can also pre-heat any of your thicker plates with a torch to get plenty of penetration even with the smaller wire . You can put plenty of wire in a weld with a faster wire feed speed feed as long as the starting temp is hot enough to get a good puddle started and keep it hot . I have welded 1/2" plate with .023 wire using a torch to get the heat started and it is holding on a tractor frame to this day ! ( 4 years ago too ) I did use a spool of wire up pretty quickly on the 4 setting and had to clean the nozzle quite a few times but as long as you keep pouring the coals to that weld and give your smaller migs some rest between welds , you'd be suprised at the metal you can lay in there with good strength that will hold up . It may take a little longer than .035 wire , but it can be done ! I use the 75/25% mix with no problems at all . Work that cup back and forth and slow the wire speed down until it's like frying bacon with no popping and you are on a good pass ! If you hear popping and farting , your weld is contaminated or your wire speed is too fast ! I welded an 8" by 8" plate to the roof of an old 59 Caddy that was junk and we put her 10 ft. in the air with the wrecker and let it sit over the weekend and she was still there come Monday ? That was 1/16th plate on a sheetmetal roof skin ? Penetration is EVERYTHING in welding as long as the weld isn't contaminated or has porosity , Jerry

 

If his welder was a small 110 flux core machine, you would expect the polarity to have been reversed to accomodate the flux core, and that would be the first thing to check. The only thing I can think someone may have done this on a 220 Hobart is to reduce the amperage on a machine that may not have an infinite adjustment and perhaps was having problems dialing it in for sheetmetal welding. Given the .023 wire, it would appear that the machine was being used for lighter gauge stuff, so the polarity may be another thing to check.

 

Potentially dumb question, but how does the metal know if it's been beveled or not? Couldn't the weld just sit on the flat area of the bevel without any penetration? Just wondering......

 

welding on top of a 1/4" plate, you will need the amperage for said material thickness. If you bevel the edge at a 45 halfway through, the area of your weld is essentially now on a much thinner piece of metal and should require less amperage.

 

You weld in the trough (or ditch) side the bevel creates. At that point it doesn't have as much metal to penetrate. Or as my pops says, it gives the weld somewhere to go.

Could it just sit there without any penetration? Sure, but then there would still be something wrong (settings, welder, weldor, contamination, etc).

 

I don't think Bumpstick has told anybody enough for us to diagnose the problem.

Have you got a manual for this old welder? Try the mfg's web site if not.

Did it work when the seller demonstrated it?

That 220 amp welder set down somewhere below half wire speed and half heat should about burn holes in 1/8" material with .023 wire.

I have been using .023 wire for all purpose fabrication for 20+ years - it ain't the wire!

It's the machine settings, or something not working correctly. Or the operator. Get an experienced welder over there to take a look at it. Otherwise we're just shooting in the dark.

Charlie

 

Thanks All, The machine can be switched to run either 110 or 220. I had Gordon's welding supply do the switch for me (didn't want to burn down my house) I'll check the polarity but they knew I was using gas so I'm pretty sure it's not that. Plus, on thinner material it works just fine. I'll try new wire this weekend and get back to y'all. This very well could just be an operator problem. Thanks again, -stick

 

I'm with Charlie Chops , I can weld a freaking ship together with .023 wire ! It may take several years and spool as large as Texas , but if you can create enough heat , you will get penetration and would rather know for a fact that my puddle was creating and keeping the heat by feeding the wire in as slowly as I can instead of a large wire just to get the thing filled quicker ! I good wire-feed machine can walk a pass over an inch wide if you know how to use that machine ! Sheetmetal takes finesse , Plate takes heat for penetration and alot of it . That's why you can pre-heat with a torch on heavy plate and lay some wire in like nobody's business !