110v welder and the 3/8 bend test

[roadhunter]

Welder arrived Monday. I still have not had a lot of time to mess with it but am finally starting to get it dialed in how I want it. I really struggled the first day running .024 Hobart HB-28 wire and c-25 gas. I have not welded with that small of wire before and it really gave me fits. I've welded with quite a few of these small machines but they were always with .035 flux core wire so going that small along with using shielding gas was quite a learning curve for some reason. I even resorted to testing about half of the possible setting combinations and running a 1/2" bead. Then after visiting with Mark I decided to try a roll of .035 wire I had. Bingo! Reached down and dialed her in while running an bead and suddenly everything started to look, feel, and sound much better. They stack nice and suddenly the puddle was not nearly so dry but it does have quite a bit of splatter. .

I will have some time to do some comparisons this weekend but my first thought is it's much more powerful than the Hobart 125 and the Lincoln SP 135T that I have used in the past. It also feel like it is fairly close to my Miller 175 but the 175 holds and edge for sure from early indications. They both have about the same rated output/duty cycle so i'm really curious to compare the 2.

I have received some suggestions to trim the nozzle and drop my voltage down just a bit to help with splatter. I'll give it a try tonight or over the weekend. Here is a practice weld I did last night. .035 wire and c-25 gas.

 

[Big Barn]

Welder arrived Monday. I still have not had a lot of time to mess with it but am finally starting to get it dialed in how I want it. I really struggled the first day running .024 Hobart HB-28 wire and c-25 gas. I have not welded with that small of wire before and it really gave me fits. I've welded with quite a few of these small machines but they were always with .035 flux core wire so going that small along with using shielding gas was quite a learning curve for some reason. I even resorted to testing about half of the possible setting combinations and running a 1/2" bead. Then after visiting with Mark I decided to try a roll of .035 wire I had. Bingo! Reached down and dialed her in while running an bead and suddenly everything started to look, feel, and sound much better. They stack nice and suddenly the puddle was not nearly so dry but it does have quite a bit of splatter. . I will have some time to do some comparisons this weekend but my first thought is it's much more powerful than the Hobart 125 and the Lincoln SP 135T that I have used in the past. It also feel like it is fairly close to my Miller 175 but the 175 holds and edge for sure from early indications. They both have about the same rated output/duty cycle so i'm really curious to compare the 2. I have received some suggestions to trim the nozzle and drop my voltage down just a bit to help with splatter. I'll give it a try tonight or over the weekend. Here is a practice weld I did last night. .035 wire and c-25 gas. <img src="http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/files/welding/401349-110v-welder-3-8-bend-picture-20006-jpg"/> <img src="http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/files/welding/401352-110v-welder-3-8-bend-picture-20007-jpg"/> <img src="http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/files/welding/401353-110v-welder-3-8-bend-picture-20008-jpg"/>

Any thoughts yet on why you were having problems with the .024 wire?

Terry

 

[roadhunter]

Any thoughts yet on why you were having problems with the .024 wire?

Terry

I think the main issue was I have never used any wire that small and had unrealistic expectations for how it should run. From my basic understanding the .024 wire limits the amount of power/heat that you can utilize essentially limiting the machine to somewhere around 100 amps or lower even at max power. Once I switched over to the larger wire everything worked fine so I am going to blame operator error for the problems running .024 wire. I'm going to grab a roll of .030 on the way home to try that out.

I'm sure Mark can give us a better understanding of what was going on from a technical standpoint.

 

[ericher69]

Welder arrived Monday. I still have not had a lot of time to mess with it but am finally starting to get it dialed in how I want it. I really struggled the first day running .024 Hobart HB-28 wire and c-25 gas. I have not welded with that small of wire before and it really gave me fits. I've welded with quite a few of these small machines but they were always with .035 flux core wire so going that small along with using shielding gas was quite a learning curve for some reason. I even resorted to testing about half of the possible setting combinations and running a 1/2" bead. Then after visiting with Mark I decided to try a roll of .035 wire I had. Bingo! Reached down and dialed her in while running an bead and suddenly everything started to look, feel, and sound much better. They stack nice and suddenly the puddle was not nearly so dry but it does have quite a bit of splatter. . I will have some time to do some comparisons this weekend but my first thought is it's much more powerful than the Hobart 125 and the Lincoln SP 135T that I have used in the past. It also feel like it is fairly close to my Miller 175 but the 175 holds and edge for sure from early indications. They both have about the same rated output/duty cycle so i'm really curious to compare the 2. I have received some suggestions to trim the nozzle and drop my voltage down just a bit to help with splatter. I'll give it a try tonight or over the weekend. Here is a practice weld I did last night. .035 wire and c-25 gas. <img src="http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/files/welding/401349-110v-welder-3-8-bend-picture-20006-jpg"/> <img src="http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/files/welding/401352-110v-welder-3-8-bend-picture-20007-jpg"/> <img src="http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/files/welding/401353-110v-welder-3-8-bend-picture-20008-jpg"/>

A correction if I may; Spatter not splatter.

I have some 0.024 wire for the MM252 but have never used it.

Have a 18gauge fab job coming up so I may try it instead of old reliable 0.035

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[dragoneggs]

A correction if I may; Spatter not splatter.

I have some 0.024 wire for the MM252 but have never used it.

Have a 18gauge fab job coming up so I may try it instead of old reliable 0.035

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I would be happy to hear of your results and thoughts on .024 wire on 110v. I haven't tried it yet.

 

[ericher69]

I would be happy to hear of your results and thoughts on .024 wire on 110v. I haven't tried it yet.

Can share my results of 0.024 on 230V; 115v no go for me.

Should be similar. I don't believe I can get anymore heat out of a 230V machine with 0.024 wire than I could with 115V.

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[kevin37b]

Well, that's what I was thinking.... plug it into a 15 amp outlet or a 30 amp outlet. If you aren't pulling more than 15 amps, you should see no difference at all, correct? Only if you exceed the draw of the outlet will it trip the breaker, or run the machine longer than its duty cycle for the power you are using will it shut down the machine, correct?

Correct .

 

[kevin37b]

Go for the standard 250. The pulse is single pulse and is manually setup and can be a headache to work, plus the fact that the 250P is out of stock. The pulse is fine, but most people think it's going to give them TIG welds. Not with a single pulse. It is designed to control heat and wicking, but not ripple formation

I have mig welded for years with older miller machinery . What is pulse welding ? Just curious , no harm no foul .

 

[roadhunter]

Just wanted to give an update on the Everlast 140 mig welder. I have spent a total of about 6 hours messing with it and had some success and some frustration. For some reason the machine seems difficult to dial in compared to the mig machines I have had in the past (Lincoln sp-135, Hobart Handler 125, Millermatic 175, Ironman 210). I would play with it and find a pretty good spot an make an extremely slight adjustment and it would weld completely differently. Then I would put it right back where it was originally and again it would weld differently it seemed. Not sure if it just an inverter difference compared to the transformer machines or what. Then I had a situation where the wire would not make an arc when it hit the base metal. Sometimes it would get hot and the wire would curl up and others it would just push against the base metal. I went through and checked all the ground connections and even tried taking the clamp off and grounding the lug with no success. I even went so far as to go through and test each voltage setting (3-10) with wire speed from 3-10 and make a practice weld for each different setting. IT showed that the welder was dead on voltage setting 4. I then e-mailed several pics and Mark immediately called me back to discuss the issues I was having. At first the dead wire only happened on voltage setting #4 but once it started happening on other voltage settings I decided I had spent enough time trying to make it work. I had agreed to take the machine apart and try to solder in a new part to make it work properly but on second thought I decided that I had put enough time into this and had more important things to do (work/family/hunting) and simply didn't have more time to invest in making the new machine work properly. At that point I was really frustrated and was tired of trying to make the machine weld correctly so I turned it off and used my old reliable Millermatic 175 to finish up another set of 100 brackets that I needed to get built this weekend. So I let Mark know that I was done trying to make the machine work and that I had it boxed up ready to return. That was Friday night. I e-mailed him again this morning but have not heard back. Hopefully he will take care of this issue ASAP as this little welder has been a big disappointment so far which is surprising as I have had good luck with my Everlast PA 200 and really good luck with my PA 300. I will keep you updated on how things go moving forward.

These are the brackets I make and sell on e-bay. Gives me some play money to use on things like welders, helmets, vices, etc without spending money from our bank account. I was hoping to use the new welder to make these as it's really only welding a piece of 1/2" square 14 gauge to a base plate but the Millermatic 175 does a great job as well.
Rack Bracket European Skull Hanger Hook Deer Elk Antelope Euro Taxidermy Hog | eBay

 

[Sodo]

Awesome. The cottage industry - I like it.

Maybe you were up against the duty cycle that everyone else has problems with but I never even knew about for the last 40 years,,,,,until reading on a tractor subforum what a big deal it is to the hobby/maintenance welder. :laughing: Sorry just kidding, couldn't resist. But sometimes ignorance is bliss.

I'm curious what you were intending to improve upon by replacing the Miller 175?