MIG setup - Voltage, Current, Wire Speed

[crazyal]

I'm not a welder by any means.

But friends of mine who are, and one has been for fifty years welding 7 days a week rarely adjust their settings unless something unusually heavy or light needs to be welded. They adjust their speed welding and I'm guessing that's easier then fiddling with the controls all the time. In fact, some of the machines are mounted so high and the feeders on booms, so adjustment on these machines isn't even easy.

I too have a Lincoln with all those EXTRA knobs including burnback. I at first tried to make sense of them, but so far have personally found no advantage to them.

View attachment 531857

At least Lincoln was nice enough to label the knobs rather then just meaningless icons.

My 255 has the exact same panel. I don't use it that often but I do use them. When I have a very long weld to do I will switch the left hand switch so I just have to tap the trigger to start then tap it again to stop. It's not needed and if you forget and leave it on and it keeps welding when you let off the trigger it'll surprise you. The spot feature is nice for doing sheet metal work. With a small hole in the top layer of metal, usually autobody work where you drilled out an old spot weld, you can fill the hole in. The spot feature just makes easier for repetitive work.

The one I like is the burn back feature. Occasionally I'll weld aluminum. Without a spool gun it's much harder. One of the problems I've run into is that once I stop welding the aluminum wire will melt and stick to the tip. With steel wire I rarely have this problem (usually happens when I try to use .035 wire vs switching to .045 and have the power turned up a little too hot). When it happens the rollers just slip on the wire. But with aluminum it has caused it to bird cage. It was a problem on my SP125. I never had a problem on my 255 because the burnback keeps the wire moving just long enough to prevent it. With the SP125 if welding it was very easy to stop for the slightest of moments and squeeze the trigger and then spend minutes clearing out the wasted wire. I'm sure a spool gun would be the answer but my 255 is the older C model and it's expensive for occasional use.

I've never used the run in. I assume it's a ramp rate allowing the wire to start off slow then speed up. I really think the panel was designed for the production worker so they could fine tune the welder to their tastes.

 

[Industrial Toys]

Thanks for that.

This fall I was welding galvanized 3/4" anchor bolts. Aside from setting fire to my jacket twice and my hair once, I had the wire (.035) stick to the tip a few times upon finishing. Mostly it broke free a few seconds later on its own. Would the burn back have helped that?

 

[frugalangler]

Didn't do a lot last nite, but did pop a couple short beads w/ the Simadre using the next smaller wire size setting vs. the next larger (see previous post) and it made a big difference in how the machine acted so I'm fairly sure it's a operator issue that I simply went the wrong direction in my FC compensation approach. Using .030 (.8MM) but setting for .023 (.6mm) brought the sound back where I expected and the bead edges flowed much better and penetration was great on my 3/6". Even the burnback seemed to do what it was supposed to do, but I've got to burn up some more wire before I get a handle on that.

Thanks for everyone's comments and suggestions, they as always have been helpful.

 

[mtnwings]

Oh man, all this is too complicated for me, I would quit welding if I had to go thru all that. My Miller Mig welder has two controls, wire speed and apms, simple, easy and welds sooooo nice, I never have used a chart or anything more than trying new settings and now I have a good idea of the wire speed and amps to use just by looking at the thickness of the metal I need to weld, I love it. The thing I am frustrated with is my plasma cutter but I am sure this is because I just don't use it enough. Actually I don't use it at all anymore because I don't have the time to learn it and my cutting torches are sitting there saying "Use me!" "Use me!" I can lay a bead just as good with my torches as I can with my Mig. Motorcycle frames I welded in the 70's with my touches are still being used and I am talking about cutting and adding rake to choppers so yes, the welds needed to be strong. This and motorcross bike frames. I grew up with torches in hand and learned to do everything with them, never had enough money for more modern or advanced welders until in my 50's. Good luck with your new fangled welder, I hate learning new tech stuff.

 

[MinnesotaDaveChalmers]

My Miller Mig welder has two controls, wire speed and apms, simple, easy and welds sooooo nice, I never have used a chart or anything more than trying new settings and now I have a good idea of the wire speed and amps to use just by looking at the thickness of the metal I need to weld, I love it.

Which mig welder do you have?

I think you meant to write "wire speed and volts" as the wire speed controls the amps (more wire takes more amps to melt) and the other knob is normally labeled volts - but I could always be wrong.

I'm with you on "new fangled" technology. It can be a serious hassle

I prefer to not use "new" stuff until it's about 10 years old...then I start to maybe trust it a little...maybe

 

[mtnwings]

It's a Lincoln, and it is Arc Volts, sorry.... it's all the same to me.