Mig welding question

[handirifle]

I have a small Campbell Hausfield 110v welder I have used about 20 years. It has done very well for me. I am pretty much self trained and can most of the time run good beads and get the penetration I need, for what I am doing. For settings, it only has hi-lo and 1-2 so hi-1 or hi-2 etc. I am using lincoln .035" flux core, like I usually do.

On this current project, I am making a T bar from 1" and 1.5" flat steel. I got the steel tacked up like I wanted, and started filling in the gaps. I worked about 45 min on filling in the gaps, still not done. What the issue is, is when I first started I would strike the arc and run about 1" bead to tack it in place. The when I started running about 4-5" beads to fill in the gap, it worked very well. Nice and smooth crackle sound, little splatter.

Then after about 15 of these (T bar is 10ft long) it popped off on overload. Ok duty cycle is what it is. When it kicked back on, it would not hold a steady bead. It would be more like bzzz stop bzzz stop, and so on, in rapid succession. It seemed like the wire would keep feeding but not welding. I hope I am getting the description right. Almost like I was doing rapid touch and lift. My technique was the same, same distance from tip to work, same speed. After that I tried varying the speed, the distance, heat settings, and nothing worked, consistently. Every once in a while it would run about a 1" bead the start all over again.

Is this me or the machine? This is not the first time I have run into this issue, I just have to put it down and go do other things to avoid the frustration.

 

[jaxs]

I have never owned a CH 110 machine but it sure sound's like it has been a good one. After 20 years the duty cycle might not be what it once was. Is the fan working? Have you looked inside to see if dirt and lint need's blown out?

 

[handirifle]

Do you mean where the spool goes or the actual working parts? The spool area, yes but not anywhere else. Never thought of that actually.

 

[3Ts]

What's the flow rate on your gas? I assume you are outside, so what are the wind conditions? Sounds like the shielding gas is being blown away.

 

[fried1765]

What's the flow rate on your gas? I assume you are outside, so what are the wind conditions? Sounds like the shielding gas is being blown away.

"Sounds like the shielding gas is being blown away"?
The OP states he is using flux core.

 

[TractorGuy]

Not saying this will help your machine but I overworked my Lincoln SP100 one time and it quit working altogether. I took the cover off and cleaned all the dust and cobwebs out and it hasn't stopped since.

 

[yomax4]

Might check your ground. Other than that it doesn't sound good for your machine.

 

[jaxs]

Do you mean where the spool goes or the actual working parts? The spool area, yes but not anywhere else. Never thought of that actually.

Reason why is because dust and lint will insulate components from cooling which in turn cause's shorter duty cycle and worse still,shorten's machine life.

 

[handirifle]

Ok will check connections inside. Had good ground on workpiece. Yes was flux core and working inside my shop so no wind either way. Will give it another go today and see if it still acts up. Will also pop it open and do a dust check.

Hopefully that is it.

 

[metalbender]

Are you serious about the thickness of the material? Not a 110 v mig job. Have a Linc 210 mp, draw the line with the mig at 3/8. After that the stick is used with proper bevel prep.

 

[handirifle]

My first post is misleading there. Those are the widths. Both bars are 1/8" thick so not a problem even for this welder.

 

[metalbender]

Big sigh of relief here, thanks for clearing that up.

 

[dragoneggs]

Big sigh of relief here, thanks for clearing that up.

I was scratching my head too!

 

[handirifle]

Lol sorry bout that. I have done 3/8" but in about 4-5 passes.

 

[crazyal]

I would unplug it and remove the metal covers. Be careful but I would use an air compressor to blow any dust inside it out to clean it up the best you can. Then look for something that might be damaged. It's possible that the duty cycle didn't kick in quick enough to prevent something overheating.

 

[handirifle]

I blew it out yesterday and it seemed to help for a while but then started acting up again. Not sure if the wire stops feeding in fact I think it still does. Its like as it gets warmed up it acts up. Will inspect closer though.

 

[flyerdan]

If you're getting erratic wire feed or stuttering, it could be that the tip or wire extension has heated up and there is a clearance problem. I had to run the next size up tip to prevent grabbing on a Tweco gun when I was dumping the amps into a big gate with lots of continuous welding.
Since this seems to be showing up when things are hot enough to kick the thermal, it's worth a look. Even a small berry stuck to the tip can cause binding.

 

[handirifle]

Ok thanks. Will check that out and swap tips to see.

 

[crazyal]

When it acts up does the wire still come out? Or does it stop? Make sure the wire isn't melting causing you to loose the arc. If you have the power turned up too high for the speed at which the wire is fed the wire will melt back up to the tip and loose the arc. Maybe try welding while having someone watch the spool to see if it stops turning or isn't turning smoothly while it's acting up.

 

[WranglerX]

Maybe it has heat sensitive failure ..Can you put volt meter across the contact tip to ground and see a voltage reading when it fails... should read about 18 to 25 volts DC continuous with trigger pulled....

Dale