Mig Welders Current Settings

[Shakey]

I recently did a TAFF course on welding and now looking to get my own mig welder for the odd bit of chassis repair/etc.

My budget probably stretches to the youbeaut end of the market so my question was around current settings.

The machines I have used all had a dial and digital output for the current settings so you could have a wide variety of settings. However the ones I'm looking at tend to have high/low or maybe 4 current settings with a variable speed for the wire.

Is this going to be good enough or will I run into problems?

[crash]

My MIG is 140amp and only has those settings and I have not had any problem welding on a chassis or thinner material. As taught on your course get some scrap steel the same thickness of your chassi and practice on it trying different settings before tackling the real job.
What I have started doing was writing on the side of my mig in permanent marker the settings I use for different thickness, and have put a line on the by the the wire feed dial. Then next time setup is alot easier - or write it on the inside panel or on a piece of cardboard and store somewhere close to the MIG.

[Bigbjorn]

My MIG is 140amp and only has those settings and I have not had any problem welding on a chassis or thinner material. As taught on your course get some scrap steel the same thickness of your chassi and practice on it trying different settings before tackling the real job.
What I have started doing was writing on the side of my mig in permanent marker the settings I use for different thickness, and have put a line on the by the the wire feed dial. Then next time setup is alot easier - or write it on the inside panel or on a piece of cardboard and store somewhere close to the MIG.

You too!

Play with some different thicknesses of steel until you get a comfortable voltage and speed then write it on something like the top or side of the machine. Remember, these will not be "graven in stone" settings and every time you weld you might find you need to vary a bit. Try gluing bits together until you are hsappy with the settings. Try say, 20mm, 12mm, 10mm, 6mm,3mm, 16 gauge, 20 gauge.

[uninformed]

The welder should come with a book that tells you what voltage each combination of settings gives you. Wire speed will determine amps and is dialed in to the set voltage.

[Toxic_Avenger]

There is plenty of MIG welding setting charts online. Welding is universal between machines, and pretty basic in principle (voltage, amperage, wire speed, stick out, torch angle, filler material, shielding gas, travel speed). As long as you have a reference point back to the voltage and wire speed (amperage) settings, you have basically won the battle.

1) Setup your wire feed as you have been shown in TAFE. Do a quick 10s wire feed check to work out your m/min calc (wire feed in cm over 10s x 6, divide by 100cm = m/min). You can then adapt to any chart you want (or make your own in excel!). Do this in conjunction with 'scrap' tests to see what works for you. Spend the time doing some destructive testing where you can (weld it, then bust it apart with a hammer to check weld strength). You will learn a lot this way.

2) most modern machines worth their coin are 'synergic' meaning most of the settings are pre programmed - it chooses a wire speed for a given voltage. You can amend this generally by a value up or down. Older machines tend to have the 'coarse' adjustment of High/low wire speed, and a voltage setting, which works, but is not ideal.

What's your budget? What power do you have available to you? What materials do you want to weld? If you have the coin for a you-beaut machine, don't settle for a stepwise adjustment. $2.5K will get you a singe phase pulse mig these days. It will also stretch to a very nice 3 phase machine with all the goodies. All depends what you want to do, and how well you want to do it. You can still pay 15K for a feronius mig that will weld a bottlecap to used dunny paper, but realistically, there is not much use in that jump for the average bloke who doesn't work for the space program.

[loanrangie]

A Welsh welding course, at TAFF no less :D.

I recently bought a 130 amp Cigweld mig and it has the type of settings you have mentioned, i dont expect to be welding 10mm plate but it will do panel gauge up to 6mm which is fine for me.

[justfishing]

Hello,
You always buy the most expensive one in your budget. I have just built a 7m alloy boat with a 210 amp machine more than enough. It is a nothing wrong with them at all It is called a Skill .....very ideal ......Also Synergic means:

Synergic Mig welding machines provide incremental current pulses which form small droplets of similar sized molten material on the tip of the Welding wire combined with the other specific relationships necessary for stable wire burn off.

To quote Toxic_Avenger "2) most modern machines worth their coin are 'synergic' meaning most of the settings are pre programmed - it chooses a wire speed for a given voltage. You can amend this generally by a value up or down. Older machines tend to have the 'coarse' adjustment of High/low wire speed, and a voltage setting, which works, but is not ideal. "

Anyway I also have a ac-dc tig which I brought from a place in Victoria called Tokentools they sell a 210 synergic here's the link I would recommend they I have had great service from them and a great reputation.
Synergic Welders New Synergic Mig Welder Welding Machines For Sale Australia (http://weldingstore.tokentools.com.au/mig-welding-equipment/mig-welding-machines-en/inverter-synergic-mig-welders.html)
You might have to fit a 20 amp outlet as it will run better.
Ian

[Shakey]

All I want to do is some chassis repairs on an old series (after a lot of practice) and some tree sliders for the D2, I guess I'll go from there!

TBH I was thinking under 2-300 for a 150-180 amp machine (sorry I thought you-beaut meant cheap and cheerful!) as it's not going to be used day in day out and probably nothing thicker than 3-5mm steel tops.

[northiam]

MIG Settings Calculator (http://www.mig-welding.co.uk/calculator.htm)

Check out this calc and the rest for the site. Awesome info

Regards

[Toxic_Avenger]

Synergic Mig welding machines provide incremental current pulses which form small droplets of similar sized molten material on the tip of the Welding wire combined with the other specific relationships necessary for stable wire burn off.



Synergic machines are an ease of use function. It chooses the welding parameters for you (ie your voltage and wire speed) when you stipulate the voltage (heat) you want in the weld. Generally you just need to dial in the voltage, then do a bit of 'fine tuning' for the job to make it work.
The hardest part of MIG welding is setting the dials. The rest is point and shoot.
Obviously it's much harder to tweak the weld parameters when you've got one of 6 settings to work off of on the front of your machine, hence my recommendation against those types of machines.

If you want to put welding in the hands of the every-man, then it pays to make it easy. The number of customers I've dealt with who complain of a MIG that 'doesn't work' are trying to pump 30V thru .6mm wire with a wire feed of 5m/min is astounding. I'm talking blowing thru a contact tip within a second of arc initiation. Every single one of them learned how to use the MIG 'from a mate'. Not putting Shakey in this category, but if he is a learned man, then he sure will appreciate all the extra 'room to move'.

[Shakey]

Thanks everyone, I'm certainly not a pro but have been taught the basics so its more if a cheap welder will be OK with the options originally specified (ie 4 position switch) for the odd bit off chassis repair etc.

It's not a machine to be used everyday and I know you get what you pay for so I guess I'll see how far I get!

[Sitec]

I'm a welder fabricator by trade. I recently bought a Cigweld 250 which is the largest single phase welder you can use on a 240v supply. It was on sale for $900. I've used the smaller machines, and they're best described as 'ok'. Is Cash Convertors worth considering? Buying a bigger second hand machine would be my suggestion. Either way, go for the biggest one you're budget allows. :)

[Shakey]

Thanks sitec, was just about to check Gumtree/cash convertors!

[manofaus]

Dont forget the duty cycle of the machine. Perhaps the welders that you are not looking at dont have an issue with this but I hate a welder that cuts out to cool down.

[Toxic_Avenger]

Dont forget the duty cycle of the machine. Perhaps the welders that you are not looking at dont have an issue with this but I hate a welder that cuts out to cool down.

On this note, your duty cycle is generally measured at a set temperature, over a given period of time (usually 10 minutes).
So 60% Duty cycle is 6 minutes continuous welding (often at 40 degrees C). It's the ability of the machine to keep itself cool. 100% duty cycle machines are generally reserved for production line work, robotics, heavy industry etc.

Duty cycle is a big concern if you are on a pipeline, breakdown work on a mine, or time sensitive stuff, but for the average punter, the average unit at say 35% won't have an issue. You do spend time doing joint prep, marking out the job, finish the weld, drink a beer, etc. Can't work too hard, eh ;)

[crash]

Shakey - have you considered the cost of bottle rental? If you are getting a MIG I would suggest staying away from gasless wire.
If you were planning on using gassless wire I would consider one of the small electronic DC arc welders - very smooth and easy to operate. Would be more than capable for what you want (chassi work, building sliders,etc), very compact and some will come with a TIG option. If you wanted to do panel repairs on a Landrover just remmber you will be dealing with alloy panels and not all MIG / TIGs can weld alloy.

[Shakey]

Thanks crash, I was going to use the disposable gas bottles with the mig rather than rent as I think my usage won't be that heavy. Most of the cheap ones do gas/gasless so I figure I can always try both.

I want planning on any panel work as that part seems fairly straight from initial inspection!

Will investigate the DC arc Welders but if they are only a few bucks cheaper I think having both options would be best to start.

The way I figure, if a cheap one is OK and lasts me through a few chassis repairs and a set of sliders it will have paid for itself and I can decide if I want to invest more in better one.

I've only got standard mains power too so can't go too big either.