[TheForge] MIG Welding question

Mon Jul 22 09:09:00 2002

    Just a thought, with mig welding heat is a product of wire speed. The other
adjustment you have on your machine is voltage not amperage. I would turn down
both, get some same size scrap as you are welding, then strike an arc and adjust
your machine for that "frying egg" sound. Then I would weld with a series of
tacks not letting the ring get hot enough to melt, you know tack, let the color
fade, tack again, etc. That is what I do when I MIG thin sheet metal, play with
some waste material first and you can develop a technique.
John C.

Jeremy Seip wrote:

> Not quite a blacksmithing project, but if I do a good job here my new wife
> is more likely to let me set up a full shop. :-)
> I'm fabricating a large trellis for a climbing vine, the plan calls for a
> frame of 3/4" square tubing lined every 4 inches by a 3/8" ring of  wire
> (about clothes-hanger wire thickness).   Eventually a mesh will be wroven
> across the trellis through these rings to form the actual climbing
> surface.The only welder I have access to is a Lincon MIGPack 100.
> Bad ascii art:
>             o                  o              o               o         Rings
>        =================================  Tubing
> The problem is while I've taken classes on oxy-acetylene and stick welding,
> I'm a newbi with MIG, and I'm destroying about every 5th ring by burning a
> big part of it away.  So far I've played with the wire feed speed and the
> amperage (currently amperage "C" and feed speed of 3 for those who know
> this welder) but I'm still having problems with the relationship between
> these two.  A second issue is how best to lay the bead. I'm working on a
> spot-like weld, starting the bead a little bit away from the ring and then
> moving the puddle against the ring and hopefully fusing everything together
> before the ring melts.
>
> On the plus side I was able to justify getting a Dewalt Angle grinder to
> grind off the bumps.
>
> Anyway, any advice other than "It can't be done like that, what were you
> thinking?" would be greatly appreciated.
> Thanks!
>          Jeremy
>
> --
> Jeremy Seip
> [email protected]
> http://www.home.earthlink.net/~jseip
>
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