Setting wire speed and voltage?

admin

On my current MIG welder, there is a sticker on the cover that tells you what voltage and speed setting to use for a given wire, gas, and metal thickness.   Pretty easy, I just find the right setting from the table, and set the knobs to the recommended setting.   If I am burning through, I turn down the wire feed; if I need more penetration, I turn up the wire speed.   On this welder, the voltage taps are A through E, and the wire speed is 1 to 10.  Obviously these are relative measures, not a specific voltage or a specific wire speed in inches per minute.If I upgrade to a separate welder and feeder, or an integrated Mig welder without setting numbers, or just use a spoolgun with my current MIG welder, how would I know where to set the welder to get started?  My spoolgun is not calibrated in inches per minute.  Obviously those of you who weld for hours a day quickly learn the machine, and get the feel what to do.  But those of us who don't weld every day or even every week don't have that feel or experience.I assume that I could look up in a table somewhere the recommended voltage and wire speed for the given metal thickness and wire, and through experiments determine which knob setting corresponds to what wirespeed.  Voltage could be a little more difficult to figure out, although I suppose that I could try to weld while watching an analog voltmeter.The other approach would be to use a piece of scrap to get the settings dialed in, although that is not always practical.  That would probably be easier for a professional welder.But what do people do in practice, especially folks who are not professional welders?RichardSculptures in copper and other metalshttp://www.fergusonsculpture.comSyncrowave 200 Millermatic 211Readywelder spoolgunHypertherm 600 plasma cutterThermal Arc GMS300 Victor OA torchHomemade Blacksmith propane forge
Reply:please disregard this postLast edited by ashley1284; 05-26-2010 at 01:12 PM.Reason: irrelevant response, misunderstood previous post
Reply:Originally Posted by rafergusonThe other approach would be to use a piece of scrap to get the settings dialed in, although that is not always practical.  That would probably be easier for a professional welder.