Miller Sidekick - Soot & Spatter

admin

Hello,I recently got an old Miller Sidekick that came with a bottle (pure co2), plugged it in, worked mint, no issues.I used up the rest of the gas and got a new bottle of argon/co2. Hook up the gas and it is welding terribly, spattery sounding and leaving black soot.I using the same settings as i was previously, flow set to 20cfm.I have tired several things i found online and tried "everything" but appreciate any ideas.thanks,Nick
Reply:Switch back to CO2?
Reply:1). Bubble some of the gas through some clean water in a jar and then look for an oily film on the water's surface. 2). Make a coil of fine copper wire and hook both ends to reasonably heavier wire, so yo can pass a current through the loop and get it to turn dull red. Put fine dry sand in a bottle, make a top with the two leads passing through it (coil inside bottle), run enough gas from the new tank in so you blow out any of the air that was there and close the top, then (using something like a variac to control the current), increase the current to where the coil glows, and after a few minutes, cool it all and check for changes to the coil surface.
Reply:

Originally Posted by MiniN

Hello,I recently got an old Miller Sidekick that came with a bottle (pure co2), plugged it in, worked mint, no issues.I used up the rest of the gas and got a new bottle of argon/co2. Hook up the gas and it is welding terribly, spattery sounding and leaving black soot.I using the same settings as i was previously, flow set to 20cfm.I have tired several things i found online and tried "everything" but appreciate any ideas.thanks,Nick