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Hello ya'll:I have a problem and I'm not sure what is happening. I have a Miller 212 (new), spoolmatic 30A, using 35 alum. wire. When welding brite treadplate (1/8") pieces together it works well using a voltage setting of 7.5 with a wire speed of 5.5. But, when I attempt to weld treadplate and 1" angle the aluminum spits beads of aluminum. I've attempted to modify the voltage and wire speed and nothing helps.I've taken a s/s wire brush and brushed each piece to hopefully remove any coating/trash that could be there. Didn't resolve my issue. Another issue is that the alum. wire is constantly melting to the tip. I've had to replace 4 of them so far because of this. No setting change seems to help. There is no penetration/adhesion, except for the beads. I can't achieve the goal of the "stack of dimes" weld. I'm baffled. Ideas please?
Reply:Burn back is often the nature of mig welding alum. Alum mig works best up in spray, and if your wire speed isn't high enough, the wire will melt back into the tip. Also any hang up in the wire feed will cause issues. Some people modify the mig tip to help combat this. They will cut 1/2 the tip away so that if the wire burns back, it's easier to free up the tip. Some will also go up one tip size so if the wire expands do to the high heat from spray, it doesn't hang up in the tip.Alum mig is done hot and fast. As such, many guys often have issues getting that stack of dimes look simply because of how fast you have to move the gun. The stack of dimes look is a natural result of tig, not necessarily mig.Most alum mig issues I see with guys just starting out come from the fact they want to weld alum like they do steel. That doesn't work well usually. I find it easiest to dial in mig alum by maxing out the wire speed, or at least over setting it, and dialing the speed down, not up like most want to. Too much wire speed is easy to deal with, Too little and you end up with the wire burning back and fusing the tip. Also alum mig is done push, not pull.Picts usually help..No government ever voluntarily reduces itself in size. Government programs, once launched, never disappear. Actually, a government bureau is the nearest thing to eternal life we'll ever see on this earth! Ronald Reagan
Reply:Thanks for the feedback. During my troubleshooting, I dialed up the voltage and maxed out the wire speed with no success. I will attempt to load pic's. Since welding tread plate together had no issues once I dialed it in, would different types of aluminum cause what I described above? I will attempt to use your suggestions above and see what happens.
Reply:The aluminum your trying to weld may be anodized. Try grinding it and see if it helps.
Reply:Different types of alum could be an issue, especially "mystery" metal. Not all alum alloys are weldable. Hard anodized coatings can also cause issues even if the alum is weldable. Some where I have a list I pulled off line years ago from one of my alum suppliers that listed both weldable and non weldable alum alloys.Alloy issues shouldn't cause burn back though. If an alloy isn't weldable it may cause the filler to ball up and not weld, but it shouldn't effect how the gun feeds..No government ever voluntarily reduces itself in size. Government programs, once launched, never disappear. Actually, a government bureau is the nearest thing to eternal life we'll ever see on this earth! Ronald Reagan
Reply:Update: I called Miller, they referred me to Harris wire as the 4043 may not be the one to use. I called Harris, they told me the 4043 should be just fine. They recommended that there's not enough heat being generated to meld the 2 metals. They also recommended that I pre-heat the metals to around the 400 to 500 degree range. I have a H/D propane torch I plan to use to attempt this. My acetylene cutting torch will be overkill and likely introduce problems I don't currently have (ie: blowing a hold in the aluminum). I will troubleshoot further with the suggestions above and the Harris wire ones also. More to come I'm sure..........................
Reply:Can you weld the angle to itself?take 2 pieces of the angle and see if you can weld those together.Ed Conleyhttp://www.screamingbroccoli.com/MM252MM211 (Sold)Passport Plus & Spool gunLincoln SP135 Plus- (Gone to a good home)Klutch 120v Plasma cutterSO 2020 benderBeer in the fridge
Reply:Yes. I cut the 1" angle into 2 pieces and attempted to weld themtogether, they welded together without issues.
Reply:Pics are necessary at this point.
Reply:Make sure the tension is set correctly on your drive rolls, ream out the contact tip slightly oversize with a tip cleaner, use a long stick-out, flowmeter set on 40CFH, push the argon ahead of the puddle, tweek your machine settings.REAL TRUCKS DON'T HAVE SPARK PLUGS
Reply:Just a couple welders, big hammers, grinders, and torches.Work will free you.Men in dirty jeans built this country, while men in clean suits have destroyed it. Trump/Carson 2016-2024
Reply:Point taken, pics are coming soon.
Reply:Originally Posted by AKweldshop
Reply:Any/All suggestions are welcomed. You can tell that I'm somewhat of a newbie by looking at the TreadBrite welds but at least I was able to lay a bead. Not very much with the other pic.
Reply:This is easy. More power Scotty !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!Weld like a "WELDOR", not a wel-"DERR" MillerDynasty700DX,Dynasty350DX4ea,Dynasty200DX,Li ncolnSW200-2ea.,MillerMatic350P,MillerMatic200w/spoolgun,MKCobraMig260,Lincoln SP-170T,PlasmaCam/Hypertherm1250,HFProTig2ea,MigMax1ea.
Reply:Arc blow?Also, looks cold.My name's not Jim....
Reply:Cold and to much wire speed........ GH
Reply:Thanks everyone, I'll give it a shot.
Reply:You need to be in spray arc to get this running correctly. Set voltage at 21 +/- 1 volt and max out the wire speed and do a couple of practice welds. It will be loud and throw sparks. Start backing down the wire speed until the wire stops short circuit transfer and moves into spray transfer, the arc will be very quite when you get there. You will mainly here the drive motor in the gun and the machine groaning but the actual welding should be fairly quiet. I have a 30A and a 252, which is a little bigger machine, but he 211 should have the guts to do it. Most of the problems encountered when GMAW welding aluminum is that most people run the wrong transfer mode, it's going to be hot you just have to go fast. I can get a stack of dimes on 3/16 and larger but pretty much just run stringers and sometimes .030 wire on 1/8" material.
Reply:Also run your stickout much longer than you would for steel, say 3/4". If you get any closer you'll start stubbing into the puddle, sparks will fly, and the weld will probably blow out the back side. When you have everything set correctly and you are running the proper stickout, burnback will pretty much be a nonexistent problem. I have run 8 spools of wire in the past three days and have used exactly 8 tips, just changing them when I changed spools.
Reply:Thanks for the suggestions. I will try them soon. Since my 212 doesn't have a digital readout for voltage or wire speed (and it's new), I called Miller. They indicated that 21 volts was approx. 3/4 of the full settings on a 252. So based on that, my 212 has a 1 to 10 range. I'll attempt what you recommend at a voltage setting of 7.5 (approx. 3/4 of my 212 range), according to Miller Tech. support. I suggested to them that they need to create charts showing their settings as they related to voltages and also the settings on a 30A spoolmatic gun to inches per minute/hour. Unless I've overlooked it, I haven't found those comparisons yet.Thanks again for the suggestions.
Reply:A little off topic, but maybe not: What aluminum wire (brand name) do you professional welders use for mig welding with a spoolgun? Have you seen huge differences between the different brands of Mig aluminum wire? Which ones to stay away from? I'm currently using only Harris but I see some very good deals on the web but they don't advertise the brand name.Last edited by CDad; 12-23-2014 at 03:04 PM.
Reply:I tried the suggestions and it worked great once I found the perfect "sweet" spot. Thanks to all who replied.
Reply:The LWS stocks Harris products so that's what I use. I generally don't look for bargains when buying wire unless I know I am going to be buying a significant amount of wire all at one time, I only buy what I currently need and maybe a spool extra. If I save $2 on a spool of wire but have to spend 30 minutes jacking around trying to get it to run/feed correctly I have just lost about $40 in labor. It doesn't pay to skimp on materials.
Reply:Thanks for the reply. Your advice will be taken and used. I was originally looking at a 10 roll pack of alum. wire to save a few bucks but I agree with you, if saving a few $ means problems, I'll spend the extra $$.I currently use Lincoln but have used Harris an Alctec ? , they all have worked good .
Reply:Thanks MJ
Reply:Your weld is not 1/8" it is more like 3/16" because how the 2 pieces are being joined.And the chart in the manual suggests 7.5/max BTW- I run .030 lincoln from Home DepotLast edited by Broccoli1; 12-24-2014 at 03:49 PM.Ed Conleyhttp://www.screamingbroccoli.com/MM252MM211 (Sold)Passport Plus & Spool gunLincoln SP135 Plus- (Gone to a good home)Klutch 120v Plasma cutterSO 2020 benderBeer in the fridge
Reply:Originally Posted by CDadI tried the suggestions and it worked great once I found the perfect "sweet" spot. Thanks to all who replied.
Reply:While I haven't run the 211, you shouldn't need to preheat until you get over 1/4" material if you have the machine set correctly.
Reply:Howdy. I did not preheat. I maxed out the voltage and wire speeds (as was suggested) and then turned it down until I reached the optimum. That method seemed to work well although I did blow out a few test pieces until I tweaked it. But that was ok. I now know how to troubleshoot going forward. I appreciate everyone who commented on this thread. |
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发表于 2021-8-31 22:12:12