A little help?

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When i hooked up my ta 252i to a c02 tank today and started welding with the c02,i noticed at times the wire would come out red like it was melted,and it was but would not start a bead. I got "in there" a little better and it started to weld,but i am curious,what and why is causing this?Thermal arc 252i
Reply:Turn up your wire speed a tad, make sure your contact tip is secure to the torch, and push it in close when you are welding. If that means crooking your neck to get your face in there, do it. I see alot of guys holding the torch an inch away and the wire just flops around. If you see the wire getting hot it means the stickout is way too much and the welding current is traveling too far thru that wire that is feeding beyond the contact tip. That is why they call it the contact tip.Anyway setup the feed per the chart. The chart only gets you in the ballpark, so you will have to fine tune the arc length. If the arc length is too short, the wire is splashing in the pool and giving you spatter. If it is too long it will drip in large droplets and spatter. If just right or in between you will get a smooth transfer with little spatter with a hissing sound instead of crackling bacon frying.You are lucky you have a quality welder with a setup chart under the hood. Many low quality units have no such charts and they vary so much that they probably would not be accurate enough to use unit to unit like you Thermal does.Good luck.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:Simple...The arc is melting the wire faster than it can feed. Turn up the wire speed, turn down the volts or both. C02 is a hotter gas than C25. Folks tend to lean towards the C25 cause it's smoother and a bit more predictable.
Reply:I ended up turning down the feed and up on voltage.I was too far from the metal which was my initial problem i think.I am used to using self shielded flux core wire on my machine so having to get that close with the nozzle on is different to me.Last edited by Loki3406; 12-05-2012 at 03:51 PM.Thermal arc 252i
Reply:I personally hate the bacon frying analogy. When I'm frying bacon I hear crackling and popping. I don't want to hear that when welding. That background sizzle sound is good though. However, that hiss is wonderful sound. Means your getting into spray arc transfer. Alot less spatter and a quicker travel speed.
Reply:ok i an new to this so bear with me.short circuit transfer is the electrode(wire) short circuiting on the grounded metal,correct? and spray arc is what? i pulled up millers calculator(i have an app on my phone i use,millers app) and it said the feed should be 240-260 with .035 and 17-18 volts with 20 volts of c02. It says that spray arc transfer is not recommended.how would u get into spray arc mode? note,i was welding on 14 gauge steel tubing 1x1Thermal arc 252i
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Reply:thanks guys i appreciate it.those videos helped snuffy,thanks.Im sure i will be asking more questions in the future as i one day hope to turn my hobby into a profession.Thermal arc 252i
Reply:On anything less than 1/4 you really dont want to be in spray arc unless all you do is flat welds. Another problem is that you will never get into spray transfer with CO2, you need at minimum a C10 mix or better is a 98/2 Argon/O2 mix. You might get globular transfer with CO2 but what you really want is short circuit for 99% of the welding most people will do. Spray is nice for thick material and fast travel but its limited to flat work unless you have the ability to pulse with your machine