2nd Try Mig Welds

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I believe I was defeating the purpose of why I bought this particular welder in the first place. I thought I would save some money by not wasting the shielding gas and use the FluxCore wire without Gas. Wasn't doing very good - so I gots me some shielding gas (75/25), 030 wire and ran some beads that way. Less splatter, tried both pushing and pulling tech. and if I understand everything I read on the push - pull tech. it basically comes down to personal preference. I did most of my practice in a flat position and only just laying down a bead. The pics - just different view of 2 welds, are where I welded a piece of Angle to the side of 8 in. C iron. I played around with the auto-set mode and manual mode and seem to have better luck in control in the manual mode. I still don't understand the difference in settings; For ex. with 14 ga in AS knob on wire speed is set to 030 and volts shows to set at 5 to 6. In manual mode, chart for 14ga shows wire speed at 45 and volts at 3.5; why such a difference? Anyway will keep practicing and reading all the good stuff on this website. tks (know I probably left out parameters but let me know what ya need and I will try to provide) Attached Images
Reply:what brand flux core has a lot todo with splatter and a quality weld, use some name brand like lincoln and see the quality weld you can do without shielded gas...$39.00 at homedepot..
Reply:first thing you need to do is get a grinder and clean all the rust off of the pieces you are gonna weld. That will help the most imho.
Reply:1st you need to clean up the steel with a grinder as mentioned above. 2nd, You definitely need to slow down. Try and go 1/2 as fast as you did and see how it turns out.Settings are not set in stone. They will vary from machine to machine and even user to user to a limited extent. I can weld the same joint 3 different ways with 3 different sets of settings and get basically the same result (assuming it's not code work) I could weld it in short arc, or spray and the settings would be vastly different. This is part where doing and learning come together. You have to get a feel for what is happening and if it is doing what you want. Most of my setting is done by eye and ear, not by numbers. If its thin I start low on the power and set the wire one way. If it doesn't weld the way I want, I adjust to make it do what I want. It's very simple, yet very complicated to explain.As far as push/pull, there is more to it than personal preference. I was taught to always push with the gun. As far as an exact reason why I can't explain it well. A lot has to do with where you are putting the heat, and how the shielding gas is covering the weld. There are occasions where a pull method will work, but for structural welds I was taught always to push. I'm sure this is one area where many will disagree with one method over the other.
Reply:Use a little more heat and slow down.  MM350P/Python/Q300MM175/Q300DialarcHFHTP MIG200PowCon300SMHypertherm380ThermalArc185Purox oaF350CrewCab4x4LoadNGo utilitybedBobcat250XMT304/Optima/SpoolmaticSuitcase12RC/Q300Suitcase8RC/Q400Passport/Q300Smith op