FCAW - Complete Circuit?

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I was wanting to know what the typical symptoms arefor a bad ground OR bad contact tip when welding .. What I saw ..  was .. the arc seemed .. uhmmm... very flared out looking ... like it wasnt very concentrated ... Hard to explain that ..  and very poor penetration withmore beads and splatter then anything else ... I change the contact tip and tried for a better groundand it seemed to be better ... and got my penetration back . .But just wondering , as I am still new at this .. What tells you all when its time to change the contact tip, other than burn back and the wire is stuck in the tip LOL .. Is it bad or wrong to try to reuse tips?? clean ( burnish ) them ?I guess they are cheap enough ... just replace it .. LOL How often do most people seem to go thru the contact tips ?? My max current is 120A and I use anti-splatter spray .. Ideas? suggestions? thoughts? experience? ( my favorite )Randy
Reply:Check the polarity,mig gun on + for MIG welding,Mig gun on - for flux core welding.grind a spot on your metal to put your ground clamp,make sure cable is tight to clamp.
Reply:Newbies using flux tend to toast tips. One of these days it'll just sort of go away. There are several things that can exagerate this, none of which are a single magic answer. Poor starts, too much drive roll pressure, too little drive roll pressure, too long of stick out, spatter build up, dipping the tip too close, poor settings, all of which are part of the learning process and eventually clean themselves up and you learn to dial it all in.Tips being as cheap as they are, keep some handy to change when it counts. throw one in a bin somewhere and if you feel like tinckering you can clean it up with an O/A tip cleaner later. The only reason I recccommend cleaning a few of these is NOT to save a buck but to prove to yourself just what is happening when a tip gets tight or seizes. You can't improve on a process unless you know every detail of a process. Tips are worn out when they are egg shaped on the outside end and over sized. A proven setting has changed in reaction. That'll take a lot more than a two pound spool of wire. If you were set up to weld steady you might go through a tip after about a thirty pound reel. For most hobby applications other things mentioned above seem to take their toll long before thirty pounds.Very flared out??? Too long a stick out and or too high a setting maybe??
Reply:The thing that is weird is everything was working fine .. Then it starts acting up .. Set the polarity when I set up the machine and have beenusing flux core since .. Been welding up a storm .. But this problem seems to be more recent .. Do the wire drives need cleaning sometimes?I just replaced the tip yesterday .. And was using it ... doing some tack welds on a small welding table .. took a break .. went back outand it started doing it again .. I even took a parctice piece with lots of bear metal on it .. and clamped to it .. and tried ... same thing ...    I dont know what to think ... Its gettting frustrating ... I know that ... Randy
Reply:I even took a parctice piece with lots of bear metal on it .. and clamped to it .. and tried ... same thing ... I dont know what to think ... Its gettting frustrating ... I know that ...
Reply:uhmmm well I'm sure the A/C is running in the area .. Its 95 degrees real feel ..  with like 90 % humidity .. I did find something , I believe .. If I can explain this .. First .. its a cheapo Harborfreight .. 230V  120A outputwhere the wires from the rectifier assy connect to the feed thru posts .. the nuts on the other side where the actualy cables hook up were moderately loose .. I could crank them both about a half turn or more.  I didnt tighten them hard .. just very snug .. these are the feed thru nuts , not the cable nuts .. before I did that if I had , with the cable wires tightened down .. tried to move the cable lugs clockwise , the feed thru nuts wouldturn .. now after tightening them , I can't .. it seems to be working ok now ... but we'll see for how long .. lol .. I may still call harbor freight anyways and see what their policy isbetween the 30 - 90 day points ..  Thanks for the responses I did receive .. RandyLast edited by Lanmanb4; 07-17-2005 at 11:17 PM.
Reply:I can think of a few things.  Duty cycle maybee?  Those HF mig welders tend to go through liners very fast, and then hang up sporadically.  I know with my century 130 welder that it would have issues sometimes if I let it set for a few minutes and then started again.  For about 30 seconds it'd have nasty porous welds from the gas re-purging the line.  But your not running gas.  Duh.  I would take the gun cable assembly apart, and see if it has had stuff sucked into the liner, or torn up.  Just another couple thoughts.  Brian Lee  Sparkeee24
Reply:Thanks Sparkie .. I used it this morning .. did 3 1 - 1.5" passes on 120A and 75 Aand seems ok .. in fact .. it seems now to be hotter then before.. Sooooo I may have to learn the settings all over again LOL ... But thats ok .. so long as its working .. Do those wire feed units always sound like that? wirrr wirrr wrrrrr .. LOL This stupid thing is so cheap ... and cheap is what cheap does..  I bought a spare wire feed unit for it ..  at a whopping 12.00 LOL .. I think I might call them and tell them about the problems and seeif they will send me another gun ... unless I buy a separate liner that fits adifferent MIG ... that will fit mine ..  then I'm stuck buying the whole gun .. Though .. I was thinking about buying a different gun for it, if I can find a hard wired gun that will fit it .. Or maybe replace the plastic liner with a steelone ... although I read that would be an issue if I decided to use aluminum wire..  Hey sparkie ... I have an idea about that Century welder .. how about a food switchfor the wire feed / arc power .. and press the gun button for the gas .. that way .. you could pull the trigger , wait a few seconds .. then press the foot switch ..  and start welding .. ???   NOt sure if that would be worth the effort to you or not ..  Thanks again all ..  Oh .. I have been burnishing my contact tips ... for now anyways.. is that ok?? And .. is it better to have the current up higher with a longer stickout ? verses a shorter stickout and lower current for a given piece of steel?Sorry ... lots of thoughts going thru my head here .. LOL .. OH I ALMOST FORGOT ..  Wire Feed Speed ... I measure the feed rate for my welder set at a number 6 as compared to a Snap On Tools MIG at number 6 and both seem about 200- 210 IPM ??  How does thatcompare to all those nice fancy migs out there ?? Thanks again..RandyLast edited by Lanmanb4; 07-18-2005 at 07:12 AM.
Reply:uhmmm trying some more welding and it looks like thewelds are too hot?? man ... seems like I have to learn all over again here almost ..   I ran a bead at the speed I had been getting good ones at .. and it looks aweful now .. the weld looks ... well too hot .. LOL ... I ran a straightbead on a flat .. somewhat down hill surface ... andI went twice as fast as I would have before .. and itlooks better...    I have to admit .. before it seemed likeI had to go awefully slow to get a good bead ... Question ...  flux core weld .. on say .125" A36 Steel plate.. 120A ... 2" long bead ... roughly how long would it take for most of you to lay that weld down? from weld start to stop.. I'm just trying to gauge my speed .. and I know there are a zillion factors.. What happens to the bead ..  when the travel speed is too slow?every thing else being the same?  porosity?  looks like I am getting that .. the wire feed is on 5 and I get the right sound ... I lengthened the stickouta bit .. mostly to cool the arc .. and its easier on my tip and nozzle LOL .. I guess I fear that the transformer connections as I mentioned in my original post may have been a bit flakie from the start ...  So my current may have been low from the start ... then finally crapped out almost completely as the connections deteriorated  ( sp ) ... SO ....  tell me about the affects of travel speeds   Randy
Reply:What happens to the bead .. when the travel speed is too slow?every thing else being the same? porosity? looks like I am getting that ..
Reply:ok thanks ... Still not working well though .. not like it was.. What would happen if the rectifiers shorted ?? And there was AC there instead of DC ?I'm almost ready to give up on welding ..
Reply:well I guess this saga is over..  I called Harbor Freight .. and they saidits still under warranty .. and so its going back for a credit .. I think I might try the Hobart 135 Handler they have .. More money ..  but I'm sure a better machine .. LOL .. Thanks again everyone .  I have to give them credit when it comesto warranty coverage and making the consumer happy ..
Reply:Good luck, I know you will be 10 times happier with your hobart.  If you haven't yet, go ahead and consider the 175 amp version (or their abouts)  the 240 volts 175 amp version REALLY out perform what you've been used too, and are great in light duty garage / shop use too.  Brian Lee  Sparkeee24
Reply:Do you own a Hobart?