What is wrong with my technique?

admin

I cannot make my welding not be poo.  See attached picture.I picked up a Millermatic 140 a while ago. Why?  Because I anticipate needing to weld small objects with much more frequency than large ones, and I'm still entertaining fantasies about putting together a home-built stick welder once I salvage six to eight microwave ovens.  People do not throw away very many microwave ovens nowadays.I've been practicing on some pieces of metal laying around, and I seem to have the same persistent problem: once I pull the trigger the arc sputters and pops, and I can't maintain a bead.  I've tried to maintain about a 0.25" stickout, my gas regulator is set to about 25CFM, and I believe my ground is solid.  I'm using the "Autoset" functionality that the Millermatic has, so the machine is picking the voltage and feed rate.  You can see the holes in the metal where I was moving too slow, but the arc didn't seem to become more cohesive when I moved faster.Am I using the autoset feature incorrectly?  Am I forgetting something entirely?  Something tells me I should work on this before I move on to repairing nuclear reactors and steam boiler tanks. Attached Images
Reply:Try it without the autoset.. go off of the recommended setting for the thickness of metal your welding on, then go from there."...My pappy was a pistol I'm a son of a gun...""...God is great, beer is good, and people are crazy..."
Reply:Make sure your polarity is set right.  DCEP for solid wire with gas.  And what Crawford said.MarkI haven't always been a nurse........Craftsman 12"x36" LatheEnco G-30B MillHobart Handler 175Lincoln WeldandPower 225 AC/DC G-7 CV/CCAdd a Foot Pedal to a Harbor Freight Chicago Electric 165A DC TIG PapaLion's Gate Build
Reply:Yes, as Mark and Crawford recommend, there have been some complaints posted about auto set problems.
Reply:Much improvement!Here's what I did:1.) Switched to a much shorter extension cord.  This dramatically changed the way the welder acted before I changed any other configuration.  There was much less sputtering, but I wouldn't call the result "good".2.) Noodled around without Autoset engaged.  On a few occasions I managed to get the popping and sputtering to turn into a continuous hiss, and this seemed to produce the best results.  I even managed to make something that would be recognizable as welding to the untrained eye.Thanks for the help.
Reply:I think you can turn down your gas some and on your stick out, maybe try 3/8".  You should also put your location in your info, there might be someone who can help you near by.
Reply:What size extension cord are you useing? That alone could be your biggest problem. Try useing a chord rated for at least 20amps if not 30amps. Best would be directly plugged in to at least a 20amp wall outlet. I have a dedicated 20amp plug wired with 10guage wire for my welder in the garage. If I happen to weld in the barn on a 20amp plug wired with 12guage wire it works just fine but in the garage I seem to have a little better arc. (this could be a number of things like distance from main panel and countless other things but I like to think it is due to the 10guage wire) Try it plugged directly in and see if it helps.Regards,Mundy
Reply:If you could post a video of you using the machine that could help a bunch too... possible the unit is being starved for power?"...My pappy was a pistol I'm a son of a gun...""...God is great, beer is good, and people are crazy..."
Reply:what kind of settings are you running it on after you take it off autoset?should be able to get good results around 16v 195IPM/wire. (I think that's it anyway, I barely ever do short circuit now a days)It should sound like frying bacon, that's how you know you've got the settings right.If it doesn't sound like that, toy around with the settings until you get it.there's a nice calculator on millerwelds.com that can figure it out for you (use it as a guideline!)and keep your wire on the leading edge of the puddle, but don't go out of it or else you'll start stubbing.What kind of gas are you running? C-25 I assume/hope.