350p

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I took the plunge and bought a 350p. I fired it up yesterday and am pleased as punch.I ran it with .035 wire as all setup is for that. I would like to run .030 & .023 for auto restoration. Any help on setup and anything  Info. wise would be a great help.  Thanks Guys B.J.
Reply:Congrats.Take all these comments as if they came from an amateurr:Get a bottle of 90/10 and try pulse on steel.  For the first time, don't stray too far from 90/10.  Maybe 92/8.Pulse is like controlled spray.  You can actually watch the wire disappear (vaporize) and if you don't keep the correct work distance, the pulse settings seem to automagically adjust.  If you don't see that cone (where the wire vaporizes) suspect wire feed as the culprit.  The synergistic controls require good, smooth wire speed control.Try a shorter arc length setting - like '35'.  I like a turning the arc control up to '35' (25 is recommended).  Those settings have a smaller, more focused cone.  A little easier to see where the metal is going.  Over all, on thicker metal, pulse puts down the metal faster.  If you look carefully at the charts you will see on thin metal it actually puts the metal down slower!  Bottom line, .035 can go down to gauge level work.If you are doing an outside corner and want to spread the heat around a bit more, set arc control to 20 or even 15.With pulse, any gun manipulation other than travel speed seems to be a waste of time.  Just keep it smooth and steady.90/10 is an acceptable gas to do short arc as well.  Its a bit ropey and you can almost tune it out by adjusting the  inductance.You really need to hook up a spool gun and try aluminum.   That's where it really shines.  Dialing in hotstart is a bit tricky (depends a lot on the temp of the base metal) but the crater fill is really easy to setup.  Top it off with a 'spot weld' timer and you can make really nice stitches in the metal.  I have heard that you can normally control the hot start of aluminum by controlling the work distance.  I have had no real success.  I'm not sure if I'm fighting the machine or not.  Better off using the hot start settings.30A is decent second gun to get.  Especially if aluminum is only occasional use.  On the flip side, this machine can push out a lot of wire, those little aluminum spools never seem to last long.  Again smooth feed is the key.Con Fuse!Miller Dynasty 350Millermatic 350P-Spoolmatic 30AMiller Multimatic 200Hypertherm PowerMax 1000G3Miller Maxstar 200DX
Reply:Thanks for the info will start experimenting with arc length and cone. I have a XP-A 15gun but have not tried it yet. Want to get steel figured out first. Thanks Again, B.J.
Reply:Hey B.J.I do 4-6 restorations/yr & a lot of show car accessories(alum.d/plate). You have a superb unit that will serve you well for auto resto's & custom accessories.First, you gotta get a mindset that auto sheetmetal can be a real PIA unless you do your homework & get your setup parameters established as far as the ga. thicknesses you are going to be welding. I do a couple practice runs with some scrap pieces that the customer has simply because of variances with the car panel manufacturers material. Make a note of your ideal settings when you are satisfied with results & keep a notebook handy for future work. My auto notebook had 53 pages of notes/diagrams/pics for the different cars/trucks I have done & has been a great reference going to a new project.Second,  auto sheetmetal is easy to do with .023/C25 & using a backing for seams. Your advantage with pulse will make quick work of the tacking process for initial installation & fitting. Alternating weld areas with a cold, wet towel will eliminate warping to a great extent. Any other areas with thicker material may be better to go to .030. I have never used .035 on any classic car resto's as far as all the sheetmetal/panels & areas associated with welding the sheetmetal to frame/structural members. I also keep a gun angle of 40-50 deg. to keep the weld much flatter & reduce burnthru.It's not hard if you don't make it hard. Take your time, be sure of good fit, & I find that the overlap(1/4"min) seam welds the best & easiest to get good results. No butt welds.....too many burnthrus & bad joints.Anyway, practice as much as possible experimenting with different settings & note your results. You will find that "sweet" spot with auto sheetmetal. Don't hesitate to ask anything..... lotta info available here.DennyComplete Welding/Machine/Fab. ShopMobile UnitFinally retired*Moderator*"A man's word is his honor...without honor there is nothing.""Words are like bullets.... Once they leave your muzzle, you cannot get them back."
Reply:I have to ask why you got a 350P class welder for .023 and .030 wire?  You could have saved a few thousand dollars and gotten a $500 140C which would do a fantastic job with any sheet metal you can point it at.I don't even remember seeing pulse programs in our 350 for anything other than .035 and .045Have we all gone mad?
Reply:FYI, I bought my 350P at auction, including the price of gas to drive out to pick it up, buyer's premium etc. I had just under $1500 in it.  Sold a 251 for $1500.  I think the bidding was light because they thought it was a 3 phase only machine.  From the stickers I could tell it wasn't.  I just had to relink it for 230-240V.  The 230 single phase 350P have a window on the right side of the machine telling you what voltage it is linked for.There was no way I was going to spend anywhere near full (or even half) price for a 350P.As a bonus, the 350P is about 1/2 the weight of the 251.  I had this grandiose plan of building an aluminum car trailer.  Might still do it if I can figure out the safety/quality control side of things.  Pretty sure I will have to overbuild it to the point that a steel trailer would ultimately be lighter anyway.  Right now the aluminum work I do is 1/4" max, mostly brackets, repairs, and attempts at furniture (need bigger fixtures - damn aluminum moves).  I think I've only heard the cooling fan turn on a couple of times Which reminds me.  The damn machine is so quiet that you can easily.... and I mean easily forget that it's turned on.  Not a big deal for the machine but it usually means you left the gas on as well.Con Fuse!Miller Dynasty 350Millermatic 350P-Spoolmatic 30AMiller Multimatic 200Hypertherm PowerMax 1000G3Miller Maxstar 200DX