I've got a 110 70A MIG.. I know it's not good for anything very thick.. but is there a technique to getting a deeper solid weld on say 3/16th? like top setting with a slower wire speed or is it better to have a higher wire speed?

I'm using the fluxcore wire becuase I've heard you get a deeper weld with.is that true?

thanks..

Soory, but a 70A isn't good for much more than sheetmetal in a single pass. About all you can do is make multiple passes to ge any kind of penetration.
You will need to grind a bevel on the joint you want to weld. Once you have that, you will need to make a root pass in the bottom of the beveled area, then make a couple of passes to the right and left of it. As you can see, it will mae welding anything of any thickness alot more work. I doubt your machine could handle anything over .023 wire. As far as flux core having more penetration, I have never heard that, and I don't really see how it would matter. What will suck is that if you use the the fillet welding technique I mentioned above, you will need to clean the residue from the flux off before making the next pass as it will affect the weld if you leave it on there. Time to step up to bigger machine if you want to do the type of welding found on most 4x4s.

^ Yep. You may even try to preheat the metals surrounding your weld area. An O/A torch would do, but an Propane mini torch couldn't hurt either. But then, you're overexerting yourself and become self-defeating....It's time to step up to a 110v or a 220v machine....

I can barely weld 3/16" with my 135A MIG. Good luck with the 70A. Can you even weld sheet metal with it???

barley.:laughing:

don't get me wrong I want a 220 Mig but$$$.. the welder it good for whats it good for which isn't mush.. but since I didn't really pay much for it,, I'mjust trying to the best of what I have..

I do have a 220 Stick sitting in the corner, broken though:shaking: :confused:

use the 70a for body panels, and get the stick fixed....

I agree that you should get the stick fixed but in the meantime go to solid .023 wire and get a tank of Moongone. Make sure you have a real good extention cord, I use a homemade 10ga cord that plugs into my 220 socket. I would not recomend this but I've used a AC/DC stick welder as a power supply for a little 110 welder and had very good results. It's live all the time so you have to be careful, or just be used to the Century welder you are now using as a wire feeder. I'm sure that you are familiar with your welder but are you sure your polarity is set correctly? 70A isn't as lame as you might think if everything is working properly and it's DC not one of those cheapy AC jobs.
John..

FWIW the wire speed is the amperage control on a wire feed. The faster the wire, the more amps. This is because some wire sticks out then contacts the weld puddle then melts back. Back and forth. The faster this happens, the more current.

Anyway, faster wire speed = more amps.

It's time to step up to a 110v or a 220v machine....

A 70amp machine is a 110V unit...

FWIW, I had an 85amp 110V machine for many years. I could do a decent job up to 3/8" in multiple passes. What killed me was the duty cycle. I'd weld an inch or two and then practically read a magazine article until it cooled down enough to weld the next inch or two...

That pretty much sucked...

A 70amp machine is a 110V unit...

FWIW, I had an 85amp 110V machine for many years. I could do a decent job up to 3/8" in multiple passes. What killed me was the duty cycle. I'd weld an inch or two and then practically read a magazine article until it cooled down enough to weld the next inch or two...

That pretty much sucked...

Yes....I meant to say a higher output 110v welder ergo a 135amp unit. :p

There might be a terminology difference here, too.

For example when someone says they have a 135A 110, thats max amperage, but whn you look at the normal rating, its probably 100A @ 10 - 20% duty..

My old Lincoln Weld Pak 100 was 100A, rated I think 88A @ 20%...


With that welder, i had good results(although my 220 lincoln is a huge improvement)... I built 3 vehicles with that smaller welder, with no failures, and pretty hard use.

1) Flux Core wire wil get you your best penetration
2) Slower wire speed
3) clean, tight fitting joints for all your welds.
4) for heavy stuff, you can try beveling the edges, so you can get into the joint 'deeper' on the root pass, and then make multiple passes

My old Lincoln Weld Pak 100 was 100A, rated I think 88A @ 20%...


With that welder, i had good results(although my 220 lincoln is a huge improvement)... I built 3 vehicles with that smaller welder, with no failures, and pretty hard use.



i have to buy that welder as a starting
setup for my offroading/restoration needs. could you add details, maybe "tricks" on how your WP100 worked. any suggestion beside buying a more powerful machine?

i plan to work with flux-core.

thx for the info Haggar

I use my WP100 for everything. I have a 225A lincoln AC welder for the big work, but the WP100 works fine for tubing and such up to .188 wall in a single pass with it turned all the way up. Although, I wish I saved my $$ for a big mig welder, since I hate the stick.

Logjam-grant on ehre hooked upa modified dc battery charger to the leads inside the welder for another 50 or so amps of output :)