I'm not a newbie to welding, but have never really been taught by an experienced person beyond high school metals class. I've got access to two welders.....a 220v miller stick and a 110v millermatic 130. So far I've been using the stick for the thick stuff and the mig for around 1/8" and tacking. Gas is 75/25 argon/co2. As of now I've been using the stick less and less. When using the mig I'm good with penetration on 1/8" plate, but my current project involves burning some 1/4" and 1/8" together and that's where the 110 concerns me. I've got a tight fit-up on pieces and anything over 1/8" I bevel. How thick can you reasonably go with a 110?? Are there any tricks to getting sound welds on material that would generally be too thick for the welder??

In general, I think I've been getting better results with 0.025 wire vs. 0.030.....does that seem right?? With the 30 it seems I can never get it hot enough and the weld profile is high and narrow. With the 25 I have to run a faster wire speed but it seems to work better. With thicker metal I've been using a bit wider half moon motion which is putting alot more heat into the metal with hopes of better penetration....good or bad idea?? Current wire speed the arc length is very stable, doesn't wander back and forth in length, and has a fast and consistent frying bacon sound. Just looking for tips/advise on what I can do to improve.

Ok pics....

1/4 to 1/8

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v60/squidward731/Projects/Welds/P7160665.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v60/squidward731/Projects/Welds/P7160670.jpg

1/8" to axle

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v60/squidward731/Projects/Welds/P7160667.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v60/squidward731/Projects/Welds/P7160674.jpg

Nevermind that fugly upper weld....was on the last of that tank of gas and thats just a plate, nothing too structural.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v60/squidward731/Projects/Welds/P7160671.jpg

Welder setting with 0.025" lincoln wire.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v60/squidward731/Projects/Welds/P7160676.jpg

If you are worried that the pieces you want to weld are too thick then just bevel them accordingly and make an adjustment your land as such.

Joint preparation and fit-up are very important when you need good penetration.

Your welds look pretty good to me except for the corners of your link brackets. I would run another pass on them to help tie it together.

When forced to use a 110 mig I have found much better performance from the machine the closer you are to the circuit breakers and the better the chord you use. My .02 would be to run from the closest plug to the breaker panel and use a 10ga chord for your mig. I would even open the machine up and wire the 10ga chord directly into the machine.

If you are worried that the pieces you want to weld are too thick then just bevel them accordingly and make an adjustment your land as such.

Joint preparation and fit-up are very important when you need good penetration.

Your welds look pretty good to me except for the corners of your link brackets. I would run another pass on them to help tie it together.

Engrish? :laughing: I'm lost on that one

When forced to use a 110 mig I have found much better performance from the machine the closer you are to the circuit breakers and the better the chord you use. My .02 would be to run from the closest plug to the breaker panel and use a 10ga chord for your mig. I would even open the machine up and wire the 10ga chord directly into the machine.

Thats a good idea, I got another project for the weekend now. I should be able to rummage through my dads shit and find something totally overkill. I'm only about 20 feet from the main house breakers so can't get much better then that. A while back I did notice a difference when I ditched this dinky little chord for a bit beefier one.


Isn't penetration all about heat? Could you cheat a little and do some preheating on say 1/4" plate with only 4" or so of weld length?? Or am I just being a dumb shit....

Yes, you can preheat some for a thicker material. That's why a flux core wire will weld heavier material in a single pass. There's no pressuriezed gas shield to cool the puddle. It looks like your pushing your bead instead of pulling, assuming your right handed. To me it seems like I get more penetration by pulling a bead and tying in the sides on the heavy stuff. That bieng said, you have good penetration on those welds but it looks like a lot of spatter. What's your regulator set on and how good did you prep? Make sure your wire isn't dirty. I learned a trick in school to keep wire from building corrosion. I get some silica dessicant and put in in the spool housing of the machine and do the same when you store unused rolls in freezer bags.

The LAND is really only important when welding two pieces of plate or pipe together and full penetration on the backside is required for maximum strength, not when doing a fillet weld like you did on your link brackets.
http://i436.photobucket.com/albums/qq86/willturner_01/Land.jpg

A full bevel on a piece of metal would come to a point like the one on the left, also known as a feathered edge. The red part on the right is the area called the land.

If you grind that point flat to say 3/32" this will be your land size. You can adjust the size of the land for more or less penetration. The land is made to help control the heat when welding two pieces of metal together without burning through and causing a keyhole.

And like said above dragging the weld will get better penetration than pushing, preheating will allow more penetration also.

Also it looks like your voltage is a little on the high side with that much spatter around the weld.

Yes, you can preheat some for a thicker material. That's why a flux core wire will weld heavier material in a single pass. There's no pressuriezed gas shield to cool the puddle. It looks like your pushing your bead instead of pulling, assuming your right handed. To me it seems like I get more penetration by pulling a bead and tying in the sides on the heavy stuff. That bieng said, you have good penetration on those welds but it looks like a lot of spatter. What's your regulator set on and how good did you prep? Make sure your wire isn't dirty. I learned a trick in school to keep wire from building corrosion. I get some silica dessicant and put in in the spool housing of the machine and do the same when you store unused rolls in freezer bags.

Yes I am pushing. I guess I was taught to push with gas mig so thats what I do. For the last year I pulled with fluxcore because I was too cheap to buy gas :shaking: Spatter is probably because at first I wasn't paying too close of attention to the flow meter. It was a bit below 20 cfm for a while, now it's more like 30. Wire is brand new. Originally I was having a hell of a time with some old wire that didn't look corroded, but must have been. Good trick with the silica packs.

The LAND is really only important when welding two pieces of plate or pipe together and full penetration on the backside is required for maximum strength, not when doing a fillet weld like you did on your link brackets.
http://i436.photobucket.com/albums/qq86/willturner_01/Land.jpg

A full bevel on a piece of metal would come to a point like the one on the left, also known as a feathered edge. The red part on the right is the area called the land.

If you grind that point flat to say 3/32" this will be your land size. You can adjust the size of the land for more or less penetration. The land is made to help control the heat when welding two pieces of metal together without burning through and causing a keyhole.

And like said above dragging the weld will get better penetration than pushing, preheating will allow more penetration also.

Also it looks like your voltage is a little on the high side with that much spatter around the weld.

Ok now I understand about the land! Thanks for explaining that one. I've been experimenting with different bevels and am starting to get better results.

20-25cfm should be plenty for flat, horiz, or vertical welding. I would bump it up though for overhead. Usually when there isn't enough gas it causes porosity not spatter.

Also the cleaner the metal the better when it comes to mig. Thats propably why your welds have so much glass in them when you are done. (Its impurities in the weld coming up)

I am grinding everything before welding. But the axle and 1/4" plate can be pretty rusty with deeper pits so I'm not getting it 100% clean.