Thread: Capacity of Kemppi 180 Adaptive

Congrates on the new MIG JonathanC Got any pics of the beast?

Before i replaced my insulator, the nozzle sat flush with the shroud however when i replaced it, the shroud was about 5mm above the tip. Seemed to work fine. I read it should be flush but obviously there is differing opionions.

Not quite sure what the 'gold standard' is. Let us know if there is a major difference if you make it flush.

Cheers

Dan

There is no standard as far as I know.

The important thing relative to this is the stick out,or the amount (read distance in mm ) that the wire is allowed to protrude from the contact tip face during the welding operation.

It too is a variable. By increasing or decreasing the length of the stick out one can control (to an extent) the heat in the weld pool.It handy in working sheet metal that prone to blow through ot filling a root gap that's a bit wide

It is not infinite however,as you can stick out so far as to lose coverage by your sheilding gas which of course you can't see.
What you can see is what happens when the wire is not covered by the gas envelope, which is porosity and crappy looking welds.

Cheers
Grahame

sorry to dig this thread up guys, i am loking for a welder right now and would like to know if everyone that owns a kemppi 180mig is happy with how its going? was it worth the $2000 price tag? and how does it go welding 10mm plate?

thanks for any help
james

Hi cockroach, actually been welding with the Kemppi today, I have it set up for stainless steel only. Very happy with it, worth the money, good question, it's a very nice little welder and has heaps of grunt for what it is. 10mm shouldn't be a problem, I always use a weave pattern when I MIG and that lets it get plenty of penetration.

If you were going to weld 10mm all the time I'd get something bigger, but if that is the biggest shouldn't be a problem. Keep in mind that I've only welded stainless though. Good luck with the decision!

Originally Posted by cockroach

sorry to dig this thread up guys, i am loking for a welder right now and would like to know if everyone that owns a kemppi 180mig is happy with how its going? was it worth the $2000 price tag? and how does it go welding 10mm plate?

thanks for any help
james

Hi james ,

With me its a love /hate thing. I am dirty on it because a mud wasp laid a nest across a circuit board and it cost $400 to fix.
The unit works extremely well but so it should for the money you will pay.

Before you commit to buy ask to be allowed to change a liner on a demo unit.This is a common procedure and on most migs is reasonably straight forward but not on the Kemppi.That may change your mind.

I am not too happy with the quality of the entire wire feed system-more comments from me about it in this very thread - just scroll back.

If you have got $2000 or so it could be spend on a machine that is more cost effective, honestly I could not recommend the Kemppi on that level.

Its a matter of listing the comparative features of what you need to have against what the Kemppi offers.

If it is just a general mig you could buy a far cheaper machine and still afford a top quality AD helmet like an Optrel or Speedglaas with the left over change.
Just an opinion for what little it is worth.
Grahame

after looking at a few different welders, i ended up going with a kemppi kempoweld 251R. i figured i should go with a high power welder that i wont outgrow in a few years time. plus it has the remote wire feeder that i can move around without having to move the whole machine. but thanks for the info on the 180adaptive guys

Originally Posted by cockroach

after looking at a few different welders, i ended up going with a kemppi kempoweld 251R. i figured i should go with a high power welder that i wont outgrow in a few years time. plus it has the remote wire feeder that i can move around without having to move the whole machine. but thanks for the info on the 180adaptive guys

Nice!... Keep us posted on your progress with it. I got myself a Kemppi Master Tig last year so I won't be lashing out too soon on more gear.

Well I have just bought the Kemppi mini arc 180, before reading this thread!

The changing of the liners is not something I considered and it will be on the list of things to do as I want to weld stainless and try some aluminium welding.

My last MIG lasted me 20 years and is still working but I wanted something more modern but still wanted a quality unit that would genuinely last. (or at least be highly likely to last a long time)

What has impressed me regarding this thread is the comments regarding its ability to weld stainless, seems it does this very well. Great to hear first hand experience.

I had no idea it would weld up to 10mm mild steel though! I rarely weld anything that thick but nice to know that I can. More importantly it will obviously easily weld 6mm without having to bevel any edges.

I guess I will have to see how I go changing liners.

Compactness was important consideration for me because I often need to bring it in for work or onsite jobs and the Kemppi is truly portable.

Hopefully this weekend I will get it fired up.

One question I do have is regarding wire size. I have always used 0.6mm wire as I do a lot of automotive welding and rust repairs, also my old MIG didn't really like 0.8mm wire.

The Kemppi is optimised for 0.8mm wire so my question is should I stick with 0.8mm wire or do I use the 0.6mm. I just bought a new 5kg reel of 0.6mm so I will start with that but once that runs out I wonder if I should stick with 0.8mm?

My welding is generally at the lighter end of the spectrum.

Cheers

Justin

Its good when you can drag up and old thread with all the info, thats what i love about forums.

The wire diameter will depend on what job your attempting. Different metals and metals thickness should dictate what wire your going to use.

Ive found using the thinner wire on very thinner metal panels (ie cars) works much better and i get a cleaner more consistant weld. Really doesent need that much filler wire.

For really thick peices on the other hand you'll need alot more weld deposit to fill gaps and get good penetration, so increasing the wire diameter is going to work much better and produce a stronger weld.

Id suggest getting some different diameter wire and rollers and try them out on some scrap. I was amazed about how much a difference in wire diameter made on certain welds.

Sometimes the machine itself will have a guide on it, to indicate wire size and machine settings for specific metals and metal thicknesses.

Cheers

UglyDan

I am not going to say for sure but I think with your Kemppi you will get good control with the .8mm wire and should allow you to get good results on your thinner metal. I am using a larger model but only load 1mm and am amazed how thin a sheet it will weld nicely.
So if it recommends .8 and it is setup for it with rollers, programs etc I would give it a go because it will be more versatile. Assuming you are using plain wire it is cheap enough to give it a go.

Originally Posted by johncar

I am not going to say for sure but I think with your Kemppi you will get good control with the .8mm wire and should allow you to get good results on your thinner metal. I am using a larger model but only load 1mm and am amazed how thin a sheet it will weld nicely.
So if it recommends .8 and it is setup for it with rollers, programs etc I would give it a go because it will be more versatile. Assuming you are using plain wire it is cheap enough to give it a go.

Thats good to know actually, thank you.

The instructions say that you can run 0.6 and you just compensate with the controls a bit to "trick" the machine.

At the end of the day I will know what sort of weld I need for a given situation and adjust the machine to suit. I'm really looking forward to running my first weld with it!

One of my close friends will get my old MIG for free and he's a very happy man.

Cheers

Justin

Originally Posted by JonathanC

I always use a weave pattern when I MIG and that lets it get plenty of penetration.

I think you will find that the reverse is true, stringer beads will actually penetrate better on the whole.
It is also a common misconception that cranking up the amperage will greatly increase penetration, it actually makes a surprisingly small difference. Weaving increases the potential for distortion and will produce a weld with a larger, less refined grain structure compared to a multi pass weld. There are cases where a weave is justified such as vertical up welding but for consistently strong welds, stringers are the way to go in the downhand, horizontal and overhead positions, (perhaps with a slight oscillation to aid edge wetting).
Your preparation will have a far greater effect upon penetration - when in doubt, grind it out.
If you ever get the chance, do some macro tests, (etching a cross section of a weld with nitric acid), this actually shows the weld distinct from the parent metal, revealing penetration depth and also very importantly, penetration bead shape.

Can you guys with the 180's do me a favour and try this, yesterday I was welding 3mm SHS, 0.9mm wire, set on auto at 3mm. It would weld fine for about 1cm then the wire would just push out and glow red hot. turned the auto setting back to say 2.4mm and it welded fine.

anyone had this problem before? machine is basically new

also, do I need to change the drive rollers for 0.9mm wire? I thought the rollers suited wire for 0.8-1.0 but the 0.9mm wire gets pinched and peels off a small shaving as it drives. If i back it off it doesn't drive, just slips.

Hi bowseruni, I don't have that model but I don't think that they are designed to run 0.9mm wire. Mine has specific rollers for each wire size and programmed accordingly and so if I am running 0.8 then I would have to change the rollers from the 1.0 ones that are in there now to 0.8.
So it is probably better to try and get hold of some 0.8mm wire and check that your rollers are the right ones for it. I think they come standard with 0.8 but not sure.
When setting the material thickness I gather you would also select the wire size, so if you are selecting 0.8, but using 0.9 then you will have to compensate with your material and other settings to get a good result.
When I got my machine at first it was a similar thing because I have plenty of .9 wire, I wanted to use it but in the end it was just better to get the 1.0 mm and that's what it is designed for and runs happier with less messing around.

One other thing that I have noticed is that when selecting material thickness and if I were to weld 3mm with 0.8 wire I would set the machine for material thickness a little thinner, say about 2.7mm or even 2.5mm. maybe the program is designed for pro welders who are faster than me so because I am a little more tentative I just drop the heat back a little by telling it the material is thinner.

Great machines though and definitely nice to work with.