Thread: Problem Solved

Hi Dean,
I am happy the information was of value to you.

It is those sorts of tips that never appear in a text book.They are the sort of thing a professional welder learns on the job from the "old hands".

Counter jumpers in most cases are not welders and have little or no experince in tuning a mig.
I am about to start my class on GMAW and way before they get to pull a trigger.i have had them strip , troubleshoot and reassemble the gun and cable head assembly not because I am a mean mongrel but because I insist that if they are going to weld with mig they must deal with the stoppages they shall invariably suffer.

I will say however those Sip model welders put more people off mig welders than they ever got started.

My impression is that it is a machine designed by accountants (with apologies to all our forum accountants -that don't design welders)

There's lots of simple tweaks that can be done but in the end they are still a bottom end machine.

Whats your application for your machine?
cheers

Grahame

I think the correct term is 'bean counter' rather than accountant.

The mind set is also very common in school teachers. You see them in restaurants arguing about the bill - 'No, Fred had more rice with his curry, so I'm not paying etc.'

It can be amusing or annoying, but there is rarely blood spilt.

Grahame

First let me just say that I wish I had looked closely at this forum before I bought my mig. I may have opted for a higher spec second hand unit or just waited for a better financial position. (?)

Whats your application for your machine?

Mainly welding stuff that is too thin for the stick welder such as 1.6 / 2.0 mm wall tubing and 1.0 mm sheet. Wood box on casters that termites can't eat thru, cupboards for shed etc. Before reading this forum I was going to use it for fixing rust on 4wd but am rethinking due to cost of gas. I use flux core because it costs about $180 a year for a gas cylinder and I already have an oxy (propane) cylinder which SWMBO is already leery about. I don't have enough use to warrant the cost. Maybe rent a cylinder short term and do it in one go. Maybe buy another Hilux?

I had thoughts about welding ali and stainless but soon realized that was not happening after reading the manual. Have welded lots of stainless with the stick but the odd ali repair would be useful. A $40 disposable bottle (cannot call them cylinders) lasts about 8 - 10 mins. Probably get it done at work. I work at a winery so stainless is common around my shed (scrap).

I will say however those Sip model welders put more people off mig welders than they ever got started.

My impression is that it is a machine designed by accountants (with apologies to all our forum accountants -that don't design welders)

There's lots of simple tweaks that can be done but in the end they are still a bottom end machine.

I have to agree with you there. SWMBO had already agreed to buying a replacement due to the issues I was having. I am soon to start working 12 hour shifts 6 days a week for the annual vintage period. Lots more money. When I bought this mig I thought it would be a bit better than than a sip as it was more expensive. I think I just paid a lot of money for a red paint job. Your comment about accountants / bean counters is confirmed by the fact that I had to change the machine (loosen spring screw) to get it to work properly. Should have been able to adjust it correctly without this. Also no mention of how to set tension in the manual.

Dean

you should really give gas a go

Sorry I took so long to reply. Still getting used to the forum operations. I have used gas before with a mig borrowed from a mate. Its the cost man! I am trying desperately to work out ways to reduce our spending and try to have something left at the end of the week and you want me to rack up more. Seriously I can not afford to fork out for gas and cylinder rental for the amount of use I will get out of this mig in general. Already have oxy cylinder rental to cover. I will consider short term rental for specific jobs, but I don't know if you lose any gas you don't use. Something I need to find out.

Maybe when need for oxy is less I will swap for argon. Need to cover a lot of bases there such as a forge for heating metal and a torch for plumbing work etc.

I use arc most of the time and are currently using rods that cost $18.00 for 5kg pack. I have used cig rods and would love to keep using them, but cannot justify the price let alone afford it. I had swmbo go into town (55km) on a sunday some years ago because she could not stand listening to me swearing any longer. She bought cig rods at the hardware shop for $55.00, 5kg. Great rods, fixed the problem but hate to think what they cost now. After trying many different ones have found a couple that work well and are cheap.

Dean

These sorts of problems are akin to playing with a rubic cube.

Obviously its better and cheaper to take the truck off the road ,hire the cylinder for a short term rental and then give it back.

The rubic cube parallel comes in that the truck is usually your daily drive so maybe you can't afford to do that.

As a comparison my 6 montly rental is around $95 per cyl , but I suffer it for the outright ability to have mig or the tig, when ever the hell I want to.

Not knowing your circumstances the following may or may not suit you.

Maybe you could prepare all your weld in pieces ahead of time,ie as in having all your templates made,materials purchased, marked out,cut, bent and prepped,body trims removed -all that sort of stuff , and hit it over the Easter break.
That way you are up only for a short term rental if you can get one or maybe borrow some one elses argon for an appropriate renumeration.

Most problems have a solution. Usually its just organisation and a bit of planning .

With the electrode situation I am starting to see better quality and ecomical basic electrodes becoming more available. I think the rand names are becoming a bit cheaper in order to compete and the some of the cheapies are improving their game as well and lifting quality but not the price. I have personally tried as many and varied cheapies I could get and they all workedok on the inverter.

I have got a stick tutorial half done and when I can get some time after easter will finish and post it.

Cheers
Grahame

Look forward to seeing your tutorial on stickwelding. I am mostly self taught. Easter is a problem. On wednesday I start 12 hours shifts and soon I will be working 12 hrs a day 6 days a week for about two and a half months. One of the advantages and disadvantages of working in a winery.

I understand what you are saying tho. The truck is not required to travel to work. I leave it home for the farm manager (swmbo) to use most of the time. She likes driving it. My daughter in law went to town with her a couple of years ago in the ute. Her later comment was "Don't get in the way of mum and her truck". Bullbars have more than one use. (We also see a lot of roos on our roads.)

Dean

Drive roll pressure is vitally important. Set tension as Grahame advised.
A little more info for you, if the drive roll pressure is too high it will remove some of the copper coating on solid wires, this will cause build up inside the liner and eventually the wire will not feed, so you add more pressure and the problem becomes more of a problem. Too much drive roll pressure can also distort the shape of the wire which causes abrasion in contact tip, which in turn causes wear. A worn contact tip causes an erratic arc. Drive roll pressure is vitally important when aluminium MIG welding as being softer metal it will distort more easily. A couple of tips for aluminium MIG welding. Use aluminium/magnesium wire as it is much stiffer and will not cause the same birds nest problems that aluminium will cause. Use the correct drive rolls and pressure as Grahame suggests, use a teflon or nylon liner as this reduces friction, go up a tip size or in other words if you are using 1.00mm wire, use a 1.2mm contact tip. Have the torch hoses and leads as straight as possible with no loops or kinks. All of these tips help deliver the wire to the weld pool as smoothly as possible with minimum friction. If you are going to do some serious MIG welding, especially with aluminium, buy a MIG machine that is fitted with a 4 drive roll system. Everlast have these latest inverter machines with 4 drive rolls.

Had further problems with feed which I diagnosed as caused by liner. I had been given a replacement liner by the supplier when I tried to get them to fix it originally but it was totally different to what was needed. A bit of work on the lathe etc and I had a working teflon liner which can be replaced with any similar sized one in future. I have only found a steel liner to suit this welder on the internet.

When I removed liner I found a kink in it near the welder body which I recall reading was not unusual for cheaper units due to rough, tight packaging of cable unit.

Dean

Hi
I have a tig welder and the cost of the rent on the bottle was a killer. Then my son found a place that sell the bottle and then you just swap the bottle and pay for the gas, Just can not remember there name but the deliver the speedy gas to homes I will see if i can find there details and post it
I have I think a E or F bottle (about 4 foot high) that will last me many years I did the sums and I come out a long way in front

Russell

found it
Speed Gas - Home

Russell