gmaw

Thanks. After only reading the first couple of pages and scanning the rest I started printing it. I'm going to put it in the MIG folder I keep in the shop.

I've been fighting my big mig setup for a while now. I'm still not sure what the problem is for sure but I believe it's shielding gas related. Once I get a bead going it'll settle down and run properly but for the first few seconds things aren't so good. My current guess is that I'm getting such a high initial rush of shielding gas that it's drawing air in.

excellent article.

but now i have to ask. is 100% argon ok to use with MIG on steel? yesterday i was welding some stuff. i noticed some beads were a tad splatty. i then realized that my CO2 regulator was leaking some gas. i then switched over to my argon tank and with my 1st bead (miller 251 with both knobs about middle), the MIG tip melted about half way back, even got a small notch at the tip of the cone too.

is this typical? perhaps my argon is not argon ???

It's definitely possible with argon. The problem is that argon makes the arc much easier to produce. Thus if you try to run short arc with a short stick out you get arcing back to the tip which is a direct short to the machine. Depending on the machine size this can really cook a tip. Mine is a Miller Dimension 400 which is capable of 500 amps and let me tell you if you ever arc to the tip it doesn't take it long to turn the whole thing into slag.

I suspect the larger molecule in the CO2 and more heat conductive I suspect. Martin

Martin Eastburn @ home at Lions' Lair with our computer lionslair at consolidated dot net NRA LOH & Endowment Member NRA Second Amendment Task Force Charter Founder

Wayne Cook wrote: