After a fairly long hiatus, I'm back. Used to post occasionally as Mark J.
Still using the trusty Handler 120 that was a common topic when I was active on this group back around 99 - 00. And that leads to my questions. I'm planning to do some modifications to a 4 X 8 utility trailer that involves moving some stanchions made of 2 X 2 X 3/16 angle. They are currently and again will be welded to the 3 inch side of some 3/16 thick angle.
A couple of nights ago I searched this group for threads related to my questions all the way back to some of my early posts back in '99.
I figured it would be smart to do a little practice on some scrap before jumping into the job like I usually do.
I butt welded a few strips of flat 1/8 trying out the recommended voltage setting of "3" and wide open "4" and played with wire speed. The I did a 2 inch butt weld of 1/4 inch flat stock with the ends beveled to half the thickness. Did a quick root pass and a stringer at fairly high heat and did a partial cap pass at really high heat just see. Running .030 wire right now and C25.
The 1/4 stock was 2 pieces about 2 feet long each. The resulting 4 foot piece took 3 good smacks on the floor to break the weld. The weldment all stayed to one piece. Penetration didn't look all that great to me, but it did show some penetration.
The 1/8 stuff I put in a vice and tried to fold it along the weld to about 30 degrees. No cracks or breaks. So I welded the now-gapped side on the outside of the angle for more practice. I then sliced that piece into 3 coupons to look at the cross section of the weld penetration. I cross section included a place welded only on the first side. No cracks, no porosity, no visible difference in the parent and filler metal. I hammered one of the coupons back flat from its 30 degree angle and no damage to the weld.
So I think I doing OK with the 1/8 stock, but it was too much to try the 1/4 inch even with multipasses.
Any opinions on whether I'll be able to stick these stanchions back on with this machine and working 3/16 stock. I plan on a little more practice before starting this project, too.
My gut feelings are that I can get it done (I've done some pretty good tricks with this welder before)by being patient and not stressing the duty cycle.
But I figured I'd float this kind of question again and see if I get any additional insight beyond what I came up with by searching old threads.
Thanks in advance, Mark