hi.from down under. Ihave just purchased a MAG MATE PRO 180 mig welder,but previous to this i used the cheap gasless welders of which i was fairly proficiant with, but with this new welder all has to be set by the user, such as wire speed , amperage , gas flow, tip stickout length,( OH MY POOR BRAIN) can anyone help me ? I have been to some of the other sites, but what I am looking for is, perhaps a book on the subject,can anyone shed any light on where i may be able to get one or help me in any other way. THANKING YOU IN ANTSIPATION GOLDEN BOY you can email me iff you like
Much information is going to be available on the inner side of the machine's cover plate and in the manual.
Amperage and wire speed are on a chart and those are determined by the thickness of the metal and the diameter of the wire, and the shielding gas used.
As for stickout, stay with about 3/8" to 1'2". If you get too close, you'll melt tips, and if you get too far, you'll see the wire heating up and turning red.
Angles are critical, and vary greatly as to whether you are pushing, pulling, traveling up or down, joint shape, lots of things. Books can get you started, but just doing it teaches you so you'll remember.
Go by sound. What you want is a "frying bacon" sound, and not a splut splut or any irregular sounds. And speaking of that, wear ear protection, as the red hot molten BBs can cause you SEVERE grief if they get in your ear.
If you know anyone who knows how to weld, invite them over, provide some adult beverage, and put some shrimp on the barbie, and they will show you more in an evening than you'll learn in a week on your own.
Hi Thomas (?), Im in mt isa at the moment but grew up in sydney. If you're local ill give you a lesson for a 6 pack, but none of that XXXX crap!
Here's a reply that i posted a while back for another guy in a similar position to you. The advice therein is just as relevant.
If i were in your position, what i would do is seek out someone who is clued up about welding and get them to show you a few things. you'll learn a lot more in 10 minutes with someone who's in the know than you will in weeks of tinkering and reading about it on the web. talking about welding is like dancing about singing. Trade qualifications mean surprisingly little in this area - ive met so many tradesmen in my time who have 20+ years in the industry but still dont actually know how to set a welder. they often rely on pencil marks on the welder itself for the settings, and they get crazy mad if you adjust it!
There are no hard and fast fules about welding.... every material is different, as is every weldment. a butt joint will require a different setting from a mitre. as a general rule though, an outside mitre requires about 30% less current than a butt joint while an inside mitre requires about 30% more. vertical up requires a lot less heat than welding on the flat or vertical down. All this talk is really pretty useless though except in terms of a general understanding of more or less is required.
starting with gas coverage, about 15lpm is a good start. keep your nozzle clean of spatter, aim your gun towards the direction of travel, and make sure that you dont have any wind/fans blowing your shielding away. shielding in itself is an art, but the basic points mean consistency.... a consistent gun angle, avoiding jerky movements of the gun. since you have come from gasless wire (flux core) you'll need to change your gun technique a bit. fluc core usually uses a 'pull' gun technique where you drag the gun, and a bit more stickout (the distance from the end of the tip to the steel, or the length of wire hanging out of the tip). Solid wire with gas on the other hand requires a bit less stickout, and a 'push' technique with the gun.
removing the mill scale is nice, but most people rarely bother unless the weld is to be certified. Im not familiar with your machine, but im assuming that it has a few settings on the front for voltage, maybe A through E? If so, your going to want to go with 'E' for anything 1/4" and over. 185 amps really isnt much to work with, but with chamfering you could realistically weld 1/2" material in a few passes.
so, start with your highest voltage setting. now, get close to the feeder. hold the gun in which ever hand you normally use, and put the other hand on the wire feed control. If your feeder has a '4 touch' setting or 'latch' setting whereby once you press the trigger it keeps welding until you press the trigger a second time, then use it. This is one of the secrets to accurate consitent welding in all positions. start welding, and adjust the wire while you are moving. turn it up to the point that the gun is kicking back in your hand, making a machine gun sound..... this is too much wire. now turn it down until it feels and sounds 'smooth', this is the earliest point where it feels and sounds good to you. This setting will be a slightly 'cold' or 'proud' bead. weld for a while, stop and have a look at the bead.
now keep welding, and adjust it down further... keep going until it seems to 'stall' and drip off the end of the wire... this is too low. but do a weld anyway... look at the finished bead. notice the browning? see how the spatter is really hard to remove? now weld again and turn it up, turn it down... you dont want that dripping, but you dont want it kicking back. while everything is a personal preference, and gun technique changes many things, you will probably want a setting just above the 'drip' setting, rather than just below the 'kick' setting.
as a general rule... more voltage = a flatter wider bead with more penetration, while more wire *reduces* the amount of heat. in general, set voltage for the penetration you want, and then adjust wire to suit. one way of thinking of it is like this; the voltage digs a hole, the wire fills it in. want more penetration? turn up voltage. Bead too proud? turn down wire (fill in the hole less) or turn up voltage (digs a deeper hole for the wire to fill up). too cold? turn voltage up then adjust wire again. too hot? turn voltage down and adjust wire to suit. browning would usually indicate too high a voltage, or too little wire, or not enough shielding gas. the overall verdict is too much heat. when you have excessive spatter, or the spatter is really hard to scrape off but you have a good looking bead, its a sign that you could probably tweak your wire a little bit.
every welder (machine) is a little bit different, even the same model. every weldor (person) is also different. gun technique does make a huge difference in the way the heat is applied, with gun angle, stickout and weave being the main components. many weldors are really bad at setting their welder, but very advanced at using gun techniques to increase or reduce heat. My personal technique is very adaptable, but a signature of my style is using a short forward step with a longer backstep for tha roll of dimes effect. at higher currents (300amps+) i tend to avoid direct arc at the edge of the bead, instead 'washing' the pool to the edge of the bead on the backstep to avoid undercut.
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