ok i went and opened the welder up and looked at the wiring diagram and for some reason it was allready wired for gas........................not sure why..........
if it pops its probably the wire speed is to fast start slow and try it then turn it up and try again keep doing that until it feels like the wire is pushing you away from your work backoff a bit and try changing the pressure keep doing that until you get a good feel it takes time no one learns to weld in ten min go slow practice practice practice you should be able to weld .035 with that welder you can go to a library and get book on elect wirefeed welding buy good gasless wire and it should work fine just as good as gas harry retired master mechanic and part time welder
Wire yes go with .035 wire with gas or with gasless wire start to weld metal about 1/8 thick it is heave enough to weld and you wont born trough as easy and dont move to fast give it time to melt the metal and allways use your mask if you burn your eyes you WILL HURT LIKE HELL IF YOU GET EYE BURN DONT LAUGH LYE ON YOUR BACK AND PUT USED WET TEABAGS ON YOUR EYES THEY WILL EASE THE BURNING GOOD LUCK harry also you can go to harbor freight and get a auto darkining welder mask go harbor freight and try to get a coupon and go to the store and they will sell itl to you for the price of the coupon again good luck
Welding Mike when you get the heat and wire speed just right the tip of the welder on metal should sound JUST LIKE bacon frying in a skillet. When you get there you are cooking! no pun intended Texasjack
I know this is old but I think there needs to be a little clearing up here. The thinner the metal the smaller the wire you need. so to weld sheet metal you do want .025 or .023 wire Mike. The heavier the metal the thicker you want the wire to be. I didn't know that flux core and gas had to be wired differently, could be, I thought it was just for different metals. Anyways, I wouldn't use flux core, you did the right thing getting the gas and wire, your weld will be much cleaner. Call John, he recently became an expert in welding, he did gain some valuable experience doing his his car and I'm sure he will share with you.
I can offer this advice. Cut the wire very close to the contact tip and keep it close to the workpiece when starting off.
I'm also learning to MIG weld and can relate to everything said here. As a novice, I can tell you one thing that worked. I gave up trying to run a bead on body sheet metal. Just couldn't get it right. BUT, I can now do adequate spot/stitch welds, which is all you need for body panels if you're not in a hurry. One problem I was having was getting the shade adjusted on the mask. Too dark and you can't see the work. Too light and the bright arc obscures everything around it and you can't see the work. You have to be able to see both sides of a seam when the arc is burning. I found I could make an adequate spot weld by pulling the trigger for just a second or two and moving the wire so the arc came from one side of the seam and then the other. With those spot welds I'm getting NO warping. I figure a spot weld every 1/2" is going to be plenty strong but you can fill it in completely if you're not in a hurry. Anyway, that's what's working for me. My spot welds are higher than needed but they'll grind off. Maybe someday I'll be able to do a bead but in the meantime, spot/stitch welding is working just fine.
Can't See to Weld Go to Northern Equipment or Harbor Freight and get a welding helmet that has a photo light lens. When you are in normal light you can see through the lens like a light pair of sunglasses, as soon as you strike an arc the lens automatically darkens in a micro mini second. You will love it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! They are $50-70 bucks. Texasjack
Yep, that's what I'm using. But, when I started it was adjusted to too light a shade. The arc was so bright I couldn't see anything else. Took me a while to figure out the problem. Thanks. Jim
Here is the best helmet i have ever used, It adjust for the light conditions and weld brightness. It is awesome. http://www.jacksonsafety.com/linkdetails.cfm?groupid=3004384
I HAVE A 220WIRE FEED WELDER .YOU ONLY CHANGE THE WIRING IF YOU ARE GOING TO WELD ALUMNUM .GAS FLUX USE THE SAME POLARTY. IF YOU ARE WELDING SHEET METAL YOU SHOULD USE O35 OR O3O WIRE .YOU WILL FIND FLUX IS CHEAPER THAN GAS AND A LOT EASER TO MOVE TOUR WELDER AROUND .THE ONLY WAY TO GET IT RIGHT IS TO PLAY WITH THE SETTINGS.START LOW ON BOTH AND WORK UP 1 AT A TIME FIRST MOVE UP THE FEED AND THEN TRY IT AND THEN MOVE UP THE HEAT . IT TAKES TIME BUT PRACTIC AND YOU WILL GET IT GOOD LUCK .dont change the polarity if it is set for gas iit is the samefor flux
