Wire welder

[PILOON]

OK, I bought an 'el cheapo' wire welder for welding thin stock.
(For serious welding I have a 200 amp Hobart stick machine and we get along very well.)
While it all seems to be OK I'm amazed as to how fast and how much wire is ejected.
What is a norm, in feet /min or /sec.
Also with the supplied wire it sputters like crazy. Is that normal?
My thought is cheap off shore wire.
Appreciate some feedback.

 

[California]

OK, I bought an 'el cheapo' wire welder for welding thin stock.
(For serious welding I have a 200 amp Hobart stick machine and we get along very well.)

By Cheapo I hope you don't mean HF's $99 AC flux welder. BTDT and I don't recommend it, AC flux-wire welding simply doesn't work well. Take it back!

Anything that is the next step up from that one should be able to do decent work but you first need decent wire. I've decided to stick with flux core for the projects I do, mostly farm repairs that no one is going to critique. INE flux core was recommended to me over on TBN. It welds the best of anything I've tried.

MC posted a thread about getting started with a wire welder.

Welding a wrought iron railing

My first welding project will be one that goes front and center in our entry way... a wrought iron (actually molded steel) railing and baulesters. After a couple of orders from house of forgings and a trip to king architectural metals here in southern California I'm ready to get started and...

weldingsite.com

 

[WranglerX]

Ummm... If it ejects wire to fast, turn down wire speed, spitting and sputtering is probably cause by machine trying to force to much wire in to puddle.... As stated above, an AC wire welder is not the best type, a really good DC one where you can change polarity whether you are using fluxcore (FCAW) or solid wire with shield gas (GMAW) will be a lot better to accomplish good welds...

Need help with youwelds, maybe some answers to you problems here...

 

[Gary Fowler]

OK, I bought an 'el cheapo' wire welder for welding thin stock.
(For serious welding I have a 200 amp Hobart stick machine and we get along very well.)
While it all seems to be OK I'm amazed as to how fast and how much wire is ejected.
What is a norm, in feet /min or /sec.
Also with the supplied wire it sputters like crazy. Is that normal?
My thought is cheap off shore wire.
Appreciate some feedback.

Ok< what machine did you buy? The cheapest HF machine that I could recommend is the Titanium 125 for FCAW only welding. They were on sale a couple weeks ago for $159 but now back to $199. I cant attest to how long they last though. The one I have worked fine for several rolls of wire and produced very good welds but it just quit working a few weeks ago. Just like all of the inverter machines, they work well till they dont. I really liked that machine for it's portability and welding qualities and was considering buying another but am on the rail about that for the time being.

As for your elcheapo machine, dont be afraid to turn the dials and see what happens. Kick it up to highest amperage and cut back on the wire feed till you get a consistent feed rate. If you feel the wire pushing back on the gun when welding, you have too much wire feed, not enough volts or both. With the smaller machines you really cant run too hot with them to cause any problems so crank up the volts and see what happens. Likely it will cut out due to thermal overload if you go beyond the work limit though.

 

[California]

The cheapest HF machine that I could recommend is the Titanium 125 for FCAW only welding. ... produced very good welds but it just quit working a few weeks ago.

Hmm. I have been thinking about getting a Titanium 125, for the portability. But it sounds like buying the 2 year exchange warranty should be included by anyone buying one. It is from HF, after all.

 

[A-one]

A lot of wire and sputtering sounds like the wire feed is probably a little high for the voltage. The feed speed is equivalent to the amperage setting in stick. The only difference is you have to have the voltage set high enough to burn the wire efficiently.

My grandfather got a little 70 amp wire welder. It wasn't hot enough for him so in a corner it went. It sat in the shop until a couple of years ago when my uncle gave it to me. I gave it to my brother. My brother goes to play around with it and calls me saying it was popping and spitting. My first thought was to tell him to turn the feed down. He said that it was turned all the way down and still doing it. We figured out that somebody turned it all the way up, took the knob off, and put it back to 1. It didn't have the voltage to burn the wire off that fast. Probably was granddad trying to make it weld a little hotter!!!

 

[PILOON]

It came from Princess Auto (Cdn) $ cost of $100. shipping included and is 110VAC only.
I wanted it simply for thin stock.
The feed speed is more like ft/sec rather than ft/min.
And YES, I cranked the speed way down.

While I've not studied the circuit closely, I suspect a wrong variable pot value.
When I find time I'll try to create a diagram for the speed control and plan a cure.
(Might be as simple as adding a resistor in series with the variable resistor.)

 

[California]

If it outputs DC, there's hope.

AC-output welding is just a frustration maker.

 

[PILOON]

If it outputs DC, there's hope.

AC-output welding is just a frustration maker.

I don't know that but I'll check that out.
If DC there would have to be diodes or a bridge.
For that matter I have some health diodes on hand so that's one option.
(LOL, I never toss anything)

AC is frustration? on only wire feed?
On my buzz box I have no problems with AC, like all my welds hold up OK, and that over 20+ years.*

With my 'toy' wire welder I did kind of stuck together a few things but with a host of splatter and frustration.
Sure would like it to be a usable tool.
OK, I knew coming in that it would be limited usage but hoped it would be good for thin metal (like body work).
Splatter was sure scary, I feared starting a shop fire while with my stick welder I felt safe to weld in confined areas.

* Heck my first welder was a DIY re wound Hydro transformer that served me well 'til I sprung for a decent product.
I even recently modified a big booster battery charger into a welder, works OK once you can start the arc.
It is all about techniques!

 

[California]

Here's what I was using 10 years ago. A big honking heavy 230A-AC stick welder from the 1960's, and a Harbor Freight $72 AC-only flux welder.
I did decent work with the stick welder over several years. So, like you, I bought a smaller welder for light material. But I found it was near impossible to do decent work with the AC flux welder.

Here's one of my best welds with the HF flux welder. Nowhere near the quality of work one could be proud of. It was sufficient for the project, which was to adapt parts someone gave me from an incomplete exercise machine, into a lifter for the spike harrow. If the lifter welds failed, consequences would be minimal.

And here's a farm repair that happened to be perfectly matched to the narrow range of work the HF could do reasonably well. I reinforced a too-light trailer tongue that had bent, adding on bedframe angle iron.

I gave up and sold the HF welder, and bought a (used) DC 110 V flux welder. That worked as expected, my welds looked decent. Then a couple of years ago I was offered a fantastic deal on two welders that a hobbyist/experimenter had grown bored with. So that's what I have now. Both, and $60 of flux core wire, for $25!! I'll keep the ancient 230A stick welder in case I ever need to weld 3/8" or larger material but I haven't needed it yet.

 

[CA_Bgrwldr]

With a wire welder, when heat & speed settings are correct for the thickness of the steel you are welding, you should hear a sizzle sound, like cooking bacon, however MIG will be more of a constant sizzle while Flux will be a little more erratic, especially with cheaper quality wire.

OK, I knew coming in that it would be limited usage but hoped it would be good for thin metal (like body work).
Splatter was sure scary, I feared starting a shop fire while with my stick welder I felt safe to weld in confined areas.

For body work, while .030 wire will work, it does warp the metal requiring a lot more finish work, .023 wire is better. If the type of body work you want to do is something more than just rust repair, a MIG machine and .023 wire is what you should look into. Eastwood has some entry level MIG's for under $400.

If your shop has exposed wood framed walls, flux welding inside is a bad idea, enough spatter in the right spot will set wood on fire, and should really only be done outside or in an area where the spatter can't find ignitable material