115v mig welding problems

Jesse813 · Sat Jan 02, 2016 3:25 pm

I recently bought a 115v might welder and have been having some issues. There's no penetration and its popping a lot. I'm a beginner with mig, I've used flux core but am new to using gas. Any help would be greatly appreciated, thanks.

ldbtx · Sat Jan 02, 2016 5:24 pm

Jesse813 wrote:I recently bought a 115v might welder and have been having some issues. There's no penetration and its popping a lot. I'm a beginner with mig, I've used flux core but am new to using gas. Any help would be greatly appreciated, thanks.

You sure your polarity is correct? Flux core wants to be DCEN. Electrode negative. There should be a treminal block in the wire compartment to change it.

Jesse813 · Sun Jan 03, 2016 6:07 pm

I'm pretty sure the polarity is correct, I bought it used and it was set up for mig when I got it. I have the gas setup and I did some reaserch to make sure the flow was right but it didn't make a difference, neither did adjusting heat or wire speed.

Poland308 · Sun Jan 03, 2016 8:09 pm

Are you useing gas while you run the fluxcore wire?

Antorcha · Mon Jan 04, 2016 9:41 am

Jesse813 wrote:I'm pretty sure the polarity is correct, I bought it used and it was set up for mig when I got it. I have the gas setup and I did some reaserch to make sure the flow was right but it didn't make a difference, neither did adjusting heat or wire speed.

Let me guess. You're welding old bed frame"angle iron" or galvanized steel ?

Jesse813 · Mon Jan 04, 2016 4:27 pm

Poland308 wrote:Are you useing gas while you run the fluxcore wire?

No, I haven't used flux core with it yet. Only mig wire with gas.

Jesse813 · Mon Jan 04, 2016 4:30 pm

Antorcha wrote:Let me guess. You're welding old bed frame"angle iron" or galvanized steel ?

No just flat steel, nothing special

ldbtx · Mon Jan 04, 2016 6:36 pm

Jody has a pile of videos on MIG welding, but there are 3 that specifically deal with 115 volt machines;

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NEHlfh6DO8o

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cBOSchZ9ATY

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KzSNpsLT40Q

There is a playlist for MIG basics that can't hurt to watch also. Covers a lot of terrority.

You might post some pics to help us diagnose the issues you're having.

We'll get it figured out with you,
Larry

Blindrider110 · Sat Apr 30, 2016 2:13 pm

[quote="Jesse813"]I recently bought a 115v might welder and have been having some issues. There's no penetration and its popping a lot. I'm a beginner with mig, I've used flux core but am new to using gas. Any help would be greatly appreciated,

In my experience the 115v just doesn't have enough power to weld anything over 11g (eighth inch). Anything equal to or less than 115 works great. Might need to check material thickness and possibly look into 220v +