Welding Tips and Tricks

Hey all,

I am using a Lincoln 140hd. I was laying some beads down yesterday in preparation to weld some subframe connectors to my car. The metal thickness is 1/8" so I grabbed some flat 1/8" bar that is 2" wide to set the machine up on to ensure good penetration and wire speed. The door said I should set the heat to "D" which is the highest heat setting and to set the speed to 6 (1-10 are the settings) and I am using gas with .025 wire. I did this and ran a bead on the metal and it really seemed like the speed was TOO low. So, I upped the speed and the sound of the weld got a lot better as well as the bead looked better too. I had to up the speed to 10 in order to get everything to sound and bead to look correct.

My question: Why would the door say to the speed should be 6 which is obviously too low? Could there be an issue with my machine?

Thanks all

Do you have the right sized wire drive roll in the machine, and the pressure on it adjusted correctly?

Your incoming voltage may be different then the voltage in the factory test lab. If they plugged the welder into good clean power at say 127 volts and then made up the chart through testing, and then youplug it in at home to 110volts then it's definantly posible that you have to turn your machine up much more than the chart says. It's not uncommon for manufacturers to do things like this. It probably is printed on your name plate that the incoming power supply needs to be + or - 10%. So these ranges are accepted norms.

Well first door charts aren't always perfect and are usually off anyways. Also just to double check are you using the right wire size on the door chart. I know on a millermatic 130 we run about the same with.030 wire.

Thanks for the replies all,

Yes I have the settings for the .025 wire correct as far as clamping force and wheel size.