Welding Tips and Tricks

HI All!

Newb - I have an Everlast I-140E. I've run several miles of wire through it and have 3.5 inches of decent welds to show for it!!!!

But anyway, where do you start if you have to weld something beyond the limits of the machine? Example - if all you have is .23 wire and you're trying to weld something thicker than recommended, do you just max out the V/IPM and weld away or just play with it until you think you're close?

I saw the recommend AMP-IPM chart but my machine can't reach those numbers on the thicker stuff.

Thanks

joint configuration (eg beveled edge) and pre heat.
but also dialing it in with the right size wire, the right settings, the right gas and manipulation.

but none of that is any could of you can't do decent welds to start with.

You start by buying the appropriately sized machine for the job

Like was mentioned, you can bevel and preheat, but you might still run up against the duty cycle. One viable option is to use gas-less flux core wire. It generally runs hotter than solid wire and thus a given amperage-voltage setting will be able to dig in a little better. But you're still going to be limited by the machine.

Just as Tweake and Oscar have mentioned, you can't expect a vw bug to run you across the salt flats, but it will get to the other side with limits.
Oscar ... would dual shield wire provide more benefit than plain flux core ??? or is the machine he is using not capable of being fudged to a higher capacity ? Enquiring minds are asking.
Bill

BillE.Dee wrote:Just as Tweake and Oscar have mentioned, you can't expect a vw bug to run you across the salt flats, but it will get to the other side with limits.
Oscar ... would dual shield wire provide more benefit than plain flux core ??? or is the machine he is using not capable of being fudged to a higher capacity ? Enquiring minds are asking.
Bill

Nope, dual shield typically runs at voltages that are globular/borderline spray transfer, which also includes higher WFS's. AKA the machine needs to have big balls to run dual shield properly. The "sweet spot" for 035 dual shield is about 170A/26V. That alone puts it out of reach of any 120V MIG.

Thanks for all the replies.

It was more of a what-if kind of question as I'm still nowhere near proficient on this thing and I'm thinking out loud.

Thanks for all the replies.

It was more of a what-if kind of question as I'm still nowhere near proficient on this thing and I'm thinking out loud.