Welding Tips and Tricks

Hello all, new here and a new hobby welder.

I got a Lincoln 180C. Been practicing with it and reading about welding in general. I see sometimes people note that they had their voltage set to X. Is that always open circuit voltage?

I've put a volt meter between pos and neg terminals inside the door and charted open voltage at each mark (cant remember if its numbers or letters), also charted the the voltage while welding, . And charted wire speed at each mark using Jody's 6 second measure then x10. Knowing these voltages and wire speeds, if I read someone's set up is x volts and y IPM, does it make a difference if I'm using a different machine that someone using the same numbers?

And is it important to know the amps if I know the wire speed and volts?

Sorry if this was answered somewhere.

Bill

Hi, Bill, and welcome!

A MIG power supply is a "constant voltage" source. I use quotes there, because if you've charted the operating voltage while welding, you've seen it's not so constant. For that reason, the open-circuit voltage is the set-point you are seeking when you set your machine to a particular voltage.

Keep in mind different machines have different "under load" characteristics, so the volt/wire recommendations are starting points. Your brand "X" and your buddy's brand "Y" might require the same wire speed at 19V, for example, but at 24V be 50 IPM different to perform the same.

You can ignore amps on MIG, other than perhaps curiosity. A MIG done under a WPS will specify a voltage range and wire-speed range that will give the desired amperage. For a weld done without a specification, most of the time I set the voltage to the material chart recommendation and adjust the wire for a smooth weld. If you're concerned about amps (for a more critical weld), set the wire speed to the recommendation for the material, and adjust the voltage instead.

Steve S