Welding Tips and Tricks

I am new to welding and I need some help. I got a 220 suitcase welder, chicago electric to be exact. It came with flux core, which I am no good at. A friend of mine who welds for a living said to put gas to it and it will give me better welds. I did, and it improved a lot. Of course I am not using flux core with the gas, and changed the grounding settings inside the welder according to the manufacturers specs. I get a great weld when it starts to burn. But I get a lot of spatter till it starts to burn and even in between welds. I had the gas turned down to around 5 psi according to my landlords specs who has a large 220 lincoln, but I could barely get anything. I turned it up to between 15 and 20. It gives me more burn and faster. The settings on my welder arent difficult, I have 2 switches, one is level 1, and 2, the other is min or max. Then of course the wire speed. I have increased and decreased the wire speed, but it doesnt help. Any ideas would be great. I also thought maybe because I am using .23 wire with a .30 tip it might make i difference. My buddy said he would come play with it, but he is a rig welder for the oilfield and is 24 hrs on call, and busy as hell. So if someone has this welder, or any ideas help me out. I got a great deal on it, and really dont want to hear that it is junk. Like i said, the welds are great once it burns, but till then lots of spatter and burns on me. Thanks!

replace your ground clamp with something beefy. it's not a bad idea to put a bigger ground cable on it while you're at it, either. that should fix it. http://www.harborfreight.com/400-amp-we ... 66708.html

it'd probably be worth your money to buy a decent gun for it too. they generally skimp on the consumables on the low end units.

I have a Harbor fright duel 151, it sounds like the same unit.
I had the same issues with mine, the guys on this site are a big help in attempting to salve the issues with the cheap welders.
I have found that the Hobart contact tips work best for me, I also added 6 ft of cable to the short ground cable and a larger ground clamp, both of these easy fixe's made the welder work better. Its amazing how much better it preforms after this, and better flux core wire also.(I am using Hobart wire.)
I also found that the WIRE for the plug looked small, so I replaced it with #10 so cord, and while I was inside the case I checked and found some push tupe connectors loose so I tightened them up, It might help to do the same.
I am not all that new to welding as I trained 35+ yrs ago as a fitter, I can stick and gas fairly well, I spent 18 yrs as maint eng for a small factory and used a mig in the shop, but I have no training in mig.

All the suggestions are good ones and you should follow through with them. You mentioned that you were running .023 wire with a .030 tip. Are you also running .030 rollers in the wire feed? If so that's most likely the problem. Turning up the feed speed is probably speeding up the wire when the wire has no resistance but as soon as you put it up against the metal it's slipping and that will cause the spatter problem and can lead to burn back and tip destruction.

So, first check to see if you've got the right feed rollers in it. If not then get them or start using .030 wire. Next, make sure the gun liner is adjusted as close to the feed rollers as possible without touching them. Make sure the wire spool is on correctly and that the spool tension is set so it does not spin freely but is not difficult to move by hand. Make sure the wire is feeding off the roll correctly. Some machines need it off the top and others off the bottom. Your manual should show you which way.

Run a length of wire into the liner and out the end of the gun. You should be able to do this and feel no resistance at all. Pull the wire through the liner and out the tip and look it over closely. The wire should not have any unusual scratches or chafing marks. If it does you need to find the cause and fix it. It's usually at the liner end at the machine but it can also be a ding in any of the gun components.

Once you have all that checked out, check the feed tensioner. Lay a 2x4 block on the ground and place your gun tip on it at about a 45 degree angle. Pull the trigger and watch the wire feed. It should hit the board and then curl into a spiral about 5" in diameter. Most importantly, it should do this without hang or hesitation. Adjust your tensioner until you get to the point where it will do this and stop. A little more is not going to make it better, it will just put flat spots on your wire.

If, after you do all that and the other suggestions, you still have problems then take it back and get a new one.

you need to reverce the polarity do this by using your ground as the pos. hook it on the pos. lug on suitcase hook the pos. lead off your machine to what you are welding, and then hook up the sensore clamp to what you are welding no GAS pulling the cone off really helps set your machine where you would set it for thickness of iron and there you have IT!