arc welding 1&2mm sheet with 1.6's

[douchecalamondaes]

Correct.. Ish, it's an ldv 3.5 chassis cab, y reg, no wonder it's half rust!

Thankyou all for the suggestions on wire, ill try 0.6, getting co2 25 mix I'm told that's best, should I push or pull the pool? As I'm an arc.. Er I'm used to pulling, what wire. Speed and voltage roughly? And do I just leave the amps alone?
I assume with mig I don't let it touch ever? No tap starting nonsense? Just press the button?

The new machine arrived today, day early, so I'm out getting regulators and wire. For it,

With the arc I was basically doing lots of tacs and building it up, that's why I didn't mind using such small pieces as I has to do wait for the other welds to cool before going back, also welding the 2mm to itself was a stress relief after trying to do the 1mm, the 2mm to 2mm joins are butt, but where it goes to original steel it's lap, doesn't help with the holes situation all That much

 

[the snooper]

co2 argon mix 5% argon for thin steel, i always use .8 wire make sure you have a tip to suit, as for setting up the mig just have a play around with it, the shroud is insulated from the live torch but spatter often makes it live so no tap starting and dont touch what you are welding with the shroud, once you get the hang of it you will wonder how you ever put up with arc welding thin steel, no looking back

 

[Richard.]

Tbh the fact that your using a mix at all is going to help you out so much with that job.
The co2 content does represent a slightly hotter arc as you go up in% which is why a 5% is slightly more suitable but nether the less it's your mix is fine and it's going to be night and day against the likes of mma. It's going to be much cleaner than straight co2 and it's going to be a fortnight to 3 weeks away from bloody gasless

 

[douchecalamondaes]

Okay guys, got my old oxy regulator, it doesn't go to a full stop, what pressure should I be using roughly? 1-2 bar ish or 4-6?
Gas turned out to be 5% co2 from looking at the invoice, how far should I have the wire sticking out, 1cm?

By tips do you mean the little copper inserts ? I have 3, I use the one that fits snuggest over the wire?

 

[the snooper]

Okay guys, got my old oxy regulator, it doesn't go to a full stop, what pressure should I be using roughly? 1-2 bar ish or 4-6?
Gas turned out to be 5% co2 from looking at the invoice, how far should I have the wire sticking out, 1cm?

By tips do you mean the little copper inserts ? I have 3, I use the one that fits snuggest over the wire?

the tips will have the size stamped on them, gas flow should be 10 lpm a flow guage would be handy if you are not sure yeah 1cm stick out will be fine

 

[davidjohnperry]

I twinged on this it's not acetylene but I would get a proper reg mate as I'm sure there some safety aspects I'm unaware of

 

[Richard.]

Well afaik an oxy reg on an argon mix cylinder isn't going to hurt but the pressure you can achieve with an oxy reg is well above that of Ar reg if you crank it up. I think that is right so in therory you could put serious pressure through the lines. I certainly wouldn't want to stick a flow meter on the side of it.
Calling the forum gas guru to confirm @backpurge

 

[sardine]

To do thin sheet with stick I use a 2mm Concord 6013, 1.6 are pants throw them away, i tack all along the weld every 10 mm, with full penetration tacks, then clean off and repeat until all the tacks are overlapping. 50 amps sounds too much to me. You need an inverter that goes right down to 40 or less.

 

[Bill Edwards]

Well afaik an oxy reg on an argon mix cylinder isn't going to hurt but the pressure you can achieve with an oxy reg is well above that of Ar reg if you crank it up. I think that is right so in therory you could put serious pressure through the lines. I certainly wouldn't want to stick a flow meter on the side of it.
Calling the forum gas guru to confirm @backpurge

I'd be concerned about the maximum pressure rating of the oxy regulator more than anything. Roughly speaking oxy cylinders have about 2200 psi in whereas a full pressure argon mix is more like 3400 psi so it could be operating above the design pressure.
Yes you also could wind the pressure up very high on an oxy reg, probably 100 psi wouldn't be hard on most regs? But I don't know what an ordinary argon regulator can achieve, I've always thought it's far more than you would ever want anyway.

douchecalamondaes, it would be worth getting yourself a proper flowmeter - not the inaccurate dial type some regulators are fitted with but the peashooter type like this: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Argon-Flo...hash=item25838cad45:m:muHu1IBxmvtz9Z0FkgI-SdQ
Until you have one set it by ear, you want a good flow that's quite audible - but don't give it extra thinking more is better because it isn't. If you have porosity in the welds increase it a bit or check there isn't any wind if you're outdoors.

 

[backpurge]

Okay guys, got my old oxy regulator, it doesn't go to a full stop, what pressure should I be using roughly? 1-2 bar ish or 4-6?
Gas turned out to be 5% co2 from looking at the invoice, how far should I have the wire sticking out, 1cm?

By tips do you mean the little copper inserts ? I have 3, I use the one that fits snuggest over the wire?

For starters you said old oxy reg, just how old is it, if it's over 5 years old, bin it

Oxy regs are usually either 5 bar or 10 bar rated which is way above what you will need to achieve a sufficient shielding gas flow, most Ar/CO2 regs are around 3.5 bar rated.

As has been stated the way I would set it is, turn the regulator off then open the cylinder valve around half a turn, take the drive rolls off and press the torch trigger, slowly open the reg and either listen till you can just hear the gas passing out of the torch or better still use a decent peashooter to record the flow

My best bit of advice will be, get yourself a proper reg ASAP

 

[Richard.]

I'd be concerned about the maximum pressure rating of the oxy regulator more than anything. Roughly speaking oxy cylinders have about 2200 psi in whereas a full pressure argon mix is more like 3400 psi so it could be operating above the design pressure.

I'm sure the reg could cope with the argon cylinder pressure after all despite it been incorrect to use it they do have the same fitting so if nothing else mistakes could be made.
Back purge confirmed my thoughts on it which is achievable output pressure.
My reg I think is limited to 50psi out put. Yes way more than I'll ever need but my lines fittings and flow tubes are all made to cope with that.
O2 regs can be cranked up waaaaay higher and if the bottle is cracked open while she's loaded up high it could probably cause damage if the out going gear isn't rated to it.
It's a poor discussion to be fair because there is no excuse for it. Regulators are cheap to buy and lethal when joe blogs wants to bodge stuff up to make it work.

 

[the snooper]

check what pressure your cylinder is filled to, probably 200 bar, if the regulator doesnt say 200 bar or more on it dont use it

 

[weldequip]

They were 200 bar rated in the early 90's. 300 bar now.

 

[weldequip]

138 to 175 to 200 to 230 to 300....showing my age now

 

[the snooper]

138 to 175 to 200 to 230 to 300....showing my age now

not losing your memory though

 

[weldequip]

That went ages ago (I think!). Anybody in any doubt over Gas Regulators should search 'Oxygen Regulator Burn Out'.

 

[douchecalamondaes]

Yea I checked the pressure. For the reg it's above the tank pressure, ill hook it up to a pressure gauge to make sure static pressure isn't over the 5-6bar mark then? I can gauge a smooth flow enough to stop any oxygen getting to the weld basically and get practicing. I would have got a reg at the same time but they didn't have any in stock, so I thought oxy would be fine, same tanks both fairly harmless gases,.

So, that link is a flow meter, but not a regulator, I need the right reg too, ideally

As to the person saying use 2mm arc electrodes at 40 amps? Erm no, they don't strike or hold an arc at those amps, so its impossible.
1.6's I have no issue with to be honest, they work for 2mm which is all I use them for, but then again it's all iv had so iv made it work, I'm sure mig will be better in every way when I'm good at it

 

[weldequip]

Restricted outlets are fitted to compensate for flow. Probably never heard of that term.

 

[douchecalamondaes]

Thankyou very much pdg, yes its a double gauge reg, ill aim for 1-2 bar, then mark position for future.
Hopefully first results will be in tonight

 

[douchecalamondaes]

guys, just made a bit of a wally of, it comes with 3 tips, I read 2, 1mm and 0.8, so I assumed the third would be 0.6.. oh no, its another 0.8.. so I dont have a 0.6 tip for my 0.6 wire. guessing its a total no-go, to use the 0.8? no where is open now to get a 0.6