Basic Settings for Aluminium

[Sharp Tungsten]

Sorry Archie I forgot to say that my kemppi is identical to the one pictured. That is why i was excited to see it on here and joined the form. I have seen Flange Jockey on several U.S websites and always enjoy looking at his beautiful welds. Thank you for your time Archie

 

[Archie]

Ah. We have our fair share of Chinese junk too. And I have a Lincoln myself so they can't be all bad!

Certainly Kemppi is good kit. This particular model is relatively old now but should still weld perfectly well. Is it the same as the one above? If so I'll try and name all the controls.

As far as engine driven welders go I'm not sure. Mosa are probably the only ones I've ever seen in use though I've seen a couple of enormous looking Lincoln ones pop up on eBay.

 

[Sharp Tungsten]

Yes Archie my Kemmpi is the same as the one pictured. It is a Kempotig 250 AC/DC. I have the foot pedal also and the WU-10 water cooler. How old would you guess a machine like this is? 10 to 20 years old?

 

[Archie]

Right then. The big knob controls the amps but you've probably worked that one out! Below that is a selector switch for pulse and no pulse. I'm not sure how the control is implemented but I guess somehow you'll set the peak current and the background current with the same amp control knob (when in pulse mode). From left to right the four smaller knobs are start current time, upslope time, downslope time and post gas-time. Again going left to right the three switches below are: an enigma , HF start on/off and 4T/2T operation or latching function (I think!). The last knob is AC balance followed by a switch for TIG/Stick and one for electrode positive, negative and AC. I have no idea what the last one is! Hope that's of some help? If you've any more questions ask away and I'll try my best. Otherwise someone more knowledgeable will be along.

 

[hotrodder]

Archie's labelled most of 'em but this may help clarify...



Items 1 and 14... will come back to them in a mo

2. remote connection
3. torch 2T/4T on/off button
4. start current (% of main amps).
5. slope up time
6. slope down time
7. postflow
8. pulse on/off. the rectangular box with arrow through corner and P in it will light up when pulse is selected
9. HF or lift start
10. 2T/4T selector
11. AC balance
12. TIG/SMAW selector
13. Polarity

Right #1 appears to be used to set pulse parameters (and maybe remote max amps? if remote isn't selected here too the foot pedal may just operate as an on/off switch) with the main current dial. Different LEDS will light up at the top right to denote which parameter is selected for adjustment

Not sure about #14. Clearly SMAW only and polarity based but why? May be for using stick with lots o' lead and a remote?

Edit: those numbers i added to the pic were a lot clearer before i posted it

 

[Archie]

Nice one Hotrodder. Only one I'm not sure about is number 8. I initially thought it was the pulse too but if you look at where the pulse is labelled on the main diagram it doesn't seem to correspond to the diagram by switch 8. No idea what else it could be though!

 

[TheJoker]

Just wanted to say thanks to all participating in this thread, especially Hotrodder. My test welds went from absolutely horrible to somewhat decent thanks to this info. Now I need more scrap and more practise!

 

[Adamskilar]

Hi guys thanks for pointing me to this thread.... Maybe someone can explain to me in more layman's terms (apologies I'm learning....) how can I put the machine to weld alloy? Also I have set mine to pulse position before but it doesn't seem to do anything!? I'm using a kemppi foot pedal... I seem to be doing fine with stainless just struggling with trying alloy...