EWM Phoenix 330 Expert

Hood · Apr 6, 2017

Was using the last option for a few welds today and it seemed to be working well once I remembered to get the sequence right, once though I ended up with 300mm of wire curling from the torch at the end of the weld

Hope to get a bit more practice tomorrow on the 3mm so will see how it goes.

henry Kadzielski · Apr 7, 2017

Hood said:
Was using the last option for a few welds today and it seemed to be working well once I remembered to get the sequence right, once though I ended up with 300mm of wire curling from the torch at the end of the weld

Hope to get a bit more practice tomorrow on the 3mm so will see how it goes.

Good morning Hood.
Just did some 3mm outside corner vertical up today building a freezer room door. And yes 'Francis' performed very brilliantly. You too will fine that once you have it sorted you will have great results, and wonder 'why I didn't get this sooner'.

Hood · Apr 7, 2017

Got on well with the trigger/hot start option today

Still got a lot of messing around to get the best out of it but loving it. Positional welding is a breeze, always found it relatively easy on heavier stuff but on 3mm it was a nightmare, even flat welding on 3mm was a struggle before. You would get it in spray but was too hot to do much, have it out of spray and it looked reasonable but was too cold and spatter everywhere burning me and the boats etc.

Hopefully I will get tidier as I get more practice in but at the moment I need to get the job done so I am just cracking on with it as the welds are, to me at least, very acceptable on 3mm, others may disagree

Anyway a couple of pics.

henry Kadzielski · Apr 7, 2017

Good morning Hood.
Here is a pic of 12mm to 3mm on the freezer door, hinge fixing strip. I am using the double pulse feature and have found that with the setting I have fiddled, now can do all material thickness and positions. I just ramp up or down the settings using the 'material thickness' and away I go. On the 12mm to 3mm I just leaned the torch to the 12mm slightly and this is the result after light wire brush. I have done simmilar double pulse for steel which also seems to be working fine 'out of position', however still only doing samples when I get the chance as alli has been through the door more. Once the steel is fully sorted, S/S is next :thumbup:

Hood · Apr 8, 2017

Thanks Henry, I was getting similar welds to that at some stages through the messing/adjusting but just thought they were too cold.
Maybe I need to readjust my thinking on what is a cold weld and what is not when using a pulse Mig?

Jim Davey · Apr 8, 2017

The above weld is a bit on the cold side. Be careful as double pulse can exacerbate the problem.

Hood · Apr 8, 2017

Thoughts on the pics I posted please.
Welds too hot?
Over filled?
?

Just trying to get an idea what I should be aiming for.

Jim Davey · Apr 8, 2017

The last one looks spot on. I'd rather see a hot one blasted in than a pretty run riddled with fusion issues. It's a tricky balance but it does need a to be well burned in if you want to achieve good penetration. The place to look is the edges, if they look well wetted out then it's a good sign the weld melted into the parent metal. If the edges are cold, harshly defined or hard edges then it's pretty certain penetration was low if any. There's a lot more to it than that but it's plain on aluminium you need a lot more heat to overcome the material's natural ability to dissipate heat at an incredible rate coupled to a relatively low melting point. So having the ability to start hotter than you need for the run itself, then bring the power down to a sensible level once the metal has saturated itself with heat and then to slope out and avoid a shrinkage or crater defect is a real plus. Especially when you consider the kind of fatigue stress applied to a weld in a marine environment.

Hood · Apr 8, 2017

Thanks Jim, I am getting the hang of the Hot Start which is great. The crater fill is taking a bit more time to get used to but I am hopefully getting there with it.
Taking a bit bad with the push/pull rather than the spool gun, it just seems a bit less balanced or something, may just be I have been used to the spool gun for so long that I am needing time to adjust.
Overall I am loving the EWM and hopefully I will get a bit neater once I really get into the swing of it.
Made up this today out of some scrap stainless angle, hope to get time to make up a base plate (Alu) and fit the front casters tomorrow. I will have it held on with wing nuts via the screw holes in the side of the EWM so I can wheel out to car, remove wheels, lift into car then reverse at the destination, will make life easier as 45Kg in an awkward shape gets heavy after a short walk.

Hood · Apr 9, 2017

Made a temporary base today, time was short as I had to get the table for the boat in the background finished as it is leaving for its new owner tomorrow.
So just used 5mm alu base with 25mm high sides and it worked great for hauling round to the boat today. I will make a better one when I get a chance, will likely make the base out of 8mm Alu and I will incorporate a loop for a rope handle (to lift castors slighty whilst pulling over granite setts at the workshop) or maybe even get fancy and have a fold flat handle of some sort.

Hood · Apr 11, 2017

Came across a small bit of 2mm Alu whilst I was looking for something else so thought I would see how the EWM did with it.
This is a first attempt so it is not perfect but fairly close, just set the EWM to 2mm and had a go.
I was too fast on the Hot Start as I was expecting bad things and maybe a bit high on the voltage but apart from that it was pretty good, I have done worse Tig welds than this

.

Jim Davey · Apr 11, 2017

So overall it's a thumbs up for quality German equipment then?

arther dailey · Apr 11, 2017

Ha, we would all have one Jim if it was cost effective for the use amount most of us it would give it, you would be swamped with orders !

Hood · Apr 11, 2017

Jim Davey said:
So overall it's a thumbs up for quality German equipment then?

Definitely, just need to get the operator up to speed and I will be even happier

Have to see if I can source some small bits of 1mm now to put it to the test

In reality I very rarely go below 3mm but always good to see what it can do.

Jim Davey · Apr 11, 2017

You won't like it on 1.0mm, my suggestion would be to go down to 4043 wire and take it out of pulse if you want to go down that low.

Hood · Apr 11, 2017

Jim Davey said:
You won't like it on 1.0mm, my suggestion would be to go down to 4043 wire and take it out of pulse if you want to go down that low.

I don't really need to as I never do anything so thin, happy that the 2mm welded so well though

I think I have an old tray in the shed, probably 1050 or similar and likely about 1.5mm so might see what that is like just out of interest.

Jim Davey · Apr 11, 2017

It will weld ok, but pulse will be too much heat for it, unless you travel like hell.

Hood · Apr 11, 2017

Jim Davey said:
..... unless you travel like hell.

No chance of me doing that with my knackered knees

Hood · Apr 25, 2017

Using the EWM again now that the machining and repair jobs of the last two weeks have been done.
Making a shooting table up for the 10m Cheetah Cat and still need to get the best out of the EWM although I am happy with what I am managing so far.
Some pics, Fore section of the table is progressing, it is 2m wide and 4.5m long made from 3" x 3" x 1/4" 6082 angle and 5mm 5083 sheets. There will be a hinged section Aft which will be narrowing down to about 1.6m wide and 2.2m long.