- Thread starter MICKfoc
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SiPMerlin150
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I burn gasless wire only with my mig, and its tricky to learn with.. I'm NVQ level 2 in bare wire mig, aswell as arc welding, and it took me some time to get use to this gasless wire... 2 rolls of wire to be precise..
The wire is expensive, it makes a mess and produces a lot of fumes and the smoke gets in the way of your sight when you are welding..
But if you are outdoors and its blowing a gale, gasless wire is great, but don't expect it to look as neat as bare wire mig with a shielding gas
Heres a nice example of what I mean :
The first two are gasless, the second pair are bare wire with shielding gas argon/Co2 I.E argoshield light
Gasless MIG wire has its problems, even with a good machine, and the machines sold as gasless MIG welders tend to be rubbishy anyway, poor duty cycle and limited current range, say 60 to 120 amps. They won't realistically weld 5mm steel, as claimed, and they won't weld thin stuff.
SiPMerlin150
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My powercraft is 25-130 amps, wire feeder unit in these are good and i've hammered the poor thing and its not even cut out for a cool off period. I've banged 15kg of wire through it in 3 months and its not skipped a beat
SiPMerlin150
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A good clarke used is a good option, just go for a 130EN (EN meaning it can be used with gasless wire or gas wire. That way you can have the two options if say gasless isn't your thing.
Try to stay away from omegawolf or other odd named brands. Stay away from SIP/cosmo units as again they offer nothing but trouble with wire erratic wire feed.
What thickness of steel were you wishing to work with?
thanks, the one we was looking at didnt have a name on it, we are wanting to work on odd jobs for now, how much would you say a resonable 2nd hand mig would cost, thanks
SiPMerlin150
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Well, it needs to be up to spec with what you need it to do, so you may like to use it for repairing rust holes in car body (1.6mm) so you will need a unit that will go as low as 25/30amps, and will weld up to 3-4mm steel at most - 130/150 amps.
I'd say you could spend anything between £90-£135 would get you a used, decent gas/gasless welder. Have a look on the for sale section on here on fleabay for units.
Secondly the quality of the gasless wire is paramount. Go for SIF MIG wire sold here by weldequip. Anything else will make welding rather tricky.
ok thanks will have a look around see whats about thanks, also how do i stop the rods from sticking so much it was doing it a lot yesterday, cheers
SiPMerlin150
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How have the rods been stored in a dry warm place? If not, moisture can affect the operation of the rods. Turn up the power on the welder and the little sight window on top will indicate what setting your welder is at. Its always best to give it more power than less. More amperage will reduce the sticking problems.
Strike the rod along with work piece like striking a match, the arc will ignite and then hold the rod close to the work and maintain the arc.
If you turn up the welders power past half way, you may find it will start blowing fuses as it need around 15-16 amps and your plug socket will only be fused to 13 amps, so have some spare fuses available. If the rod sticks the plug fuse will blow too. Mine does the same, I have a SIP 130. Indestructable things, but you really do need to get used to them.
Use 2.5mm diameter rods and set the power on your welder to a little over a quarter of the way, if it still hard to strike the arc, turn it up a little more.
How have the rods been stored in a dry warm place? If not, moisture can affect the operation of the rods. Turn up the power on the welder and the little sight window on top will indicate what setting your welder is at. Its always best to give it more power than less. More amperage will reduce the sticking problems.
Strike the rod along with work piece like striking a match, the arc will ignite and then hold the rod close to the work and maintain the arc.
If you turn up the welders power past half way, you may find it will start blowing fuses as it need around 15-16 amps and your plug socket will only be fused to 13 amps, so have some spare fuses available. If the rod sticks the plug fuse will blow too. Mine does the same, I have a SIP 130. Indestructable things, but you really do need to get used to them.
Use 2.5mm diameter rods and set the power on your welder to a little over a quarter of the way, if it still hard to strike the arc, turn it up a little more.
to be honest the rods weren't in the best shape and probably not right for the job but we didnt know, we also had it set at different currents, it was set at around 120amp when i got it but we moved it around to try find the best current, 95amps seemed about the best but it still stuck
SiPMerlin150
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You need some new rods, purchase some 2.5mm '6013' ones as these are suitable for your welder. These will be easier to strike and learn with. If you can't wait, halfords will sell them in packs of 10, but are like £4.99, very expensive for 10 and not the best quality, but at least you will have some 'usable' rods then.
As you mentioned those rods you've got there are for stainless steel, they won't really work on your welder.
SiPMerlin150
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Thanks, I will see what rods they use at my work see if they are any good saves buying themwill also keep the rods dry this time instead of leaving them in the shed. Will give it all another go on Saturday, will update then thanks for replies mate
No problem!
Will be waiting for some photographs of your welds, doesn't matter how bad they look at first, its all about learning!No problem!
will get some pics aswell, yesterday we struggled to get a solid weld, it just made the metal bubble up but not actually weld the 2 sheets toghether
SiPMerlin150
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will get some pics aswell, yesterday we struggled to get a solid weld, it just made the metal bubble up but not actually weld the 2 sheets toghether
Hopefully that won't happen once you get hold of some new rods.
when you say sheets, how thick are they?
Hopefully that won't happen once you get hold of some new rods.
when you say sheets, how thick are they?
erm, not sure sorry around 3mm-ish
SiPMerlin150
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You'd be much better off using say, 6mm plate at first, as you will blow holes into 3mm , but you can still try, it though. You need to learn to control travel speed and rod angle and arc gap, without having to worry about moving quick enough to avoid blowing holes.
