[Mrwood]

Well my brother got me a new welder for Christmas, Mig 135 maybe not the best but will be better than my old flux core. I may be blind as heck, but i should be able to weld better with gas, and cleaner. I have one question?. what wire size would be good for 3/16th" to 1/4" steel, 0.23 "or 0.31 " ( SOLID WIRE ). I now have to get me a gas bottle then i will be ready to practice. Will use c25, as thats what i have been told by another welder friend of mine. Any help will be nice.Also need to learn how to adjust the gas regulator, as the instructions dont tell me how to adjust adjust the gas regulator. Thanks for any help my friends.

[NEW INTERIORS]

Originally Posted by Mrwood

Well my brother got me a new welder for Christmas, Mig 135 maybe not the best but will be better than my old flux core. I may be blind as heck, but i should be able to weld better with gas, and cleaner. I have one question?. what wire size would be good for 3/16th" to 1/4" steel, 0.23 "or 0.31 " ( SOLID WIRE ). I now have to get me a gas bottle then i will be ready to practice. Will use c25, as thats what i have been told by another welder friend of mine. Any help will be nice.Also need to learn how to adjust the gas regulator, as the instructions dont tell me how to adjust adjust the gas regulator. Thanks for any help my friends.

I like the 0.23''.It is good on light stuff Because you don't have to run to much heat.Set your regulator at about 15 L/min.If you are in a breeze you may want to turn it up.That's what I run.You may have to feel it out a little.Hope this helps you.

[Mrwood]

Originally Posted by NEW INTERIORS

I like the 0.23''.It is good on light stuff Because you don't have to run to much heat.Set your regulator at about 15 L/min.If you are in a breeze you may want to turn it up.That's what I run.You may have to feel it out a little.Hope this helps you.

So what is the 0.31 wire used for. And thanks for the reply.

[NEW INTERIORS]

You can use .030 on anything but you have to run more heat to burn it.It would be better for the 1/4'' steel.But I weld 1/4'' fine with my .023 I do more lite stuff,So I keep the .023''

[oldred]

Definitely run .023 on that welder and you will be much happier with it, it will run 030 ok but the duty cycle will be quite short due to the higher current. When using a light MIG such as that one (good little machine BTW) you should preheat anything over about 3/16" thick and it will do a MUCH better job for you. You don't need a lot of heat , about 300-400 deg which will be just barely too hot to touch with your bare hand. When using a light MIG with small wire and low current this should be done to prevent the metal from sinking off the heat and chilling the weld too fast. With a bit of preheat and a little patience (to allow for the duty cycle) you can weld about any thickness metal you are likely to encounter even with the .023 wire.

[Mrwood]

Thanks all. I did not mean 31, i meant 30. But i dont weld much heavy stuff anymore so will just use 23. Hope to get my gas tomorrow, dont know if they will have c25 on the truck. So may have to wait another two weeks till they come back around. Thats the one problem with living in a small farm town. And i cant see to drive anymore so i may just have to wait, and thats going to drive me crazy. My brother also got me a nice pipe bender, and some shears that will cut 14 gauge and up. Boy do they work nice. Will save me on cut off disc. Best Christmas iv ever had. Losing your site aint so bad, i feel i can do about anything i want, anyway i try. But im having fun building my parade truck. Hope you all had a good Christmas and i mean that. You all are the best.

[NEW INTERIORS]

Glad we can help you out!!!

[Mrwood]

Well i got my new gas hooked up today c25, and all he had on the truck was 0.30 hard wire so i got that. Anyway it has your settings on the inside of the welder door and when i tried to do my first weld i did not get a good steady buzz that i want to hear. Im new to this kind of welding, so can anyone tell me or show me the angle i need to hold the torch, and how far away from the material to the tip, as far as my settings i may have to just play with that. But i dont think im holding my welder correct. Sure is nice not getting any slag flying around like my old flux core welder did. Just need a few tips and then practice. I have two 500 watt lights so i can see where im welding, as im almost blind now in my last eye and have to be within 8 inches to see what im doing, but i dont let this stop me from welding. So thanks for any more tips.

[NEW INTERIORS]

Originally Posted by Mrwood

Well i got my new gas hooked up today c25, and all he had on the truck was 0.30 hard wire so i got that. Anyway it has your settings on the inside of the welder door and when i tried to do my first weld i did not get a good steady buzz that i want to hear. Im new to this kind of welding, so can anyone tell me or show me the angle i need to hold the torch, and how far away from the material to the tip, as far as my settings i may have to just play with that. But i dont think im holding my welder correct. Sure is nice not getting any slag flying around like my old flux core welder did. Just need a few tips and then practice. I have two 500 watt lights so i can see where im welding, as im almost blind now in my last eye and have to be within 8 inches to see what im doing, but i don't let this stop me from welding. So thanks for any more tips.

It's better to point the gun in the direction you are going.It flattens out the weld better.Plus the gas will blow the trash out if any.Hold the tip off the plate about 1/2'' to 3/4'',If you can let someone turn up or down on the wire speed while you are welding.you will hear the buzz when it is right.Watch the wire when you are welding When you start to turn down the wire you will see it start to come out the puddle,You want it in the puddle,But not to much in the puddle.Play with it and let me know if you need more help,I'll try to help you.

[old ford guy]

Had the same problem ,Dad was a welder but used stick only . I bought a wire feed , Lincoln SP250 was totally lost,,,Lincoln and Miller both have fantastic web sites that really helped me, and you can ask them questions . Hope this little bit helps !

[oldred]

What was said plus make sure the tip is not recessed back too far inside the nozzle. I like to have the end of the tip flush or even a tad out past the lip of the nozzle but you need to keep some nozzle dip or spray on it, you really should do that anyway. If the tip is too far back inside the nozzle you will get about the same undesirable effects you would from holding too much wire "stickout", this an all too often overlooked error.

[Mrwood]

I have another question, i want to get a good dime affect in my welds,and i know this will take me time to learn. But is there a different kind of weld if it is going to get ground down flat where it will have paint and everyone will see it. I know some of you must think im dumber than heck, but i grew up welding on a farm and we did not care what the weld looked like as long as it held. But now i want to be proud of my welds. Thats why im asking so many questions, and i cant afford to buy a video to learn to weld. So you all are my best way to learn, as i trust this site and the help i get. So thanks again, as i will be welding the rest of this week on scap to see if i can improve somewhat. Also will try the push and pull methods and see what the difference is.

[NEW INTERIORS]

You can also put a spot,then a spot,then a spot,I like to do that on panels,I like to run it a little hot,And just spot on spot,It is about a 2 second pause between spots.It will look like dimes. Just make sure you get good penetration.

[Mrwood]

Originally Posted by NEW INTERIORS

You can also put a spot,then a spot,then a spot,I like to do that on panels,I like to run it a little hot,And just spot on spot,It is about a 2 second pause between spots.It will look like dimes. Just make sure you get good penetration.

Thanks i will try this. Looks like i have alot to learn.

[oldred]

I would not do that spot on spot method on anything structural, it is just fine to do that on body panels but not on something requiring strength. In fact on a structural part such as spring hangers or maybe a frame it is a good idea to use start and run off tabs on each end of the weld (to be removed when the weld is completed) to eliminate the areas where the arc was started and extinguished. On a multi pass weld that requires starting and stopping the weld anywhere other than the ends of the bead each pass should be started and stopped in a different spot each time in order to prevent these inherently weak points from overlapping each other, as a rule try to start/stop as few times as possible on a weld requiring maximum strength.