HH 125 gas purge?

[weldhacker]

My HH 125 manual refers to a fan only or purge setting, but my unit, which is brand new, does not have this setting. I am setup for c25 gas and so far, the only way I can see to purge the gas after I turn the tank off, is to release the tension on the drive roller so that wire does not feed, and hold the gun trigger until the gas is gone. Is there another alternative? Is there any way to wire in a manual switch to the gas solenoid?

By the way, this is a great little machine as far as I am concerned. With gas, the welds are really nice. With flux-core, it welds a bit hotter and metal prep is not as critical, so I like being able to do either.

I also have the DC Stickmate and am learning to stick weld. I am getting better, but I find it is best to start the amps on the lowest setting and work up based on the look of a few tack welds. I was constantly burning through tubing.

I am glad this site exists. Us newbies need a place to learn and get advice since I don't work with any welders.

[tigster]

just set the wire feed to as slow as it will go. it only takes maybe 5 seconds to purge the gas, and very little wire comes out this way.

[weldhacker]

Duh, that was a great answer. I guess I should try the obvious first. I will try that this weekend and I bet it will work well enough that I won't care about a purge only function. I did see a thread from a Hobart rep explaining why the removed that switch setting, but it did not really say what to do without it, nor does the manual.

Thanks.