Need some Advice please

[ron70062]

Im a neewbiee at welding. I have a Lincon HD100 with the gas attchment. Im trying to weld with solid wire (0.35 ) and Im using 75 argon/25 Co2. I have the polarity changed . The problem is, when welding, it pops and skips some . Not a pretty weld to say the leaste. I have the wire feed speed set on 2. Anyone know what I can do to fix this problem? Thanks

[Zrexxer]

Well, first off, if that's the machine I'm thinking of, I don't believe it has enough current to burn .035 solid wire. I think you'll have much better success setting it up for .023 instead. In any case, your wirespeed is probably way too low... what is your voltage setting and what thickness of material are you trying to weld?

[Sberry]

Yup, you are choking that thing with the big wire, like Zrex says, 023

[Hotfoot]

Yup. Wire too thick...speed may be too slow, and we don't know what your power settings are (other than "2"), but try a spool of .023/.024 wire, and see if you life doesn't improve. Also, is your gas flowing? What flow rate are you using? Are you welding indoors with no breeze (or fan)?? ...all parts of the equation. You'll get it, just step back and go through a logical progression.

...and are you SURE the polarity is set correct? Double check that...and try flapping/sanding/grinding down the spot where your ground clamp attaches, and double check the ground attachment at the machine, as well...your problem does have the symptoms of a bad ground as well. Go down to the thin wire (and you might try a .030 tip with it), check your ground, make sure your gas is flowing, etc...it'll start frying bacon for you in no time!

[Jaxom]

He might be able to use the .030 though. I have the next unit in series. It's 120v instead of 220v. Home depot sold my unit as the 3200 pak. (Basically a 135 with a few accessories tossed in).

I was able to get some good welds with solid wire. Some bad too, I was doing a rush job building a bracket to hold an oxygen tank onto a wheel chair. Some welds came out really nice, other really sloppy, but I was dealing with 3 different thicknesses of steel. Had to play with the gas flow a bit too.

[Broccoli1]

Here ya go-

Circa 2004

Wire= .023
gas= CO2
Machine = Weldpak 100
Setting= D-5

Material= 3/16" beveled

[Broccoli1]

I also recommend getting the Spindle adapter so you can use the 10lb rolls- it eliminates birdnesting- which we had a lot of and was a PIA.

http://www.mylincolnelectric.com/Cat...eet.asp?p=7117


Hoe Depot has the adapter but I don't think they sell the 10lb rolls.

[ron70062]

Im going to take your advice and go with smaller wire. It's one that I bought at home depot. I can weld with 0.35 flux core with no problem, thats why I thought I should go with the same size solid wire. I did by a 10 LB. Role of it and a adpter to hold it. It runs off of 115 volt.I did flap sand it , but maybe I need to improve on that. Also, that's a good point about the ground. Need to take a better look at that. You guys are great. Thanks for being here to help out us up comers.
Ron

[Broccoli1]

.035 Fluxcore is Hollow so there is not as much wire. It's probably more like .023 Solid

[BillDaCatt]

Just out of curiosity, have you tried turning it up all the way or at least higher than your current settings? If you have a scrap piece, try it out. When everything is set correctly, it should sound a bit like frying bacon.

[Broccoli1]

Just out of curiosity, have you tried turning it up all the way or at least higher than your current settings? If you have a scrap piece, try it out. When everything is set correctly, it should sound a bit like frying bacon.

Bill you can't set that welder for .035, well you can turn it up but that's a lot of wire for a little machine

[BillDaCatt]

Bill you can't set that welder for .035, well you can turn it up but that's a lot of wire for a little machine

I know, but he didn't mention if he tried turning it up and 2 seemed a bit low for a max setting. As I said, I was just curious.

I agree that going with .023 wire is his best bet.