Gun Jumping

[sharkster]

Im still a very newbie at this.
Im running a Campbell Hausfeld 115v MIG/Flux welder, just a basic car part and sheet metal welder.
Once I progress I will move up to the 220v series. I cant justify it right now.

Im running on flux core and this gun just jumps all over the place. Its hard to keep this thing steady. Is this normal? The welds dont even look like welds they look like fluxed glob. I was practicing on a section of exhaust tubing one night and somehow I managed to keep it steady and smooth, pushing and the welds actually turned out pretty nice. For some reason I cant do it again.
Im just not sure what Im doing wrong here or is it just the fact of flux? Ive heard flux is the worse of the worst.

I either burn through or it clumps and spikes

[urch55]

Hey Shark,
On that 115 volt wire feed welder. Make sure your ground clamp is making good contact. Get some 1/8" thick scraps shine them up with grinder, turn your volts/tap setting on the highest setting or near the highest and your wire speed on the low side. And start welding you can adjust the wire speed as your welding to get the right speed.(BUT NOT THE TAP/VOLTS). Once you get a weld puddle work it along; too fast and it will "jump" to slow it will burn though. Keep about a 1/4-3/8" stick out of the wire from the tip. See if you can get a manual for your machine. Flux-core and solid wire have there place. Solid wire might be easier to learn with but you have FC so start with that.Practice alot and you will get the hang of it. There will be some one around to help you out. Make sure you tip is clean so the wire don't drag, grab or (jump). You can use torch tip cleaners for your tip home depot has them.

[SidecarFlip]

Once upon a time I had the same machine but I went solid wire right off. It's sensetive ro it's best to run it wide open and adjust the wire speed to attain the desired result (like urch says). The welder don't have much gonads. I gave it to a guy who was doing autobody resto work. That's about all it's good for....clean sheet metal.

I'd remove the tip shield entirely ig you are running flux core. It's just in the way and gets gobbered up with slag.

[SundownIII]

sharkster,

I suspect your biggest problem is technique.

When running flux-core you want to be "pulling the bead", not pushing it.

Remember, "Where there's slag, you drag".

Solid wire will work better with a "push" technique. Slightly less penetration, but a flatter bead profile.

[Roger]

MIG gun rebounds when wire hits bottom of puddle. Slow down wire feed or increase voltage should solve problem. Cause can also be poor ground connection.

A you weld over rust pits conductivity of work metal is changing causing voltage to change. If your using voltage tracking wire feed welder then wire feed speed can change as you weld over rust pits. This makes removing rust before welding more important. I'm guessing your welder is this type as are small Hobart and Miller welders.

[sharkster]

Thanks for all of the responses. Some very useful info provided. Ill try some of these.

[sharkster]

A friend of mine had found a 120 cu ft nitrogen tank in his barn and gave it to me a few weeks back saying he didnt want it. Sweet Ill see if I cant get it converted over as the company on it doesnt appear to be in buisness any longer. I took it down to air gas asking about converting it to 75/25 and he swapped it out with a new tank and charged me $47. This weekend Ill convert my flux setup to MIG Gas and give this a try.