Hey folks, first post on here for me...and the reason I decided to join. First, I'm not even close to an experienced welder. I've been "teaching" myself via youtube videos. Anyway, a while back I got a Lincoln weld pack 125 at home depot. It was completely different from my experiences with stick, but things have mostly been going great. Recently at an auction, I picked up a shit ton of metal and have been pulling my hair out ever since. I can't seem to weld 14 ga metal to save my life...I started with the door chart and started burning through right off the bat. I can get a bead about 3/4 of the way across, but then it burns through. I've played with temp/wire speed and cannot find a combination that gives good penetration without blowing through. I can get the weld with 5 tacks, but still feel like i shouldn't have to do that
as i stated, i tried multiple combinations without success
it's fcaw only, so i didn't look for polarity
i moved the ground from the table and put it right on the tubing
my wire tension was waaay too tight (poked a hole in my hand when i checked this am) and i dialed it down
i try to watch my travel speed/angle and distance as close as i can
weather has been decent, so i haven't tried preheating....if that's the issue, i'll just get used to tacking and quit bothering
after watching multiple videos, i have noticed that i don't seem to have as much slag coverage as apparently i should...never have since i got the welder, but haven't had any problems/failures either.