Welding Tips and Tricks

First of all trying to understand volts setting is driving me nuckin futs. After tig welding mostly and a little stick and setting in amperage then trying to understand this constant voltage is trying, to say the least. I'm fairly proficient in mig welding as well but I've always used the cheat sheet on the inside of the side cover. After years of doing that and knowing what a,b,c,d settings would weld I can't hardly grasp this voltage setting. Anyone have any easier way to understanding voltage settings on a mig?

The other problem is the extreme black soot after running a bead. Never had this problem until the new welding machine. Running the reg around 17-18. Here's a pic of some tack weld. Any ideas what's causing the black soot. .035 solid wire with 75-25% argon mix.

It just takes a little getting used to. I've never really liked the door charts, and more often than not will pull up the manufacturers recommendations for a particular type of wire to give me an idea of the range I want to be running in.

Gas flow seems a little low. Fine for tig, but a little light for mig. I can't be sure if that is what is causing the soot though.

Bump your flow up to 25cfh

hey how you doing? sorry i dont have any answers for you but im having the same problem! figure it out yet?

GoRilla wrote:First of all trying to understand volts setting is driving me nuckin futs. After tig welding mostly and a little stick and setting in amperage then trying to understand this constant voltage is trying, to say the least. I'm fairly proficient in mig welding as well but I've always used the cheat sheet on the inside of the side cover. After years of doing that and knowing what a,b,c,d settings would weld I can't hardly grasp this voltage setting. Anyone have any easier way to understanding voltage settings on a mig?

The other problem is the extreme black soot after running a bead. Never had this problem until the new welding machine. Running the reg around 17-18. Here's a pic of some tack weld. Any ideas what's causing the black soot. .035 solid wire with 75-25% argon mix.

That's not "extreme black soot"...that is just gas swirling and drawing in air when you get to the top of that bracket. If your weld is wetting in nice and nor porous but you have some soot, that's just subtle gas problems and nothing to freak over.

Hey guys sorry I didn't get back sooner. I turned the argon up to 25 cfh and the heavy black soot lightened up a lot. Thanks for the help!!!

GoRilla wrote:Hey guys sorry I didn't get back sooner. I turned the argon up to 25 cfh and the heavy black soot lightened up a lot. Thanks for the help!!!

Cool! But I did have to re-read your original post... In this recent post you said, "turned the argon up", so I had to check. You made clear in the original post you're using 75/25, as you should be.

Steve S