Welding Tips and Tricks

Hey guys, new to the forum.

Just picked up a Vulcan MigMax 215 a few days ago. I brought it home, set it up, and started welding some brackets.

Fast forward 24 hours, I go back into the garage, flip the welder on, turn the gas on, and try to weld (same settings, same metal). And it doesn't "weld". Instead, it emits what looks like a very bright blue flame and then welds the wire to the tip. I spent two hours messing with settings, changing wire spools, checking polarity, feed pressure, blowing out the liner etc. Could not figure it out. I plan on taking the welder back for an exchange but I'm curious as to what is causing this. I've been welding for about 5 years as a hobbyist and I have never seen anything like this.

Sounds like a feeding issue. Does it feed wire out normally (without arc'ing it to a part)?

Sounds like you forgot to turn on the gas, or you were out of gas.

Wire feeds no problem, using the cold feed switch and the trigger on the gun. Had plenty of gas in the tank, set at 15 psi during trigger pull (17 static). I ended up exchanging the welder for a OmniPro 220. Hooked it up and it worked perfect. Used it to weld in a floorpan on my project car and then kicked up to make some brackets using 10 gauge.

I wonder if the ground lead on the 215 was bad, or possibly a bad liner?

At least ya got it up and running.