Welding Tips and Tricks

Hello, pardon is this has been covered.
I'm trying to weld 16 Ga. galvanized Sq. tubing with some gap, utilizing .035 bare wire and a 75/25 mix.
My welder is a Lincoln 255 power mig, can anyone suggest settings to get me close? Is .035 wire going to work or should I drop to .030? Having trouble figureing out converting wire speed and how it relates to Voltage, as wire speed is displayed as "Voltage" on my machine!
Thanks for any help!
wyocowboy

Welcome to the forum! The Miller welding calculator,
http://www.millerwelds.com/resources/ca ... ulator.php
... suggests you can weld 16 gauge with .035 wire at 17-18 volts and 180-220 ipm wire speed.

The manual for your welder,
http://www.lincolnelectric.com/assets/s ... imt636.pdf
... says that both voltage and wire speed are controllable. Is it possible you need to change a selector to view wire speed? Sometimes there is a settings guide inside the door to the wire reel mount.

When you do get it running, welding on galvanized creates toxic fumes, so keep your head out of the smoke plume. I don't mean to preach, sorry if you knew that already.

wyocowboy wrote:Hello, pardon is this has been covered.
I'm trying to weld 16 Ga. galvanized Sq. tubing with some gap, utilizing .035 bare wire and a 75/25 mix.
My welder is a Lincoln 255 power mig, can anyone suggest settings to get me close? Is .035 wire going to work or should I drop to .030? Having trouble figureing out converting wire speed and how it relates to Voltage, as wire speed is displayed as "Voltage" on my machine!
Thanks for any help!
wyocowboy

Its quite possible.
I've welded tons of 1" od, 1/16" wall galvi pipe. All .035 flux core.
Making lightweight livestock panels.


Downhill welding is a good advantage if possible.
Hitting your joints with a 60 grit flap disk wouldn't hurt either.
Just get a good fit, and practice a little on scrap.

Good luck, and pics please.

~John

Artie F. Emm wrote:Welcome to the forum! The Miller welding calculator,
http://www.millerwelds.com/resources/ca ... ulator.php
... suggests you can weld 16 gauge with .035 wire at 17-18 volts and 180-220 ipm wire speed.

The manual for your welder,
http://www.lincolnelectric.com/assets/s ... imt636.pdf
... says that both voltage and wire speed are controllable. Is it possible you need to change a selector to view wire speed? Sometimes there is a settings guide inside the door to the wire reel mount.

When you do get it running, welding on galvanized creates toxic fumes, so keep your head out of the smoke plume. I don't mean to preach, sorry if you knew that already.

Thanks!
wyocowboy

AKweldshop wrote:

wyocowboy wrote:Hello, pardon is this has been covered.
I'm trying to weld 16 Ga. galvanized Sq. tubing with some gap, utilizing .035 bare wire and a 75/25 mix.
My welder is a Lincoln 255 power mig, can anyone suggest settings to get me close? Is .035 wire going to work or should I drop to .030? Having trouble figureing out converting wire speed and how it relates to Voltage, as wire speed is displayed as "Voltage" on my machine!
Thanks for any help!
wyocowboy

Its quite possible.
I've welded tons of 1" od, 1/16" wall galvi pipe. All .035 flux core.
Making lightweight livestock panels.


Downhill welding is a good advantage if possible.
Hitting your joints with a 60 grit flap disk wouldn't hurt either.
Just get a good fit, and practice a little on scrap.

Good luck, and pics please.

~John

Thanks John!
This project is a garden wagon built from a tote cage, when I get it done I'll post some pictures of the wagon, but not the welds! I already burned it together and patched holes today before I got these answers!

I do a fair amount of 16 gauge steel tubing for furniture. While .035 and .030 work, I find it easier with .025 wire. I keep a big spool of .025 for when I'm working on furniture. If I have .035 in the machine and I need to do a quick weld on 16 gauge tubing, I'll do it. But for starting a new project where there will be alot of 16 gauge, I switch the wire to the smallest size I have (usually .025)

danielbuck wrote:I do a fair amount of 16 gauge steel tubing for furniture. While .035 and .030 work, I find it easier with .025 wire. I keep a big spool of .025 for when I'm working on furniture. If I have .035 in the machine and I need to do a quick weld on 16 gauge tubing, I'll do it. But for starting a new project where there will be alot of 16 gauge, I switch the wire to the smallest size I have (usually .025)

I had priced moving to .025 wire, (Drive spools, wire and spool adapter) but that puts me out about $100.00, was hoping to stay with .035! but when you think about it, the .025 only makes sense! May I ask what settings you have the best luck with?

Thanks