I did a search and I found this thread : https://honda-tech.com/zerothread?id=1178131.

But there is no mention how the problem was sloved. I'm having the same symptoms for aluminum.........splatter everywhere. I've tried the red band and the green band tungstens at all amperage levels ranging from 30 to over 150 but the same thing happens. I've cleaned the aluminum piece with a wire wheel before I tried the bead................no luck. For the people that have the same machine, what are your settings? What tungsten/cup size/tips?

BTW the machine is brand new and does regular steel fine. I've welded at 71amps with a 20cfm flow rate. Help a brotha out!

 

I'm no pro, but I'm able to put down a bead using a 3/32 Ceriated eletrode ground to a blunt point. gas is around 18. I have the older version w/o the A/C balance.

 

Hey man-
I have the newer version with the AC balance. Just bought it a few months ago. Are you sure the machine is on AC current? I know it sounds dumb, but I have done it plenty of times! Check that first and secondly, probably not the problem in this case but for future reference, dont use a wire wheel to clean aluminum unless it is stainless steel one...and even in that case, be sure to dedicate the wheel to nothing but aluminum prep before welding. The normal wire wheels, believe it or not, contaminate the aluminum more than it already due to the oils, and other fragments of metals that get inbedded between the wires.
Let us know how it goes! GOOD LUCK!
Kyle

 

As long as you have it on A/C, it sounds like what mine did when I forgot to turn the gas on :-X - and like blueoval said, make sure you get seperate stainless brushes for AL and Steel. I wipe everything down with Acetone. If you touch the electrode to the work, stop, regrind.

 

Thanks for the replies guys. It's definately on AC but guess what? I just got a call from my friend at the shop where the machine is located. It turns out that the gas depot gave him a bottle of 75/25 because the empty one that he brought back was the same. Everything is OK now. More practice is all that's needed now.
Thanks again!!

 

Did they give you a free re-fill or something at least?!?!?! That'd iss me off! Glad to hear you got it going!
Kyle

 

They swapped it out free of charge.

 

How do you guys like your 180sd ?

 

Oh it's great!! Matter-of-fact it was because of the guys on here that praised it so much.............the choice was easy. I have (4) 250's and (2) 135's for over 8yrs and never had to service any one of them. I also have a Lincoln PowerMig 300 for 3yrs and I've had to get it re-program when it was about 5months old. Lincoln has a lot of features that I may never use but you can't beat simplicity and reliabilityof Miller.

 

Yeah, I defenitely love my 180SD. Ill never let it go....she'll be building drag cars with me for many years to come!
Kyle

 

i have also the same machine.. i was wondering how long it took u guys to use it.. its really hard for somereason


Modified by turboekcivic at 8:40 AM 7/15/2005

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by turboekcivic &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">i have also the same machine.. i was wondering how long it took u guys to use it.. its really hard for somereason


Modified by turboekcivic at 8:40 AM 7/15/2005</TD></TR></TABLE>

I've been playing with mine a couple times a week and various metals (aluminum/stainless/mild) and just using stuff that I learned from this forum and miller's forum, I'm able to lay down some decent beads. Now I just need to get a band saw...

BTW, Just got all my filler from tigdepot.com in. They get an A+ from me.