I just starting Mig welding this week, from fluxcore.

I have a 220V Chicago electric welder, it only have a few setting, Min and MAX and setting 1 and 2 for each

Now when Im welding sometimes I have a hard time keeping the weld down, like when Im finished my bead, ALOT of it looks raised up, like it didnt penentrate and just kind of stays above

Ive found that for thicker stuf, I can put it on max 2 and it makes a pulsing sound when welding, but it appears to go deep in the metal with not to much above the metal

Curious what I have to do on THINNER metals to get the weld to penetrate more and leave a nicer bead that isnt so raised up

Thanks

 

if its not penetrating, turn up the heat a bit.... now if you have a monster weld sitting on top of the metal, i would think your wire speed is to high and not enough voltage. It takes a while to dial it in.

Is there a settings chart on the inside of the welder?

 

If you need a little more heat turn up your WFS.

 

So if I run it at the max 2 setting, the highest it can go, I can pretty much weld anything I'll ever need, but I cant see myself needing that much on a piece of exhaust or something the like

On thin metal, if I start getting way to much raised above my welds, what should I do

 

turn down the feed speed/volts depending on how thick it is

on a normal short circuit mig weld it should sound like frying bacon

 

Ya it always has the crackling noise going, when I stick it on Max-2, it kidna sounds like a microwaves hum, with a lot less crackling, **** gets hot real fast, but it leaves a FAT deep weld.

But I cant always use that setting on little stuff

Just curious what I do when Im getting a rasied weld that isnt penentrating

 

Flux core is all about penetration. I actually prefer to use solid wire for welding thinner metals.

Make sure your moving very slow and steady with the gun (no C or whip movements). You want the puddle to really settle into the material. To make a nice bead, try focusing on the edges of the bead and making sure they have the same "cherry red" on both materials being joined. I've noticed that it's easier for me to get a nice consistant weld if I focus on the edges of the bead.

Also, flux core likes to settle. That is, if your welding a joint, try and face the joint as verticle as possible. Then just fill the joint with weld. If you can't tip the joint up for whatever reason, it helps to give preference to the more verticle material. The weld will tend to fall down giving it more of a 45deg shape.

But I don't think you really have the luxury of changing your wfs, so your just going to have to get a feel for controlling the bead. I'd try pushing and pulling the weld, and seeing what the results are.

I hope any of that makes sense. Practice practice practice.