I just bought a lincoln 3200HD 135amp mig/flux wire welder. I've been playing with it a little bit. I can make some good welds on perfectly mated surfaces, but with much gap it turns into a gorrila weld really fast
When I hook up the Argon /Co2 to it for the mig welding does this improve much? How much of a gap can you leave when welding different metals? What variable effects how fast your wire speed should be? I need to get good enough at this to weld in a roll cage.

 

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Actually it came with it, but they are stuck in the 90's. I don't have a VCR anymore. I'll probably go watch it at my parents house.

 

I've got an extra VCR sitting over here if you wanna borrow one...

You really never want to have a gap of more than 1/8" when joining stuff, and more desirable to have like 1/16" ... Gas will make it a little easier, because its cleaner and a tad slower than the flux cored wire. You usually use a .030" solid wire vs. .035" flux core. Also, make sure you have plenty of current capacity on the circuit you're plugging the welder into. If you're using an extension cord, it needs to be 12 gauge wire or better, or the voltage will sag and cause you problems. The next thing is matching wire speed and current tap to your material thickness -- there should be a chart somewhere on your welder or in your documentation that will get you started. After a while, you'll get used to "reading" the welder, and know when to adjust. The basic idea is you adjust the current to get the level of penetration, and adjust wire speed to adjust fill rate. Basically.

 

That actually makes alot of sense. Thanks man. Current is no prob. Ran that 10GA dedicated 20amp outlet to the gaarge. No extension cord. You don't even want to see the weld I put on these 2.5" bullets with 3" flanges

 

I was taught that you know you are close on your settings when it sounds like bacon sizzling.

 

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1st, yes the gas will make your welds alot better, as their will be minimal slag left over.

2nd, you should always learn to weld with a torch and braze first. If you can master that then you will be a much better welder.

3rd, when using a wire feed like you are, your gaps will have to be really tight. Stick welders will allow you to fill in the gaps better when using thicker metal. The wire feed is usually for light duty and thin materials.

Good luck and just practice ALOT on scrap metal!

my dad is a certified welder and been doing it for 35yrs, I always get frustrated when I look at his welds.

 

One thing I specifically wanted this welder for was to weld in a Mild Steel Roll cage. I just looked at the chart on the inside of the welder and it is blacked out at the thickness I need for that for MIG. The tubing is .134". But then I looked at This PDF on lincoln's site http://content.lincolnelectric.com/p...ture/e7351.pdf . It shows that it can weld it in a single pass. Do you guys think a 135amp MIG welder is enough for the .134" tubing?

I will be practicing alot before I do the cage of course. Probably just about every day for a couple weeks and then I'll start on the cage. I know a couple people who are better than I am at to help on that if needed, but I wonder if this welder is enough for the job.

 

hello i am new to this board but not new to welding i been a pipewelder for 12 yrs & 1 thing u will wanna do is make sure every the metal your welding on is clean do it with a grinder & just the outside edges of whatever it is your welding on .I also would recommend you might find someone to tig weld this cage in i think you would be alot happier with the results gtaw process gas tungsten arc welding .as far as learning how to weld i would listen to your buddys that know how to weld & let them give you advice .I would say that the welding machine can probably weld the cage but i have friends that use crome moly cages in there cars & they have them tig welded in they welds are very clean looking if they know what there doing if not it can be a night mare that goes for any welding process .This is what i would do take a couple of peices of carbon steel metal 3/8 thick & tack them on each end .Then you have got a t plate start running beads in the flat position put the first pass in thats the root pass then your 2 pass is the hot pass you will weld under the1st pass but over lap half the weld thats the 2 pass go to the 3rd pass & over lap the 2nd pass with the 3rd pass on the top of the t plate when u master the flat position flip it in a vertical position master that then put in an overhead get some sleeves welding a mig in over head will make your head itch . get a welder cap that might help sorry about the rambling on i just dont wanna see you blow a hole in your floorboard

 

When I welded in Adrian's subframes with mine, using flux cored, I was wishing I had a higher horsepower unit, because I was sitting there what seemed like forever to get the penetration I wanted. It was kinda close to not being hot enough. If I were using a bottle, I might not have got deep enough. When I welded up Jeff's transmission X-member, that thick *** plate he bought soaked up the heat too These little 110V wire feeders are great for anything up to 3/16" with flux cored wire, but only 1/8" with gas. Going to the rated max of 1/4" (a bit thinner with gas) you can really tell the poor thing is struggling..

I'm confident the welder you have can do the cage, but it'll be near/at the limit. When you do it, lemme know and I cruise over and give you a hand..

 

I though I read somewhere on here that cages had to be tig welded??

 

Chromoly does have to be tig welded to be legal.

 

Gas flow cools the workpiece and cuts way
down on blowthrough. You can play with gas
flow as a third dimension (vs current and wire
feed speed).

A butt weld on sheet metal is not going to be
as strong or as easy as one with a backing
strip (kinda like a double lap weld). You can

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"stick" a few wire stubs to the backing strip
to use in positioning it and pulling it up tight.

Argon75 for mild steel, argon for general
purpose, CO2 for higher penetration on
mild, helium for least heat removal (like
aluminum, which sinks a lot of heat in
thicker stock).