Welding tips

[Themurraykart]

Hey guys I bought a 90 amp hf welder and desperatly need tips

 

[kendelrk]

first tip, dont use the hf wire

 

[Themurraykart]

first tip, dont use the hf wire

I have heard this... what is wrong with it?

 

[kendelrk]

just cheap Chinese wire, worst wire, i believe everyone will tell you to get some Lincoln wire

 

[Themurraykart]

Ok, well my welds look like s***. Do you think thats the wire or my lack of knowlage in welding?

 

[kendelrk]

could be your wire, also could be not setting the welder right

 

[Themurraykart]

Like speed and power? I am going to practice on my HF welding wire and actually weld with Lincoln wire. I will try to post pictures of my practice welds here in a bit.

 

[devino246]

I used HF wire for the body work on my Plymouth. Worked fine, dont know what all y'all are complaining about.

 

[kendelrk]

most people dont even try hf, ask one of are other members what they weld on

 

[devino246]

Post some pics of your welds(no matter how crappy they may be) so we can tell you what you're doing wrong.

 

[Themurraykart]

I welded around the washer max setting at a speed of 6 out of 10
I was ajusting the welder settings on the sides of the metal hub...

 

[devino246]

Go wayyyyy slower.

 

[Themurraykart]

Slower welder speed or slower welding???

 

[oscaryu1]

HF wire is fine. My beads on HF wire looks great. Lincoln wire seems to have a smoother arc, but other than that, not worth the price difference.

Slower welding. FCAW is a SLOW process. You'll cover an inch with your machine in 3-5 seconds.

 

[devino246]

HF wire is fine. My beads on HF wire looks great. Lincoln wire seems to have a smoother arc, but other than that, not worth the price difference.

Slower welding. FCAW is a SLOW process. You'll cover an inch with your machine in 3-5 seconds.

Probably even slower than that, depending on material thickness.


Remember that you never want to break away from the molten pool of metal.

 

[Themurraykart]

Thank you all I will post a picture of my next weld!

 

[oscaryu1]

Probably even slower than that, depending on material thickness.


Remember that you never want to break away from the molten pool of metal.

Your voltage should increase pretty much proportionally with metal thickness (and thus wirespeed), so in theory the timeframe shouldn't change that much between thicknesses.

watch the puddle BEHIND the wire - that's your weld.