Thanks for the replies.
It's a Lincoln 220 volt 180.
I ground and sanded the door surface clean and the holes are fresh drilled. I put the ground clamp on a sanded off surface. Tip and wire are both 0.035". I have the gas set at the recomended level. I thought I had the nozzel clean of spatter but?
Will it pop if I have the wire too close or too far away from the surface when I start?
Miles, just wanted to make sure that you have the polarity set right inside the machine. I have seen those machine's come setup for fluxcore which require dc straight or electrode negative. Just make sure your ground is on the negative inside the cabinet beings that you are running hard wire with gas. Otherwise you might try backing off on the wire and turning up the heat.
I'm a rank amateur welder but I was having similar problems and found out it was the sh*tty ground clamp on my welder. Try cleaning that up or using some braided copper under it.
If it's tourist season, how come I can't shoot 'em?
I cleaned everything, and rechecked the polarity, all good.
I started to have trouble with bead welds and discovered the twist lock connector that connects the trigger to the machine is faulty. Switching on the gas and also the wire feed was a bit intermittent, I disassembled it and have it going fine now.
Thanks for your input.
Some of my welds seemed to have a lot of metal beading, I turned down the feed as suggested and found I have a cleaner flatter weld, seems to penetrate more as well. Thank you for the tip.
Miles, might i also suggest that on your flat welds that you push instead of drag your gun. Also a small circular motion can help to give you a flatter contour.
Yes, suggest away, thank you. I was going sideways from one piece to the other put the circular way is definitly better, thanks. My biggest problem is I just can't see what I'm doing. Getting better than when I first started though. If I drag I can see the puddle but can't see where I'm going, if I push I can see where I'm going but can't see the puddle. I'm ok on 90 degree joints but flat butt welds not so good.
You want to keep your nozzle and tip about a 1/4" away. Any further and you're trying to long arc. Shielding gas dissipates alot more not shielding your weld puddle sufficiently causing a "colder" weld and porosity in your weld.