janowski96

Not sure if this the right place to post this. I'm really new to welding. Maybe somebody can help me? I got a new Millermatic 180 AutoSet welder. My first project is a welding cart for my welder than I will start with some projects I have in mind for the Cherokee. I took a introduction class about a year ago, which covered basics for Mig and Oxy cutting and fusion. I thought I had it down, and my welds looked pretty good in class until I got this welder.

Anyways, I'm using the welder and i'm getting quite a bit of porosity, lot's of pinholes in my welds. Looking at the manual for the welder, it's says to set the gas at about 20cfh, is this the right setting or should I set it higher. Also, in the manual it says that porosity is caused by metal being dirty and insufficient gas, that's why I ask. I am welding 1.5" square tube with Hobart .30 wire. Any ideas would be greatly appreciated. I've tried welding some other test strips and on spare metal and i'm getting the same results. I'll take some pictures of welds i'm getting so you guys/gals have an idea of what i'm coming up with.

Thanks again.

janowski96

These are the crappy welds i'm coming up with

janowski96

These are the welds i've done at school with the same machine basically, except the ones at school were Lincoln Electric. I'm getting frustrated here. I know it's trial and error, but I expected it would be a breeze. LOL

I know these still aren't the best but they look much better than that ones with my new welder.

NorCalJeep

Looks like you have no gas. What gas mixture are you using?

milehigh94xj

Add more heat and gas travel speed looks slow.

Here is an ideal weld.

janowski96

I'm using 75% Argon, 25% Carbon Dioxide

And I have the guage usually set at 20cfh going to the welder. Are you saying to turn the gas up to more cfh?

And speed up the speed when welding?

janowski96

I want welds that look like this. Hopefully soon.

I checked my gas connections, what would be restricting my gas or not allowing it to flow? When I pull the trigger I can see the gas guage fluctuating. So I think the gas is flowing.

offroadordnance

Is the material your welding galvanized? If so, that's a problem.

janowski96

No just raw steel.

woodward

Maybe the polarity is set to run flux core? I have a millermatic 211 and although i have never put flux core wire in it, I know if i do decide to i would have to switch the positive and negative wires on the inside. I dont know if that is your problem but maybe at least check it so you can at least rule it out.

Bilknutz

Are you trying to back step on a wire feed? Try pushing the weld puddle. If your just using .035 steel solid wire should be a simple weld. 22CFM is good setting for 75/25 (75%Argon/25%CO2)gas, which is a good gas for simple GMAW. 90/10 is better if your trying to Pulse Spray. Whats your wire speed and volts? A good starting point can be WPS=165 Volts=17.0

Bilknutz

This is an "okay" Wire Feed weld, The welder was too far away or tipped back to far which caused the excessive splatter.

janowski96

yeah, I checked this and it is set correctly. The ground clamp is connected to the negative side and the nozzle is hooked up to the positive side. I think that is correct according to the owners manual.

janowski96

Do you mean pulling by back stepping? Is that the same thing? I haven't tried pushing yet but am familiar with that technique. I'm using .30 solid wire. Unless i'm totally an idiot and have been using flux wire. It's just the wire that came with the welder, it's a hobart HB-28. I tried finding that wire to get some specs on hobart website and couldn't find any information. I have read/heard about this wire on other websites and guys have said that it's a pretty good wire though. Did not hear anything about it being a flux core wire though. Maybe i'm wrong though. That would be an easy fix. I've tried the recommended voltage and speed for 1/8" thinkness wire recommended by Miller on the charts that came with the welder. I don't know what the numbers you are referring to of WPS=165 and Volts=17.0. Is there a calculation for that?

Thanks in advance for all the input. Hopefully I can figure this out soon so I can make my Jeep a better rig.

janowski96

That's a nice looking weld. I would settle for that. I will be testing more and trying some more things to perfect my welds.