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Help with mig welding a trailer

by Stan
(Indiana)

I have an old trailer I made it a long time ago with a friend we started with and old trailer frame add box tubing and we used his lincoln stick welder(buzz box)to build it. Its painted and rusty know. I purchased a Lincoln 180c mig welder to train on the trailer it works fine I think... I cleaned the area's that I wish to weld, I think I have a good ground cleaned an area but the frame is rusty. I'm not sure of the settings the metal is thin (body panel) thin on the trailer and a quess 1/32 gauge box tubing so I set the machine power to C its in letters... wire speed to 2-3.I'm using gas 75%argon 25%Co2. gas set at 35, my wire is .25 it came with the machine.
I seem to have a problem. I can't get a straight weld it puddles. I'm all over the place! I'm not sure of the settings the inside cover there are basic settings.
I'm brand new at this! I do not have any training I'm just learning reading trying and asking questions. I also set up a test piece of steel 1/8 thick to practice on.. I'm like a drunken sailor my welds a crooked, I can't seem to keep the sweet spot, I find it lose it etc. my welds look like drops with small line connections.I think its my settings,I don't know. any suggestions. Stan

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It sounds like you need to slow down quite a bit.

using the settings recommended by lincoln, just leave the settings alone for a while until you can get a pretty uniform bead on a test piece or scrap.

once you get a uniform bead, you can tweak the settings to improve it further.

also, its tough using a mig to weld over stick welds...nothing you do is going to make that a lot better. you might be better off using a stick welder if that is what you feel comfortable with....A stick welder wont be all that sensitive to slag, paint and rust.

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Nov 10, 2011
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WELD PROBLEMS
by: Anonymous

Sometimes if the machine is gasless / gas operated you may need to turn your drive wheel over because it may be set up for flux core wire which they use for gasless operation. It may also be as simple as your drive roller is slipping so you may need to tighten it up, but dont over tighten it or you will run into other problems.
Goodluck !

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