Wire speed too slow?

[Al T.]

As you all might know I only use a HH175 with C/25. I am getting very good results welding 1/8 to 3/16 mild steel at almost the slowest wire speed settings.

All of you use much faster wire speed settings than I do and get good results. Am I missing something in weld quality that I can't get with the lowest speed settings or shouldn't I be concerned about it.

Thanks in advance for your advice.

[Dan]

Re: Wire speed too slow?

Originally posted by Al T.
As you all might know I only use a HH175 with C/25. I am getting very good results welding 1/8 to 3/16 mild steel at almost the slowest wire speed settings.

All of you use much faster wire speed settings than I do and get good results. Am I missing something in weld quality that I can't get with the lowest speed settings or shouldn't I be concerned about it.

Thanks in advance for your advice.

Al

Give us examples of the voltage tap and wirespeed setting that you would use for a fillet weld on 1/8" and 3/16".

[Al T.]

for 1/8" I use tap#3 and 20 on the WS

for 3/16 I use tap#4 and 20 on the WS.

[Dan]

Originally posted by Al T.
for 1/8" I use tap#3 and 20 on the WS

for 3/16 I use tap#4 and 20 on the WS.

Al

Sorry I messed up I should have asked for wire size too.

[Al T.]

Sorry, .030, I forgot to mark that down.

I'm leaving work now so I'll read your answer tomorrow.
Thanks!

[Hobart Expert Dave]

Al.T I have mine set at 2 and 40 using .030 wire and 3 and 40 on the 3/16 wire. I would call Rock when you get a chance it sounds like you have a board problem and the wire speed is too fast. Call him at 1-800-332-3281.
Thanks
Dave Evans

[Hobart Expert Rock]

AL T..... You probably don't need to call me...........Just measure your incomming voltage........As you may or may not know this determins your settings......... My 230 volt recepticle is 221, My neighbor's 1/4 mile down the road is 203, My brother's 3/4 of a mile up the road is 237..............Typically during the day.....

What I'm saying is that as the voltage differ's so will your settings.........The key is that you are getting good results...... Good penetration and good looking welds....... Cut a weld in too take a look at it.................

You can call if you have a problem......... Or if you want to check something........... Here is a good test for your incomming power if you have a fluke meter........... Set the min/max to record your voltage for say 4 hours.........??????????....... then take a look at your meter to see how much it sags and spikes........

Enjoy the site.......... Let us know what you find........... and by the way when you call our number their are 2 of us here Rock and Steve and the last hour of the day you get Mike, Marie, Doug, and Kevin....................... All of the listed folks are in from the cold and are no longer secret agents........... .......... And that was my idea to bring all in...........enjoy, be safe, want to call and talk were here from 07:00 est time until 05:00 cst.......... Hey that is 11 hours..................... Now I ask you who else stays open that long to lend a hand................ See ya..................Rock........
[email protected]

[Al T.]

Thanks Rock for the info!

[morpheus]

not sure about my voltage but with my HH175 and .030 wire I run voltage tap #3 and wire speed of about 35-40 for 3/16 and 1/4 stuff.

voltage tap #4 is just too hot for 1/4" for me, no matter what the wire speed I can't stop the undercut.

for the longest time I ran my wire speed at about 15-20 no matter what the tap setting. after taking a welding class I realized it was my technique, or I should say lack of technique. that was causing me to want the wire speed so slow.

good luck with it.

- jack

[Al T.]

Jack looks like I'm just being too cautious and afraid of the extra speed. I'll try experimenting faster.

ps I still haven't tried aluminum yet, afraid of failing.
Too bad I do not have another welder nearby to practice with.
I'll keep everyone posted.

[Dan]

Al and Jack

You guys need to work on getting your wire speed settings higher. Remember, your wire speed setting is going to regulate the amount of current that your machine outputs. The higher the wire speed setting the more current the machine will out put. Being able to handle higher wire speed setting translates into a deeper penetrating weld. Which also translate into less chances for a lack of fusion. Of course this is assuming that you can handle the amount of wire that is being fed. Anyway, I mainly run an .035 solid wire on my HH 175. For 1/8" I use voltage tap #3 and the speed setting ranges from 40 to 55 depending on the joint design and the position of the weld. For 3/16" I still use tap #3 and a wire speed range of about 50 to 70 once again this depends on the joint design and position of the weld. Now remember these settings are with an .035 solid wire. With an .030 I would run higher wire speed settings. I plan on playing with my MM 175 some this evening . So, I will drag my HH 175 out too and put a roll of .030 on it and see what kind of settings I come up with.

By the way, on average my input voltage to the machine is 237 volts

[INTP]

Originally posted by Dan
...Remember, your wire speed setting is going to regulate the amount of current that your machine outputs. The higher the wire speed setting the more current the machine will out put. Being able to handle higher wire speed setting translates into a deeper penetrating weld. Which also translate into less chances for a lack of fusion. Of course this is assuming that you can handle the amount of wire that is being fed. ...

By the way, on average my input voltage to the machine is 237 volts

I slow it down when welding sheet (to prevent burn-through) and speed it up when welding thicker materials for penetration. I did some bending tests with welds done at different speeds and it did make a difference. It takes practice to get smooth at higher feed rates, but I agree that it's necessary to work on.

FWIW, I get 240-242 volts most days. 120-122 V for branch circuits.

[morpheus]

Originally posted by Dan
Al and Jack

You guys need to work on getting your wire speed settings higher. Remember, your wire speed setting is going to regulate the amount of current that your machine outputs. The higher the wire speed setting the more current the machine will out put. Being able to handle higher wire speed setting translates into a deeper penetrating weld. Which also translate into less chances for a lack of fusion. Of course this is assuming that you can handle the amount of wire that is being fed. Anyway, I mainly run an .035 solid wire on my HH 175. For 1/8" I use voltage tap #3 and the speed setting ranges from 40 to 55 depending on the joint design and the position of the weld. For 3/16" I still use tap #3 and a wire speed range of about 50 to 70 once again this depends on the joint design and position of the weld. Now remember these settings are with an .035 solid wire. With an .030 I would run higher wire speed settings. I plan on playing with my MM 175 some this evening . So, I will drag my HH 175 out too and put a roll of .030 on it and see what kind of settings I come up with.

By the way, on average my input voltage to the machine is 237 volts

I took your advice and lo and behold it works Dan. I was kinda skeptical to be honest. But after a few passes to get the hang of going a bit faster I got in the groove. I did some passes on some 1/8" and 3/16" plate. For the 1/8" I used tap #3 and about 40 or so on the wire speed. For the 3/16" I also used tap # 3 and about 70. Just for the heck of it I tried 70 on 1/8" ... it was decent. at what point do you need to be concerned about the HAZ. 1/8" 1.5" angle with the wire speed at 70 had the whole strip of 1/8" angle glowing RED !

I guess I don't have enough light in my garage for picture taking but here's a pic of some passes on 3/16" plate one with the wire speed on 40 and the other on 70. Not sure what I'm doing wrong taking pictures but these welds look great in person and kinda crappy in this image. I didn't grind on the welds at all, just hit it with a wire brush so you could see it better. or at least that was my hope

on another note, the 3/16" I'm welding on is from the welding class I was taking. I kept almost all my coupons so I could practice on what clean plate was left. at the edge of the picture is part of a lap joint. the instructor guy kept telling me that you're not supposed to cut into the top edge of the upper piece in a lap joint. Is that true ? it sure made getting a decent weld doing much more than a straight across weld virtually impossible.


thanks.

- jack

[Dan]

I didn t get a chance to play with the MM 175 because the wife was busy and didn t have time to take my load voltage readings for me. Yes I did mention to her if I had the MM 251 I wouldn t need her help.

anyway, since she was busy I went ahead and set up my HH 175 with the roll of .030 E70S-6 to see what settings I would come up with . Sorry I thougt I had some 3/16 but I only had 1/8" and 1/4". Didn t want to waste the 1/4" so I just used the 1/8". For this experiment I chose to weld on T joints. For this joint design I came up with machine settings of voltage tap #3 and a setting of 60 for the wire speed.

To compare the diffence between a weld that was produce by an .030 wire and a weld that was produed by an .035, I also installed a roll of .035 on the HH 175 and ran some welds on the same material and joint design. So this means it is time for some more of them pictures. This first picture is of one of the welds that I produced using the .030 wire

[Dan]

This second picture is a weld that was produced using the .035 wire. Machine settings for this weld were voltage tap #3 and 50 on the wire speed.

By the way, the dark spot at the end of the weld bead isn' t a hole .