HH 175: 22ga

[Dan]

We get quite few guys asking about the performance of A HH 135 or HH 175 on automotive sheetmetal, so today I decided to run some test pieces to see how well my HH 175 performs on 22 ga. So, I set the machine up with a 2 lb roll of .023 E70S-6 ,and my bottle of C25. Then I set my machine settings at voltage tap#1 and the wire speed at 10. Now, I ve never MIG welded material thinner then 16 ga. and generally most of my welding with mig is on 1/8" to 1/2" material. So, I really had no idea what to expect. The results that I achieved was amazing. The arc was incredibly stable (very soft) with NO spatter at all.

Now the only joint design that I performed this experiment on was a butt joint in the flat postion, because this would obviously be the most difficult joint to achieve any success on. As long as I had a tight fit up and the material thickness was lined up properly, I had no problem welding the joint. The only time I blew holes in the basemetal was when there was a slight gap in the joint. The gap problem was easily address though by using a series of side to side tack welds across the joint.

Keeping with my normal trend I have a picture of my results. The picture that Im posting is the very first weld bead that I ran in this experiment. Now, since this was an experiment my intention was to run the weld bead as far as I possibly could before I blew a hole in the basemetal. As you will see from my attached picture I was able to run a bead 2 1/2" long with no problem. I probably could have went further then this but my test pieces were only 3" long. By the way if this were anything other then an experiment, I would only run about 1" long weld beads and skip around on the joint.

By the way, the basemetal that I picked up from the farm store to do this experiment on was marked as 22 ga. but it measured a lot closer to 24 ga. which made the results that I was achieving that much more impressive to me.

[Scott V]

Dan,

looks like I started something?Every welding machine I have owned would do a great job on sheetmetal,except one.Of course I guess I could use the built in dc tig,But that wasn't what I had in mind when I bought the thing.

Dan,now you need to try some thin metal with some rust on it, then it will be just like welding on a car!

[Will]

Nice work Dan. What length stick out were you running? How much weave? And what travel speed( how long to do the 2.5 inch weld)? Thanks.

[Al T.]

Thanks Dan, for showing me another weld my sweet little hh175 can do! I haven't tried it yet myself, which makes your practice welds so important to me.

I hope to return the favours some day!

[Dan]

Originally posted by Will
Nice work Dan. What length stick out were you running? How much weave? And what travel speed( how long to do the 2.5 inch weld)? Thanks.

Will

Somewhere around a 1/4" to 5/16" on the stickout. I have good visibility with this stickout length, because I have modified an old nozzle so that the contact tip extends past the end of the nozzle by an 1/8" - see attachment.

22ga. is extremely thin material you just travel straight and at a pretty fast pace. Sorry, I have no idea on a time frame.

[DJD775]

Dan,
Did you just cut the old nozzle down to shorten it? Is there any drawbacks to doing this?

Thanks
DJD

[Will]

Thanks Dan, I will give it a try. I have some thin stock I want to practice on. It might even be 24 ga.

[Dan]

Originally posted by Will
Thanks Dan, I will give it a try. I have some thin stock I want to practice on. It might even be 24 ga.

Will

If the short stickout makes the weld to hot for you try increasing your stickout to about a 1/2". No matter what though travel is going to be fast. If you want you could try a copper back up strip, this would help make it a little easier. If your going to practice on butt joints fit up is critical it needs to be tight. I have a plasma cutter for cutting sheetmetal, but I also have a Kett KET-440 hand shear. This shear is rated for up to 14ga. CR steel but it does best on 16ga and thinner. Anyway, this is what I used to cut my test peices with. It is extremely accurate. It is kinda just like cutting to a line with electric scissors.

[Dan]

Originally posted by DJD775
Dan,
Did you just cut the old nozzle down to shorten it? Is there any drawbacks to doing this?

Thanks
DJD

Yeah, I just cut an 1/8" off the end. Extending the contact tip an 1/8" past the nozzle is acceptable for short circuit transfer GMAW. In fact, if you have a MM 210 or MM 250 series machine there is already a nozzle available that produces this contact tip extension beyond it.

The only real drawback would be if you had a tendency to hold a stickout length of a 1/2" because then the nozzle would be 5/8". However, if you are to try yhis you will find that it actually makes you hold a tighter stickout then you were previously holding.

[Will]

Thanks Dan. I'm looking forward to trying this. Fit won't be a problem since I will be using scrap pieces, and I'll cut them square. I will try both with and without backer metal.

Thanks Aaron. I can't wait to try out your new welder. Should be fun dialing it in! I am especially wanting to see how it does on aluminum.