Handler 175

My background, amatuer stick for about 20 years and owned a cheap 100 amp wirefeed till it wore out about five years ago and just bought a 175.

The problem. When I set the machine up as directed by the inside label, the wire speed is just too fast for me, I can't watch the puddle for moving the gun so fast. It seems like if I cut the speed back to about half of what's recommended, I can keep up. My first couple of pratice beads looked like a tootsie roll just laying there.
I am using .030 solid core wire, 75-25 gas and welding on 1/8 mild steel. It indicates voltage on 3 and wire speed at 80 and this is where I am having trouble but if I cut the wire speed back to about 40 or so, then I can weld a decent bead while maintaining the puddle.

The question. What are the chances of this machine possible having the wrong inner label? Or am I just that out of pratice.

thanks

Alan

[JPCWELD]

Hello Alan I have a MM 175 I use for wrought Iron repair for 1/8 I set the machine at 70 wire speed and 3.5-4.5 depending on the joint on the HH I think that is 2 or 3 . The other thing is you need to set your polarity to the wire you are using . You said that you are using solid core. I would think you mean solid wire , so check your wire,flux or solid and the polarity and if you are still having problems,reply and someone will help you.....JPC

[R. Nelson]

HH175

Check the polarity, the HH175 comes with the polarity set up for flux-cored wire.

[Hobart Expert]

Alan, forgive me if this doesn't work too well, first time replying on the new message board. First, please take into account that the guide on the inside of your machine is just that, a guide. It's just a place to start, it should get you in the ballpark. Second, since it doesn't seem like you're in the ballpark, we have updated the weld guide label on the inside of your machine. If you go to the top of this page and click on Owners Manuals, you can download the manual for your Handler 175. Inside the manual is the updated chart, take a look at that one and see if it gets you closer to what you need. Let us know what you find out.

Brian

[morpheus]

I'm with Alan, the wire speed on my HH175 is way too fast I run it around 10 most all the time (works good from 1/8-1/4" for me) even then sometimes I wish it were a bit slower ... Maybe I'm just slow

- jack

[Hobart Expert Rock]

HI ALAN.........SOME THINGS COME INTO FOCUS HERE.....THE GUIDE HAS BEEN UPDATED UNDER THE DOOR BUT THAT IS ALL IT IS, JUST A GUIDE, GET'S YOU INTO THE BALL PARK ON THE SETTINGS.......EVERYONE'S STYLE IS SLIGHTLY DIFFERENT.

I WOULD DEFINATELY CHECK THE POLARITY , HAVEING DONE ALL THAT WE CAN CHECK THE WFS ON THE MACHINE TO SEE IF IT IS OUT OF TOLLERANCE. YOUR MANUAL TELLS YOU HOW MUCH INCH'S PER MINUTE THE MOTOR PUTS OUT. DO THIS FEED THE WIRE AT MAXIMUM FOR 30 SECONDS, MEASURE IT, DOUBLE THAT FIGURE AND THAT WILL GIVE YOU INCH'S PER MINUTE. IF IT IS 300 INCH'S IN 30 SECONDS THAT EQUALS 600 INCH'S IN A MINUTE.........ONE MORE THING HAVE THE RANGE SWITCH SET AT 4 FOR MAXIMUM VOLTAGE TO THE DRIVE MOTOR........

STILL HAVEING A PROBLEM CALL THE NUMBER LISTED IN THE BOOK AND SPEAK TO MIKE, MARIE, DOUG, OR KEVIN. ALL ARE QUITE PROFECIENT AND CAN HELP YOU OUT................ROCK [email protected]

[Dan]

Alan
On my HH 175 I run .035 solid wire and c25. At first I tried the recommended parameters for c25 too, and results was terrible. Like you, I feel the recommended wire speed was entirely to high. I couldn t travel fast enough to keep the weld bead from having cold lapping. So for an experiment, I tried the recommend CO 2 parameters with my C25 gas, and was quite pleased with the results. I did some destructive testing of the joint and got what I was looking for, so I use the CO2 parameters as my starting point. So you know, this is based on the same parameter chart that came with your machine. I have a copy of the new parameter chart, but I haven t had the chance to give it a try yet.

By the way my welding with this machine has been on 1/8" and 3/16" thick material. I like to use close to the 1/8" setting for a vertical up weld on a T joint made from 3/16" material. Also, this discussion has been based on fillet welds.

[Brent]

Sure glad to hear that I'm not the only one who finds the wire speed suggestions way too fast. I almost never leave the 10-20 range whether using flux core or solid.

[alan]

I was using it last night on varying steel thickness and came to about the same conclusion as Dan, ignore the c25 guidelines and go with the co2. I cut open a couple of butt joint welds with a chop saw and the penetration was good.
I looked at the updated guidlines and they are pretty close to what is on the inner door, not much change.
The polarity is correct and this afternoon I'll tyr Rock's suggestion and test the wire speed.
Thanks for all the replies.


Alan