What welder do I need?

[Dan]

Franz,

No, I ve never ran a MM 225. I am only 35 and have been welding professional (mainly on food processing equipment) now for 15 years so, there are quite few machines out there that i have never tried out. The MM 225 must have been made several years before I started welding, because I can t even find a manual for it on the Miler site.

[Scott S]

Dan, I also want to thank you for all of your knowledge that you pass on to us! ( Also all the other regular posters.) Could you explain a bit more on this:
BTW, for those who dont know, with C-25 Short circuit transfer occurs at about 22 load volts and lower. above 22 load volts you start enter globular transfer. On a MM 210 with C-25 taps 1-5 produce short circuit transfer. Taps 6 & 7 put you into globular transfer with C-25 and spray with 98/2.

Details on how to tell the difference (how it looks while welding & finished weld) between those methods. I don't have 98/2 right now, but I am sure I will get it. Thanks Dan!

[big tuck]

hmmmmmmm

i say just use JB WELD

[Sberry]

No I dont have a pic of it. It wouldnt have shown much anyway as I flushed it with a 7 inch sander and you couldnt see the repair when it was finished. I had to think about it,,,, I believe it was 2 or 3 years old when it failed and it has been at least 8 years since the repair and as far as I know still in service.

[Franz]

Well, the Old Fart is here, and I'm gonna start off with a question. Dan, did you ever run a Miller 225, or were they all out of service when you came along?
I read all the way thru this thread, and I woulda flat out welded the thing with stick and been done before this got to page 2, but that might just be cause I been around a while before MIG machines got so popular.
Dan is right that TIG with a positioner would be the cadillac way to do it, but I welded a lot of these type situations with stick before I owned my first TIG machine.
I ain't sayin this to get anybody's knickers in a knot, but there is way too much emphasis on MIG welding, and entirely too much MIG being done with undersized machines.
I also think we ought to be putting a lot more emphasis on joynt design and preheating before MIG welding especially when a new guy is asking the question.
A lot of the new guys don't even know what question to ask and this thread is an example of that. It started with How do you weld a big shaft to a thin plate, and look where it wound up. If I would have read it and assumed he just wanted to stick a shaft to a quarter inch plate, I would have said run the machine up and favor the shaft, not knowing the actual stresses involved in what the guy is trying to accomplish. Maybe we need to ask some questions before we answer the original posted question.
The people who weld every day or have done it for 10 years know enough tricks to make a weld with any process, and make it so the weld will hold. We also know about every cheat and dirty trick there is to oovercome a bad fitup, but the new guys don't, and if we fail to explain those things, they will have bad results at best, or get hurt at worst. Where Dan or S, or I might see a blowhole as a minor inconvenience, a new guy will chase the hole to Mexico and back before he fills it.
Just a few random thoughts from the Old Fart.

[Dan]

Originally posted by Sberry27
Here is one for Dan, I weld a 2 inch bale spear on where it had work hardened and fatigued, busted off. I give it a full bevel to cut out the bad spot, weld it up 035 SC. Last twice as long as the brand new one already.

Sberry is there suppose to be a picture?

[Dan]

We also need to consider operator skill level. I would never suggest that a newbie try welding this thick of material in short circuit mode. If you set a MM 210 up with c-25 and run it around the settings that i suggested you will end up with a deep penetrating weld bead. You can see the weld burning into the basemetal and then fill the joint back in. There are some large spatter ***** at these settings but this can be handled with anti-spatter spray. Or you could just use the 98/2 and have no spatter.

BTW, for those who dont know, with C-25 Short circuit transfer occurs at about 22 load volts and lower. above 22 load volts you start enter globular transfer. On a MM 210 with C-25 taps 1-5 produce short circuit transfer. Taps 6 & 7 put you into globular transfer with C-25 and spray with 98/2.

[Sberry]

Here is one for Dan, I weld a 2 inch bale spear on where it had work hardened and fatigued, busted off. I give it a full bevel to cut out the bad spot, weld it up 035 SC. Last twice as long as the brand new one already.

[Sberry]

Now, that isnt the machine I would buy to do that kind of work. We dont know his economic status, to some people 1400 or so to to buy a quality machine wouldnt be a big deal. A friend from the past called me the other day to ask about a machine, I sent him packin to the welding store for a new 210. I welded a wedge on a log splitter with one. 1 inch plate to 1/2. Short circuit. Been in service for years. Wouldnt be the machine I would use if I was in the splitter business. But it has enough power to short circuit 035 wire well for the majority of the work most folks would ever come across.

[Sberry]

I would use the 130 if it was the only machine sitting on the job. If I was hand fabricating a modification there wouldnt be any stress on the weld.

[Dan]

Originally posted by Sberry27
For a garden tractor though I would warm the big piece and weld it with the nearest machine.

I have a HH 135, 120 volt machine sitting here in the house, seems to be the nearest machine to me what do you think Sberry. As if i don t already know your answer.

Actually for a garden tractor i don t have any problem with a wirefeeder as long as it isn t being used in short arc mode, and the machine is large enough for the project. If i only had C-25 for my MM 210 I would set the machine to voltage tap #7 and the wire speed to around 64 on the dial setting, this would be with an .035 solid wire. These settings would give me a high end globular transfer that wants to transition over to spray transfer. However, since i have 98/2 , I would use it instead, and spray the joint with the same machine setting. I definitely agree with heating the solid stock.

If it was my tractor though i would still TIG the joint, but then again I already have the TIG machine.

[Sberry]

For a garden tractor though I would warm the big piece and weld it with the nearest machine. Grind the peices clean first. I doubt if the joint design is going so demanding to make the welding critical.

[rusted]

Dan, that advice you gave was just amazing. It is tidbits like that that are educating me fast on this board. You may not realize the wealth of information you just gave a newbie like myself with a response like that, so thanks!

[Dan]

The 1 1/4" solid stock most definitely cancels out welding this up in the short circuit transfer mode with a wire feed. So, a 175 amp mig with solid wire is a very bad idea. With a 175 amp machine a self shielded fluxcore (E71T-11) would be the only real option to consider on this size of machine.

If i had to use one of my wire feeds to weld this, I would use my MM 210 set up to produce spray transfer.

However, without the aid of a welding positioner, on a smaller diameter part like this I still prefer TIG over MIG. My reasoning for this is the fact that without a postioner, that would allow me to make a continuous weld around the 1 1/4" stock, I'm going end up with probably at least 3 restarts. Now, the problem with the start on a MIG weld is the fact that the start of the weld is cold, which can result in either a lack of fusion at the start of the weld or very shallow penetration at the start, with potentially a lack of fusion to the root. So, this lack of fusion or poor penetration at the start produces stress risers that could potentially assist in the failure of this weld joint.

The TIG process however allows you to produce restarts that penetrate to the root of the weld. With TIG the final weld around a small diameter part that contains restarts can potentially have close to the same quality level as a joint that was welded up using a positioner that would allow you to make a continuous weld around the part.

[Sberry]

Building a loader and those type projects I want a mig. Tig maybe if I was doing custom cycle or custom boat parts. I have all 3 processes and everything but my feeders collect dust.