Well today I managed to improve the setup of the welder. Quick recap, I'm using a Lincoln Weldpak 180HD which is the same 220v unit you'd find at Home Depot and others. It has stepped voltage settings instead of the continuous settings of the premium weldpak 180. I'm using a generic blue ptfe liner, and pushing 5356 wire from the unit itself instead of a spool gun.
I managed to find some .035" wire and some .045" contact tips. I also refreshed the gun with a new diffuser and nozzle. Not Lincoln brand, but generic tweco-compatible consumable bits from a random online supplier. Next I carefully straightened the neck portion of the gun a bit. It was clearly past the 45deg angle, and with it closer to 40deg I figure it would feed more smoothly. I brushed clean the feed rollers, and completely loosened the drive roll setting and the spool holder tension. After dialing in the wire speed and voltage settings, the sporatic feed problems I was having with the .030" wire are completely gone. I haven't had a single birdsnest for this entire pound of wire. Now that I've said that, I probably have jinxed myself. The roller feed tension is as light as possible, and the wire will slip in the drive rolls if the wire burns back and sticks in the contact tip. Argon flow is increased from 19cfh to 25cfh.
Also, at the suggestion from my mentor, I've tried getting some gas pre-flow to shield the arc before it strikes. The machine isn't set up for it, but with the wire trimmed right back to the tip, and then blipping the trigger once before holding it I can get a burp of gas to the weld site. This, along with the slightly increased flow setting has greatly improved the consistancy of my welds without a spool gun.
So why not just get a spool gun? It's because I want greater access to tight areas and corners. And it's bulky. And the additional cost of course. And I'm stubborn and want to do it the hard way sometimes. But now it works fine! I went down this whole path because my mentor, who has since moved away, used to do tons of aluminum welding with a similar setup. They just pushed wire through the whip. So if you're trying to weld without a spool gun, don't give up! It's possible, but the learning curve is somewhat steep and frustrating.
Cheers, B
I managed to find some .035" wire and some .045" contact tips. I also refreshed the gun with a new diffuser and nozzle. Not Lincoln brand, but generic tweco-compatible consumable bits from a random online supplier. Next I carefully straightened the neck portion of the gun a bit. It was clearly past the 45deg angle, and with it closer to 40deg I figure it would feed more smoothly. I brushed clean the feed rollers, and completely loosened the drive roll setting and the spool holder tension. After dialing in the wire speed and voltage settings, the sporatic feed problems I was having with the .030" wire are completely gone. I haven't had a single birdsnest for this entire pound of wire. Now that I've said that, I probably have jinxed myself. The roller feed tension is as light as possible, and the wire will slip in the drive rolls if the wire burns back and sticks in the contact tip. Argon flow is increased from 19cfh to 25cfh.
Also, at the suggestion from my mentor, I've tried getting some gas pre-flow to shield the arc before it strikes. The machine isn't set up for it, but with the wire trimmed right back to the tip, and then blipping the trigger once before holding it I can get a burp of gas to the weld site. This, along with the slightly increased flow setting has greatly improved the consistancy of my welds without a spool gun.
So why not just get a spool gun? It's because I want greater access to tight areas and corners. And it's bulky. And the additional cost of course. And I'm stubborn and want to do it the hard way sometimes. But now it works fine! I went down this whole path because my mentor, who has since moved away, used to do tons of aluminum welding with a similar setup. They just pushed wire through the whip. So if you're trying to weld without a spool gun, don't give up! It's possible, but the learning curve is somewhat steep and frustrating.
Cheers, B
