| 1. Get a good ground clamp - Spend 20 bucks and | | | | behind a boat trailer, think about whether it was |
| get a copper ground clamp with a strong spring. | | | | welded with a 115 volt wire feeder welder or a |
| Your mig welder is not smart enough to know | | | | 230 volt mig welder, or a 230v stick welder. |
| when your ground is not good and so it just | | | | After you get that chill down your spine, slow |
| keeps on feeding wire. This is why some wire | | | | down and put some space between you and the |
| welders sound like a drive by shooting when they | | | | boat, Then make you your mind never to weld |
| first light up. | | | | anything like a boat trailer with a 115 volt mig. |
| 2. Watch your stickout - Stickout is controlled by | | | | 6. Bare wire vs flux core - flux core will weld |
| how far away you hold your mig welding gun. But | | | | hotter and thicker and outside in the wind. Bare |
| it is also increased if your contact tip is recessed | | | | wire is better on really thin metal and looks |
| way back in the mig nozzle. Adjust the mig gun | | | | better. |
| nozzle so that the tip is flush with the nozzle or | | | | 7. Mig welding polarity - Reverse polarity Electrode |
| even protruding a tiny bit. | | | | positive is for bare wire welding. Some flux core |
| 3. Shielding gas - 75 argon 25 cO2 is the standard. | | | | wires require changing the polarity in order to |
| Plain C02 works too. If you have a 115 volt wire | | | | weld ok. Since mig welding machines don't have a |
| feed welder that only welds with flux core, sell it | | | | polarity change switch, this requires you to swap |
| and buy one with a gas conversion kit. | | | | the leads. It is easy and takes only a couple of |
| 4. Welding wire - for bare wire welding, use | | | | minutes, but some people never think of it. Lots |
| E70S6 , for flux core use Lincoln NR211. There | | | | of 115 volt mig welders are sold on Craigslist |
| are other good ones buy lets keep it simple. | | | | because someone forgot to change polarity for |
| 5. 115 volt vs 230 volt - 115 volt wire welding | | | | flux core welding and because of that alone, think |
| machines are great for sheet metal and up to | | | | their mig machine is junk. |
| about 3/16 inch in a pinch...Next time you are | | | | |