welding 1/4 in steel

[mik32176]

I have to weld 1/4 inch steel plate to 3/16 steel tube. what amp and wire feed rate should I use. It needs to be heavy duty. Also since Im running an argon, co mixture should I switch to solid core wire or stay with flux core wire.

I have a three hundred amp welder. with digital read out, the welder is new to me, before I had a hobart handler 175 but it was maxed out all the time. and I havent spent much time welding. thoughts?

[Karl_T]

All welders are different. I don't think you can expect an exact answer. All the wire feeds I've been exposed to have a "suggested start settings" table for different materials and wire selections. Look for it in your manual.

For sure, I'd weld for practice to get used to your new box. You can't beat welding two pieces together and then trying to detroy them by beating on the parts in a vice. Most common problem with wire feed is a real pretty weld with no penetration.

Karl

[NC Cams]

Trying to explain how to weld is sort of like trying to explain how to develop balance on a bicycle.

Get some welding "how to" books. They give guidance on how to weld unequal thickness materials. Practice does the rest.

One hint that worked well when I was making the transition from stick weld to wire feed was this: when the wire feed rate and the heat settings are right, the arc will sound like bacon sizzling.

Once I got that sound, the beads had the beginnings of proper looks and penetration. Fine +/- tuning of wire feed and amperage settings got me the rest of the way.... along with practice....

[Weldtutor]

For 1/4" steel plate to 3/16" steel tube, (wall thickness, not tube diameter) you could use solid wire with Argon Co2 gas mix.
As Karl T suggests a lot of practice & some destructive testing is well advised if as you say it needs to be "heavy duty."
Wire drive speed, voltage setting, travel speed etc will vary depending upon the size wire being used.

[vladdy]

Argon /CO2 is a fairly 'hot' mix and will give good penetration, and a fairly 'shallow' bead...

as previously stated, a close approximation is the sizzling sound, nice and even..

With digital, probably 24.2 to start on voltage, maybe 650 [from the lincoln next to me] for feed...with .035 wire...I assume..

If it pushes back on the wand, back off feed or turn up heat
If it sticks to the tip more feed usually...

or if your'e like me, grab some scrap, turn them up all the way, back 'em just a wee bit, and let it rip....

enjoy...

[Clueless]

and be sure to aim at the thicker piece or you'll have a "holy" pipe...

^^^ Look, I made my first joke on here!! ^^^

[RMS]

Originally Posted by mik32176 I have to weld 1/4 inch steel plate to 3/16 steel tube. what amp and wire feed rate should I use. It needs to be heavy duty. Also since Im running an argon, co mixture should I switch to solid core wire or stay with flux core wire. I have a three hundred amp welder. with digital read out, the welder is new to me, before I had a hobart handler 175 but it was maxed out all the time. and I havent spent much time welding. thoughts?

Set the welder to 95 amps, set wire speed at approx. 1/4 speed and on a scrap pcs. of plate weld with one hand and adjust the wire speed with the other. Sound means a lot to welding so listen for a smooth buzz with a bit of crackling.

If this was a stick job say with 7018 3/32 I would be using 95-98 amps. approx.

Also keeping it clean and about 75-90 degrees preheat does help out alot.

[EPAUTOWELDING]

When you use a shielding gas you need to use solid wire. Flux core wire has the flux inside as a welding rod has its flux outside. When you melt the wire as you weld the flux inside burns releasing a gas, this is the shielding gas in both welding rods and flux core wire. If you are welding 3/16" wall thicness pipe to say the center of a 1/4" plate and you want a good strong weld, you should bevel the end of the pipe close to 45 degrees. When you set the pipe on the plate you will have a nice groove to fill. This also increases the surface area that will be welded and gives you extra strengh. As far as penetration, if you use straight CO2 not only is it cheapear (about 16 bucks a 20lb. bottle you know the aluminum ones with a plastic handle used for coke machines, I realy like these)but lasts alot longer than the C25 mix and gives good penetration. If you'll "pull" the weld keeping your wire on the 1/4" plate and let it fill the grove before you move along a little at a time you'll have a good weld. As far as settings 24v and adjust the speed for a bacon frying sound like the guys said. good luck... EP `easy does it`