Welding: Stick vs Mig

[fiero308]

just a opinion/overview of sorts in case anyone is considering 'upgrading' from a stick welder to a MIG welder; there are things to learn and lots of differences. In other words, you can be a very good stick (and oxy/acet) welder and still have to get used to the MIG welder.  So this is just a quickie look at what I found; might help someone.

I did this 'upgrade' quite a while ago and it took some time to get comfortable with the MIG to match stick welding. (All learned thru trial and error).  I guess what I am suggesting is that anyone who is intending to 'jump in' and do perfect welds the first time should build in a learning curve for themselves.

Stick: angle of the electrode, electrode size, type and current settings all play a part. So does the direction of the weld (ie vertical UP vs vertical DOWN, etc) and the thickness of the material.

In a lot of ways MIG will be the same - in that all of this still has to be considered.  But it seems to manifest itself a bit differently; is you might not instantly recognize what the problem is because you are now dealing with gas pressures (shielding arc) and wire feed speeds to match the current settings. 

What I found:
when I started with my mig, I tended to do mostly flat butt welding. No problem; it worked ok. Then I found I wasn't getting the penetration and strength in the weld.  Long story short, you have to turn up the current to match the thickness of the metal (and wire diameter) and then turn up the wire speed to match. I made the mistake of having my wire speed WAY too low and as a result the wire was almost 'dripping' (yes-actually) out of the gun ONTO the piece. Result: no penetration and no control and a REALLY lousy looking weld.

Mine happens to be a 170 amp model; has 5 current settings A-E with E being high. Wire speed goes from 0-10 infinitely variable. When welding anything pretty much over 1/8" thick I use D or E setting and wire speed in the 7 to 9 range depending. NOTE THAT this is based on a very THIN diameter wire, so it gets eaten up pretty fast.

When trying to weld in ANY OTHER than flat, wire speed is CRITICAL. Set the current to match the metal thickness and then keep turning up the wire speed till you have control of where you want the arc and the resultant 'puddle' of molten metal.

Hope that might save someone some grief and head scratching. (Now that my hair is gone... )

practise and good luck!
gp

[2ML67]

I have a better solution I have a fully ticketed very good welder do all my welding for me. If I did it nothing would hold for long and it would take a week or so of grinding to clean it up. Dan 

[aaron88]

You can get all in one units now, stick, mig and tig.

[fiero308]

ye$, $uch thing$ are po$$ible............  

I looked at a used TIG welder last yr that the guy only wanted $1200 for, but it sounded like it needed work.

but for a non-business user I am guessing that people might be looking at the 'couple hundred bux' models....... so I thought I would put down what my findings were; I had expected it would be a quick, 'walk-into' situation and it isn't, quite.