Bought a new to me Airco Dip/Stick 160 multiprocess welder

[Hondacivic247]

I picked up some scrap 3/16 wall square tubing to use as legs for my small welding table as before I had a wooden frame with 2 pieces of 1/4 cold rolled steel plate as the top. I'm going to tack the 2 plates together and square up the legs and weld them on and get some casters to make it mobile. I also want to get something to make a small shelf underneath to set some stuff on.

This will be my first project with the new welder. I'll post some pictures up as soon as I start some progress

[Hondacivic247]

When they say a welder and do 1/4 steel in a single pass how much penetration do they refer to?

Burning half way into 1/4 or all the way through ?

I watched a few videos on understanding wire speed so I screwed around with mine until I got it in a good spot were the weld didn't look over cooked by the amps and looked to have good penetration with the voltage. Tmrw I'll go get some steel and test it and cut a weld to see how it looks for penetration.

The burn back feature is very nice I set it at .5 and it burns the wire back to about a 1/4 stick out.

Still haven't tried the stich function on any of my machines but I may be building anothet ballast box for my ford garden tractor, and I'll be using that function. The first ballast box i built was with 1/8 6011 and 7018 rods on a buzz box it works but I would like to make one that looks better

[H80N]

That was awhile ago Ryan I don't remember and that was for a different machine

For heavens sake.....!!!!

if you suffer from some organic problem that prevents you from moving back 10 pages... to read info already given...

Then.... why don't you toodle down to the LWS and invest $1.50 in a MIG Calculator....???

https://www.millerwelds.com/equipmen...culator-086446


In addition.... spend a little time in the resources section... studying the basics....

https://www.millerwelds.com/resource...ding-resources

It might help you to curb the tendency to ask repetitive question that had already been answered

You might also take the time to READ the owners manual.... link previously posted

Hondacivic247

Here is the link to download your 255xt manual

http://www.lincolnelectric.com/asset...ln3/imt977.pdf

PLS READ & Understand it....!!!.

A lot of knowlegable people have volunteered their time to help you.... and you behave like a clown and mock them

[Hondacivic247]

That was awhile ago Ryan I don't remember and that was for a different machine

[ryanjones2150]

I tried to help you with that issue like 10 pages ago.

[Hondacivic247]

Anyone have any good settings for 1/4 steel, I had messed around with high volts I was at 25 volts with almost 400 Ipm wire speed and it laid down a nice flat bead, but the chart list like 20 or 21 volts with a 370 Ipm wire speed maybe I'm just going to fast but i wasn't get any signs of good penetration on the back side. I tried pushing and pulling one seemed to throw a little more heat in then the other but still no signs on the back, this was all done in the flat position with 0.035 wire.

Does 25 volts seem high to do 1/4 steel in a single pass flat position?

Also what exactly does increasing and decreasing wire feed speed do to volts/amps ?

Lowering wire speed I would think would be less draw on the welding circuit increasing amps and the opposite for increasing as that's how the Airco worked with the drive motor pulling off the welding circuit

[Hondacivic247]

I came across a really good deal on a new mig gun for my machine it's a lincoln magnum pro series 350amp 100% duty cycle for cheap. It looks better then mine as it's kinda beat up and it uses heavy duty contact tips and nozzels and also is thinner. I'm thinking of picking it up tmrw. So when I get another tank for spray transfer I'll have a gun that can withstand the heat

[Hondacivic247]

Maybe airgas did I have no idea, I want to pick up some lincoln l56 wirw to try it feel like this crap I got sold at my lws isn't very good. It's by Inweld, in 0.035 there isn't much splatter but I remember stick welding the Lincolns Excalibur rods left a beautiful bead so I would hope for the same with there solid wire.

[Hondacivic247]

Didn't know the miller would work I'll have to look into it. I may be getting a spool gun sooner then I thought got some side work lined up detailing my girlfriends grandma's mini van to sell and fixing a ezgo golf cart which her father is going to have me sell and we split the profit 50/50 so between both I'll hopefully walk away with a grand to buy one with

[Meltedmetal]

IEverything looked fine and it still had the repair tag from Airgas, he said they setup it like how I got it but I cant picture them being that stupid to have the drive rollers in the wrong way along with the wrong contact tips.

It is possible that Airgas set it up for .045 wire and the former owner put .035 in it at some point without changing the rollers and tips.
Search Cruzier's posts but I think you can put a Miller 15A/30A spoolgun on that, which the general consensus seems to be that is a better spoolgun option.

[Hondacivic247]

It needed to be opened up this guy didn't tare care of anything he was grinding and shooting sparks all and dust all over the welder. I blew the the dust out and it was so bad I was blowing black **** out my nose for hours . Everything looked fine and it still had the repair tag from Airgas, he said they setup it like how I got it but I cant picture them being that stupid to have the drive rollers in the wrong way along with the wrong contact tips.

I did a few welds with it today on some 1/4 steel what do you guys usually set yours at I think I was around 21 to 22v and played with the wire speed from 370 to 440

[ryanjones2150]

don't touch anything. Leave it alone. I bet that machine screamed in terror when you opened it up too.

[Hondacivic247]

When I was inside the machine I looked at the capacitor bank and it runs 3 stacked on top of each other there 50vdc 93000mf total. That's almost double the MF of my Airco

[Hondacivic247]

I don't understand how those **** lincoln spool guns like the 250xl can cost 1100 brand new. In a few months I may try to snag a used one to try out if I can find one at a reasonable price.

This machine is ready for a spool gun right from the factory. I forgot to stop by the steel yard last week to pick up some more to practice on.

This machine is also nice that it has a big storage space where I leave my tank cap and gloves and hat in and also has a tray for small consumables which is handy. Also has 2 110v receptacle's on the rear I guess for a grinder or something.

In a way I'm glad the Airco broke and I upgraded I just wish I went with the lincoln first and saved the money

[Hondacivic247]

Lol I knew the jokes would be coming. I still got to figure out the settings as Lincolns are a starting point but need to be dialed in. But with three correct contact tips and the right drI've rollers setup it lays down a beautiful weld with no splatter vs the airco which had tons of splatter on high voltage. This one sounds just like the airco on low voltage with the right stick out.