Millermatic 130 mig question.

[jt512]

Does anyone have one and what set up (wire size, and settings) have you found to work best on sheet metal work (floors, rockers etc).

I am using one that belongs to a friend and I cannot stop burning through on everything. It is running .023 wire, 75/25 mix in the bottle, and even on heat setting 1 I am blowing holes.

I am used to a Miller 251 that I use at our shop and with .035 wire in it I can do 10x better then I have been able to do with the 130. I dont have 230v in my garage otherwise I would just bring the 251 home.

Any suggestions?

 

[bftank]

need to know what your machine is set at.

currently i am using lincoln's version of this welder and for 1/8th in steel i have voltage set on d with wire speed at 6.5. also using .25 wire.

you might try turning up your wire speed.

 

[AZ79K5Project]

I blew through sheet metal until I realized that I hadn't cleaned it well enough. I started using a wire brush on the grinder or prep pad to clean the metal, I had good luck and much less blow through. I am purely an amateur welder.

 

[jt512]

I have tried the 2 lowest settings (heat) and also tried a few different wire speeds and still blowing holes . I took some scap pieces w/ me to work today and using the Millermatic 251 with .035 wire and same gas mix I'm having no problems. I set the 251 per the suggested settings (under the side cover) and my results are 100% better.

All the area's I have been trying are bare metal and ground is bare clean metal as well.

I am going to try a diffent wire in the 130 and see what happens.

Oh btw the sheet metal is approx. 20-22 gauge.

 

[supersize75k5]

I have the same welder, same wire and same gas mix in mine.


I use the second highest or highest heat setting from 1/8 inch to 3/8 and just move the wire speed around a bit as well as how fast or slow I weld.

What is your wire speed at for say 1/8?

You could try turning your wire speed up a bit? If your moving too slow you might be building up way too much heat?

 

[jt512]

Well, I figured out the problem actually 2 problems, on the ground clamp the conection with the actual ground cable was corroded pretty bad. So I cleaned it and reconnected it then I tried it again and it was a tiny bit better but still not right, so I kept looking and found something else that didn't seem right.


The main problem was the drive spool, both of the set screws were lose causing the wire to hesitate when the trigger was pulled and it would actually continue feeding for a spilt second after releasing the trigger.

So now it's welding good, I'm still fine tuning my wire speed, the 023 wire is a lot different then the 035 I'm used to.