In with both feet

[Rick Moran]

Just bought a new Hobart 140 and a Hypertherm 380. Haven't MIG'g in about 18 years, never plasma'd. I got them set up this past weekend in a fair amount of time and made my first bead and cuts. I can tell I have much to learn on the MIG, but the Plasma cut like a dream first strike. Added a straight edge and was whipping out a few pieces of 3/16" for some bracket material I needed. Luckily, I have a 4" grinder to clean up my first few beads.

Looking forward to perfecting the MIG and will be back to ask some questions.

PS-I mastered how to re-feed the wire now about 4 times after birdnesting some stuck wire......

Rackmaster

[Hammack_Welding]

Just hang in there rick. Mig welding for the most part is pretty easy to get the hang of especially if you have prior welding experience. yea, I know what you mean on the birdnesting. I have wound up with several of those spools that were tangled, always nice to deal with. Congrats on the purchases. ~Jackson

[TEK]

Got a funny one for y'all! :laugh: Kinda related to the birdnesting. A few years back I was in a bldg working on a elevator shaft. Was using a Miller s 22 wire feeder . They are open, exposed spool machines. Put a new roll on and went back to welding. About 5 min later someone hollers to look at my machine.I had forgotten to put the spool retainer ring back on and this brand new roll of wire had fallen off the feeder, rolled about 10 foot and had gone down the stairs. :blush2: Talk about a mess! Maybe not as bad as a birdnest cuz it all rolled up ok, but we sure got a laugh out of it !!!!

[Robin Hood]

Been there, done that.

Welcome....:)

[dendog69]

I dropped a roll of wire the same way! Talk about embarrassing, it rolled halfway across the shop.

[smithboy]

:blush: same here. Mine was in a feeder setting on the hood of a tractor. Why I chose that spot I have never figured out. I had just put a new spool on and forgot to put on the retainer cause I was talking to my dad. A second after I hit the trigger, it fell out and off onto asphalt and promptly broke most of one side off the spool. It just kept growing and couldn't be stopped. It's amazing how much wire is on a roll. It was like a slinky-birdnest from hell ravaging the countryside. I tried jumping on it to slow its expansion. My dad laughed and I cussed...ALOT. I had a passing thought of trying to roll it onto another spool, but...the first step to solving a problem is admitting you have one, asking God for forgiveness and new direction, and putting the past behind you. With some help, I tossed it into my van and when I feel useless, I make tig filler.

This was about a year ago and I am still using that wire for twist-ties and tig filler. I have found new and creative ways of using a drill to twist the wire into long, straight pieces of tig filler. Out of adversity comes...well...I am not sure what to call it. :confused:

[dendog69]

That's a good idea with the drill, I'll have to try that.

[smithboy]

It actually works pretty good in a pinch. If you need a thicker piece of filler than you have, just fold a long piece of solid wire 3 or more times and hook one end (the one with the closed loops to a nail or something...and the other just stick into a drill chuck and tighten it down good and spin.

You can make filler any thickness this way. I dont think it's any cheaper than buying the filler, but when you have 100 miles of tangled wire, it seems much more reasonable. I almost always use fluxcore in my feeder, but I had bought this spool of solid wire especially for the job to show my dad how easy and clean it was to weld with gas. I didnt even get the wire fed to the gun before the spool fell out. I was determined not to waste it.... What a sight.