[ZEN357]

Quality, Performance and the 3 year warranty plus Tech support who are Americans and actually reply to you with an answer that makes sense, no some foreign support center that has never picked up a torch in their lives. I have an old Century 125GL that I've used on and off for 30 years and wanted new welding equipment. I did a lot of research before I settled on the Primeweld MTS200, MIG160 and the CUT-60 Plasma Cutter. I'm 50 and recently got back into welding and steel fabrication as a hobby.

 

[Sberry]

Yes, that is a great explanation of wire . Many flavors of 7018 based on that same general type of thing. Totally relevant and somewhat overhead for someone like me doing general where pretty much any stick or wire in the stinger works. Some of the guys doing specialty need to know, anywhere I worked was already spec, simply grab the stinger and go.
You will know so much more starting out than I ever did or will but keep it in perspective a bit, lots of guys make a career with 1 or 2 rods and don't know any of it, when I shove a stick in doesn't know I don't knowing most cases.

 

[Sberry]

Got a bud says they had to change the flavor of the hard wire in the shop, they are underground and excavating and the hard was being used in hi shock etc and common wire cracking. I don't recall exactly what they did.
He had a boss knows more about this type of thing than other people do. They prep a big shoe to be welded, big thing needs 200# of rod so he asks, I said, no how no way not to get brandy new lohy, open box, burn till the end.
So boss goes down to a local plant and scores all these rods from the dumpster. Scott said,, ok,, the first rock they hit and snaps the thing off, 10 ft long underwear delamination, snapped like stepping on a crunchy pretzel. 2 weeks to fix.

 

[RCWelds]

Well, I’ve got class tonight, and that Primeweld MIG-285 has been here since last Friday, and I haven’t even tunred the thing on yet…hummm, I have a few hours before I leave for welding school. I need to get some practice at home, and learn to weld on my own newest machine…….so I think I’ll pull the thing outside my tiny shop, set up my little welding table & although my wire I ordered won’t be here for a few days yet, cause it was shipped thru the post office, I still could run a few rods of 7018, as that is what we’re doin’ in class….I think I’ll go for it!

Well, the MIG-285 works well in stick mode. I burned 5 rods, and even though the wind was blowing at about 20-25 mph, that machine burned those rods nicely at 115 amps. I started with 110, but all it wanted to do was stick the rod, so I dialed it up a bit. Out of the 5 rods, I only got 2 places that had any porosity, as the wind gusted a good bit, and my metal had some rust and mill scale on it too, as I did not take time to clean them off, so all in all, I was very pleased with that little bit of “Lets see if my new machine actually welds?!”
More on this with pics when my wire actually arrives and I have some time to mess with it!

 

[Sberry]

Dont sneak up on it with the current dial, turn it up another 10 and see where you are then start turning it down if you need to. With some practice you will catch up but it will get more fluid than that stiff butteryfly look and you hand on for the ride and let the machine do the work. I got the wire feeder set for the next thickness up and sometimes 2 from the chart. All a 180 will put out on 10Ga and sometimes thinner.
Your new electronic machine likely has an accurate current setting. Set it right on 120 to be perfect guess for 1/8 7018 and should be able to notice it a pinch too much at 125. According to the box of electrodes there is quite a variation in acceptable current but I find that not to be true. They even measure it in fussy tests. Reason its listed is no 2 old machines are the frickin same. I believe the Maxstar is correct but my DC buzzer is way hotter than the dial, a lot. Its rated to run at 220V and at 230 and at 244 its blazing. The secondary leads are large so not much system loss either in or out.
Does 92A on 85 setting and 118 on 105 and I cant remember what the settings up from there were. Those are perfect vert, for flat and OH ideal at that v would be 95 and 120 if I could fine super tune it.

 

[Sberry]

My neighbor tried a rod on my Max,,, I ask him if he wanted a good hood etc and he said no, he pick up a 1/8 6011 and said set it hot and he simply smeared around and near burned a hole in a 1/4 plate in short order and said,,, I dont care bout the rest of that shate, just wanna see how much power it has. ha. Learning to burn the 7018 nice hot and toasty just hanging on will lead to being a much better out of pposition wire welder when that comes but,,,,,, first for sure is really good stick welders are really good welders and wouldnt worry a single thing about wire for now, its simply expense and only marginally adds to the real learning curve where the rubber hits the road.
A while back I thought I might wanna test and I figure out to be a showoff cause I burn a few 6011 a couple months back and wow, I went to the booth and felt like a beginner, man it is hard for me to practice but I ran a dozen rods or so near 10 days before I started driving it some. This was me setting the current correct and not with my ability, it took 100 rods over a week or 2 to just get a grip,,, I didnt refine that but its easy to get out of practice and that is often the point of formal schoolin.
I worked out of the gate union ironwork and got a little seat time while getting paid well, that took some pain out of it.

 

[Sberry]

Unless you got some super suck there aint no way I would wanna try and enter the portable welding biz. Wayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy to hard a work. Wayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy too much expense and hauling shat around.
What I might do would be to get a couple smallish wire feeders and become expert in recovery of sheet panels and some parts from appliances, washers dryers etc, a plasma and a 36 inch + finger break and design custom furniture from recovered steel. Like the artist here, a combination of salvage, skill and art and turn it into custom shelves, cabs etc. I can demo one in a few mins. Lots of premade bends already for salvage with so much stuff today I never need a roller ha,

 

[Sberry]

I saw some water well tools a bit back and it was noticeable due to the fact I knew where they came from and looked at the welding and to the crowd a guy would have said some big giant tig weld maybe on 1/2 material, was super refines but I know he was a 6010 guy and did it with 3/16 and his SA200. He said,,, back when, I canuse that 7018 on hard pipe when I got to but I am a 6010 guy and can weld miles without a leak. What he didnt mention so much was if he wanted could also produce an extremely refined bead with it.
I should have cleaned this and got a pic of this crack repair, it kind of stands out beside the original weld if looked closly.

 

[RCWelds]

Unless you got some super suck there aint no way I would wanna try and enter the portable welding biz. Wayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy to hard a work. Wayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy too much expense and hauling shat around.
What I might do would be to get a couple smallish wire feeders and become expert in recovery of sheet panels and some parts from appliances, washers dryers etc, a plasma and a 36 inch + finger break and design custom furniture from recovered steel. Like the artist here, a combination of salvage, skill and art and turn it into custom shelves, cabs etc. I can demo one in a few mins. Lots of premade bends already for salvage with so much stuff today I never need a roller ha,

Well, my original goal was to be able to do a side hustle in retirement. I don’t absolutely have to be mobile, but I don’t mind being mobile within a certain area to my base. I know I’m going to be relocating, as soon as the right property can be found that meets our criteria. A large shop is a must, either already on premises, or enough room to build one of my liking. Once that happens, I could basically have repairs come to me, and of course be selective on the kinds of jobs I take on. In retirement, I don’t want to basically swap one full time job for another, even harder job! Again, my plans are for a side hustle, doing work that I mostly enjoy. I like to work, want to stay active, and a little extra cash is always helpful!

 

[cornchip]

i see people on youtube all the time saying 120a uphill 1/8 7018. my machines make a mess at 120. 100-108 is where they have to be. supposedly theyre precision calibrated when leaving the factory

 

[RCWelds]

i see people on youtube all the time saying 120a uphill 1/8 7018. my machines make a mess at 120. 100-108 is where they have to be. supposedly theyre precision calibrated when leaving the factory

We had one guy last night in the booth next to me who is already a welder at a local plant, going for certification, and he was doing verical, and was getting goops of weld running back down. The instructor was talking to me at the time, and he came over, showed him the mess. Instuctor told him to turn the amps back to 100. The school uses Miller 350 XMT’s and also has 3 Miller 304’s in the booths.

There has been 2 occassions when I was trying to do stick at home when I had just gotten my Miller 215 that I tried 125 amps, and it was not a pretty weld at all, full of porosity, etc. Some of that was also likey me, as my arc length was too long. I just didn’t know, being a total newbie with a machine, how I was suppossed to be running that rod, just taking a number off a chart.

 

[Sberry]

I put meter on them is how I know. I don't recall if I tested the max with meter but the numbers match, was testing the buzzer and swap rod right over to the max. I have rested others, 95 and 120 fight on the button, had a plug in meter, did it when I was a bit younger and daily welder and could tune it really critically.

 

[Sberry]

The ruds run at different current but when they get to critical testing the window really narrows. Grain structure, clarity etc, melting into previous pass at right depth, right amount of fill in a pass all get fussy, arc length very much so all add up and it needs to be near perfect current, a couple A is noticeable.

 

[Louie1961]

i see people on youtube all the time saying 120a uphill 1/8 7018. my machines make a mess at 120. 100-108 is where they have to be. supposedly theyre precision calibrated when leaving the factory

I'm with you...right around 105 or so. I think you need super human skills to run a 1/8 7018 uphill at 120 amps, but then again I am a crappy, self taught welder. Maybe for a pro its easier. I also wonder how correct their amp measurement is, as Cary alluded to above. I also think pipe is different than plate, which may account for the difference as I never weld pipe.

 

[Sberry]

I measure with a calibrated tool. I think Cornchip is a legit expert,,, I bet the dial is wrong. This is a 115-120 rod, as I recall seems I see a couple of his welds and no way no how are they 105. This is 3/32,,, 92A overhead,,, about 3 too low.

 

[Sberry]

Not sure what the arc v is. But it acts like most DC machines and at the dial is says 105 too,,, just like Chip and Louie,,, but it aint. I had real tech stand right there and do this test while I run it,,, aint no way no how it aint right. Louie mentioned out of position and pipe, vert really, its perfect. Its hot and just enough off the top to let a guy hang on. In flat with the small rod want 3 more and the same for OH, I have done this a LOT in my younger years. In small and vert the actual of 98 is too much and a fussy driver can tell it was turned up a little and the same for the 115 setting,,, blazing, 10 too hot, even running big weaves too hot. My ideal and some places where this was a concern, small bore and power plant we had remotes. I would change an amp or 2, time not a problem, quality an issue and the 118 on this machine is a compromise as you can see, cant go to 115 for vert and cant get to 120 for flat and oh.
While other machines can adjust finer it isnt really a big a deal in general work. Franz used to say that and he is right.
This machine is a tranny, says right on the front math based on 230,,, I thought so, my input is close to 15V higher. So 7 or 8 % maybe, roughly the extra 8 on the 90 setting?
I ask Scott all the time on this forum regarding the 120V units. Its got to make 95A. I grab rods, I want 1/8 to whip and 3/32 lohy and the rest is,,, something different and not inclined to want to change the rods to the machine. If I enjoyed buy and sell would trade my Max for a yellow one to get back to 10 instead of 11, my duty cycle and vol and the nature of it doesnt make it worth it.
If I had the blank slate that Yellow would be my second machine following some kind of 200 class mig. Will work with big rods also. Lets a guy roam around on 120V, wish they had this stuff when I was a kid, was engine drive or nuthin for every tack.
New machines allow local remote also, kind of all rolled in to 1.

 

[Sberry]

I do this on auto this morning and didn't consider it for forum fodder. At some point I figured I might get another rod, they were a gift. 6011. I should have chipped the root after one side, took a minute to practice with an extra rod.
I picked up a chunk from the chop scrap and weld it on this handle.

 

[danike110]

FYI
AM Fabrication’s Primeweld 285 video is out on YouTube.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[RCWelds]

FYI
AM Fabrication’s Primeweld 285 video is out on YouTube.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Thanks for that heads up on the video. I watched it, and am fairly impressed with the unit on his initial impressions going thru the proccesses. I’ve only done stick with my unit so far. I am still waiting on my .045 flux core wire to arrive. The tracking says it is still in transit, albeit, it is between me and Richmond in the journey.

He showed dual shield flux core, and the beads laid in very nicely. I will see what it does with self-sheilded wire. I liked his spool gun demo as well. This unit seems to have plenty of power for aluminum, as well as steel.

 

[cornchip]

my uphill used to be horrible but its getting better and im not blowing off the top as much. still getting small patches of undercut. need a bit more practice. was using 103a