I am at a point of pulling out my hair on setting up my new MIG 130 No Gas welder which I just bought from Amazon. The unit is one of those cheaper $120 flux core welder (no MIG gas) models. They are sold under various brands but I think they're are manufactured by the same company since they all look alike. There is no Technical Support number for the company.
Here is what mine looks like:
- MIG welder.png (238.56 KiB) Viewed 1341 times
I've watched the videos from Eastwood and other Youtube ones - the guys who do this are really professionals, they make it look so easy!
Anyways I turned to this forum since I'm about to take my work piece to a local welding shop (almost giving up) until I found you.
If I didnt find this forum, what I would be doing is keep doing practice welds on scrap metal pieces until I get it right. Some of the questions I haven't figured out the answers to are:
1) The trigger button only rolls out the wire at the specified speed, correct?
2) In the video tutorials, I see the teacher always holding the wire about 1/4 to 1/2" above the work piece - does the wire need to touch the the work to arc? Is it pressing the button which pushes out the wire to touch the metal which starts the arc? Do you keep the wire touching the metal or keep it at very minimal distance above the work?
3) My suspicion is I'm holding the wire too high which is causing the splatter and low voltage conditions
4) How do I properly set up and calibrate the unit?
Any help would be appreciated! I saw a post from another newbie and the senior members said it wasn't a stupid question which prompted me to ask also.
I am trying to fabricate a tool for adjusting the tensioner rods on the trunk of a classic car I'm remodeling. Just trying to weld two pieces of 1/8" metal flat bars.
Thank you so much