[migmonkey]

Well I've gone and done it.

Two weld tests for a job. Nothing fancy.

Second test was rolled pipe in 2g or something with 6013 for some reason. They had 7018, I was expecting 7018, but for some reason the guy told me to run 6013. Rod looked like 3/32. Lord knows what the amps were. It was hot, rod simply did not want to stick even with tight, tight stickout. Ran nice and flat. Easy. I was also supposed to do 3f and 4f on the MIG but he says they need the machine for something. Whatever.

First test. 3F uphill on 1/8 plate aluminum. Just a fillet.
Welder was an airco or something like that. A regular CV machine with no pulse settings or anything.
Voltage, inductance and seperate wire feeder. Coarse and fine adjustment on voltage. Wire speed was at 4 o'clock or something ridiculous like that. Voltage was 24 volts. Guy says machine is adjusted.
First try. POP, nuclear crater with wire burned back to the tip. Tip demolished.
Guy says try again, I'll get you a new tip.

I figure I'll try in 1f first since there is a ton of scrap that the guy gave me. Tried again. Pop, same deal. Tip destroyed.
Guy says that's enough.

I've run a ton of 1f with 350mp on spray in 1f, but I'm not even sure you can spray in 3f with a plain jane cv machine. I don't know. Gun was push pull and looked like a miller of some sort. The wire feeder looked like it was from the 1960s and was named "Panther" or "Tiger" or some jungle cat name like that. I admitted i've never ran 3f aluminum of any kind. Even on my resume I put 1f.

Thanks for letting me rant.
Question. How do you, run 3f uphill with a regular cv machine with no pulse? Can you?

[Copperhead]

Hello !...well all I can say is if your taking a test and the guy will not let you touch the machine or burn some rod on a bit of scrap to find favorable amps for your test. You don't need that job. Becoming familiar with a new machine is part of the prep to a weld and can not be passed over. Sounds to me like you have enough experience to see the settings were wrong. But to answer your question....Can that uphill be done ? sure can when you able to dial in for a few mins on some scrap.