Welder settings

[yomax4]

I think most newer Migs have Volts and IPM readout. All the way down to the HF Titanium 115v 140 machine and most others. I'm not so sure it's that big of a deal. I tune by bead shape and sound mostly when not running in Synergic.

 

[BrokenTrack]

The root of my question lies in the fact that the "book settings" are not very close. In this instance the book says 19.9V & 294IPS. The calculator says 14-15V & 175-185IPS. That is a lot of difference IMHO & both sets of numbers are from the same company. One of the attractions of buying a new welder for me was that it would automatically get you in the ball park after setting the wire size, type of wire & thickness of the metal. That turned out to be a bunch of advertising dross. At least Miller does give access to the calculator. Lincoln doesn't provide anything comparable.

Welding is great because it is a high-demand job, and is a high-paying job, but unfortunately, it is also a HIGHLY-SKILLED job. Everyone today wants to take that last part out of the equation, but it will never happen. There are no short-cuts. Just as a machinist cannot make a decimal equivalent chart make their CNC machine make the perfect part, welder settings in a book cannot make a welder form perfect welds.

There are too many variables. That is fortunate for welders because it keeps us in jobs; highly sought after, and high paying jobs.

 

[BrokenTrack]

The root of my question lies in the fact that the "book settings" are not very close. In this instance the book says 19.9V & 294IPS. The calculator says 14-15V & 175-185IPS. That is a lot of difference IMHO & both sets of numbers are from the same company.

Not really, because you have to look at the percentage of change.

I normally run with a wire stick-out of 3/4 of an inch, but lets say another welder operates at 1/2 an inch of stick out. That is a 33% difference between me and them.

Yet in the numbers you cite, they equate to a 26% difference on voltage which accounts for the single variable of stick-out. In other words, that one small preference between welder-people makes the same percentage of difference on voltage. So imagine if only ONE preference is changed, imagine how all the other variations also come into play.

This is why welders are not scared of robotic welders. They need us to run them still because computer programmers and general laborer's do not know when the problem is with the robot movement, or the welding process itself. Robots are great because they take the redundant welding applications out of my job, but I am still needed because I can listen to a robot welding and tell if it has a plugged tip making it screw up, the voltage, or amperage is too low, or if the robot is not fully articulating. That is just from listening to it weld, but it takes some time to get to that skill-level.