Converting wire feed rate from dial to actual

By Lawrence (*****)

Date 05-27-2008 21:22

Yep

Run it ten seconds and multiply by 6 :)

By aevald

Date 05-28-2008 00:26

Sorry I can't resist, run it 6 seconds and multiply by 10. "ouch" Best regards, Allan

By swsweld (****)

Date 05-28-2008 01:35

I was going to suggest that but I only have 3 diamonds and just got the third one :)

By jrw159

Date 05-28-2008 02:26

:-)

By jrw159

Date 05-28-2008 02:27

:-)

By jrw159

Date 05-28-2008 02:27

:-)

By aevald

Date 05-28-2008 04:09

Hey John, I see you're working on those diamonds again?.........So am I, Allan

By jrw159

Date 05-28-2008 04:15

Sure, I guess so.

By Jeffrey Grady (***)

Date 05-28-2008 04:29

Hello Allan,
You Fella's are just killing me with all this! I surf around and i find "diamond" postings everywhere. I'm bustin' a gut over this...it's hillarious!!!
I better get with the program or I'll never get my 3rd very coveted DIAMOND.
Respectfully, Jeffrey

By jwright650 (*****)

Date 05-28-2008 10:28

......to add to this just a bit......you can get a good estimate like previously stated by timing and measuring.....or to get a rough estimate just to get you somewhere close enough for a starting point...determine if you have a 1 turn speed pot or a 10 turn speed pot for your wire feed speed...ie. Our Miller feeders use a 10 turn wire feed speed pot so for a 750 in/min wire feeder, each complete turn is worth 75 in/min. If you were shooting for 300 in/min you would turn it all the way back to zero and count four turns of the knob.

just a thought.....Ed Craig talks a bit about this on his website.

By 357max

Date 05-28-2008 13:00

Lincoln has the K283 Portable Digital Wire Feed Speed Meter. "When clamped on an exposed section of continuously fed electrode, unit reads wire feed speed in inches per minute." Works on any wire diameter.

By Plasma-Brain (**)

Date 05-28-2008 22:44

Gee, I guess I make it too easy for you guys...
You had time to answer my silly question (after reading the posts I wanted to kick myself for not seeing it...) and still had time to mine for some diamonds ;)

Thank you all
-Clif

By eekpod

Date 05-30-2008 13:11

Question,

1) When you calibrate your welding machine's for their annual calibration (AISC building code) do you calibrate the wire feeder as well?

currently I just do the power supply amps/ and volts.

2) The Miller wire feeders, why don't they put a real scale on the dial so the numbers actually mean something. It goes from1- through 10 (I think, i'm working off of memory) but those numbers don't mean anything.

still only a two diamond guy,
Chris

By aevald

Date 05-30-2008 13:56

Hello Chris, actually "some" of Millers feeders do have the in/min. designation on them, but like so many other makes of feeders this can vary widely. Power sources can go the same way, look at the older Powcons for instance, they used a 1 to 10 designation for voltages or amps depending on mode and model of machine. There are plenty of machines that technically cannot be "calibrated" in a sense as they are not equipped with readouts or analog scales. You may "consider" posting a legend to give a bit of a breakdown on approx. wire speeds at particular points on the 1 to 10 scale, this may be enough to satisfy your audit requirements. Just a bit more to ponder. Best regards, Allan

By Lawrence (*****)

Date 05-30-2008 18:27

One possible reason for the hand crank style voltage adjustments and 1-10 graduations on the dials on modern machines might be this.

$1,700 digimeters!
http://www.millerwelds.com/products/accessories/digimeter/

Not that I have any problem with hand cranks on machines like the CP302.... It works good and lasts a long time!

I think the amp/volt measurement is the best way to go anyhow... An inverter and a transformer will not produce exactly the same current output when set to the same wire feed setting... Current and voltage combinations are ultimatly going to determine the arc length and transfer mode anyhnow. Ed Craig talks a bit about this on his website and in his books.