Opti-weld 90

By Tiftan Date 09-14-2004 09:32

I recently purchased a small 90 amp mig welder. the problem is the instructions that came with the unit are a joke!! The problem I am having is running any sort of decent bead running.035 flux core wire. My adjustable controls on the unit are as follows, the feed speed has adjustment from 1 to 10 then there is a Min. and Max. switch as well as a Range 1 and 2 switch. I have been doing some work with the feed set on about 3 or 4 and on min setting , on #2 range trying to weld my motorcycle frame with limitted sucess. Any suggestions on how I should be setting this unit up? Thanks in advance for your help.

By jwright650 (*****)

Date 09-14-2004 11:24

You might need to try a smaller diameter wire like .023" or at the max a .030". I expect you are using all of the 90 amps just to melt .035" wire, making it difficult to create and maintain a decent puddle. Some of those instructions usually give some guidelines to use when choosing wire size for that machine and a rough setting to get you in the ballpark and you'll have to fine tune for your application from there. Basically they are set up with a couple voltage settings, and a wirefeed speed which determines the amperage by the rate of wire feed. Make sure the leads are hooked up correctly for DCEN for ESAB self shielded wire, check your wire recommendations. I looked up some parameters in a ESAB catalogue and for some of their self-shielded .035" wire it goes like this:
80amps/15v 81ipm w/ 3/8" ESO
120amps/17v 155ipm w/ 3/8"ESO
200amps/17v 392ipm w/3/8" ESO

Their .030" self-shielded:
40amps/15v 69ipm w/3/8" ESO
100amps/16v 175ipm w/3/8" ESO
160amps/16v 440ipm w/3/8" ESO

HTH,
John Wright