14
www.strata.co.nz
www.strata.co.nz
EZIMIG 205 / ADVANCEMIG 255
10. Lower the torch to the work piece with one hand and
approach the workpiece with the torch tip at 15-35
degrees and pull the torch trigger fully. As the wire
touches the workpiece, an arc will be struck.
11. In order to gain a satisfactory weld, the parameters
may be fine tuned as required.
NOTE:
MIG welding is an acquired skill. It is
recommended that if you are not fully familiar with this
type of welding that you practice on a piece of material
with the same characteristics as your workpiece, until
you are satisfied with the result, and you have fine
tuned your welder to produce a satisfactory weld.
Lift TIG Setup and Operation
1. Connect the earth clamp cable quick connect to the
Positive (+) welding output socket.
2. Connect the earth clamp to the work piece ensuring
the clamp to workpiece connection is with clean
bare metal, without corrosion, paint or scale at the
connection point.
3. Connect the TIG torch cable quick connect to the
Negative (-) welding output socket.
4. Screw the TIG torch gas input fitting to the TIG torch
gas outlet fitting on the front panel of the welding
machine.
5. Connect a bottled shielding gas supply to the shielding
gas quick connector on the rear of the welding power
source. Adjust the regulator flow to between 5-10 l/
min depending on requirements.
6. Connect the machine to suitable mains power using
the mains input power lead. Switch the mains power
to ON to power up the machine.
7. Lower the torch to the workpiece with one hand and
approach the workpiece at 15 degrees.
8. Touching the workpiece with the electrode briefly
before lifting away 2-4mm will initiate the arc.
NOTE:
The EZIMIG 205 and ADVANCEMIG255 are
DC (Direct Current) output welders only, this means
that it is unable to TIG weld reactive metals such as
aluminium alloys and brass (which require AC Output).
DC TIG output is suitable for steel, stainless steel and
copper. The ADVANCETIG ACDC models in the Strata
range are designed for TIG welding aluminium alloys.
Note to welding with aluminium and other soft wires. MIG
welding with aluminium provides a unique challenge, due
to the low column strength of the wire. This causes the wire
to deform more as it is pushed through the feed mechanism
and the torch wire delivery liner, greatly increasing friction.
Because good MIG welding results are dependent on a
smooth wire delivery, certain changes must be made to the
feed system to minimise friction caused issues.
For a standard ‘push’ fed torch, a length of no longer than 3
metres of cable may be used. The torch feed liner must also
be changed to a special teflon/PVC liner, rather than the
conventional steel liner. Also the correct style ‘U’ shaped
drive roller must also be used in conjunction with the
change to a specific aluminium rated torch contact tip (or a
standard tip in one size over-sized, e.g 0.8mm aluminium
wire would use a 1.0mm contact tip). For this reason, it is
quite common for operators to have an additional torch
specifically setup for aluminium use, if the machine is used
for mild steel as well.
An alternative to overcome the friction issues is using a
spool gun, which will give better results than a 3m push
torch when welding aluminium. The Strata EziMig205 and
ADVANCEMIG 255 are spool gun capable.
Spool Gun Setup and Operation
NOTE:
The spool gun is an optional extra.
The spool gun is a very useful addition to a MIG Welder. It
can in fact be used for all types of MIG welding, but it has
two primary advantages over a conventional ‘push’ wire
feeder.
The main advantage is that the distance that the wire has
to travel from the spool to the welding tip is very short,
compared with a conventional torch. This greatly reduces
the wire feeding friction and greatly improves the wire feed
smoothness and consistency, thus the welding quality is
greatly improved. This is especially so with ‘soft‘ wires
such as aluminium. It is difficult to get aluminium to feed
smoothly in welding machines equipped with standard
design wire feeders, even with special torch liners and
short torch lengths.
The second advantage is that the gun can allow the use of
the small D100 wire spools at a distance from the power
source. This distance is only limited by the length of the
spool gun lead. This is also advantageous for high cost
wire, that is not used commonly such a stainless steel or
MIG brazing wire. It saves the outlay cost for a much more
expensive, larger D200 spool.
