Bought my self a Mig for Xmas

[rvk355]

Hey guys, i finally got around and purchased my self a mig, i done abit of shopping around deciding on which mig to get. i settled on getting a WIA weldmatic 10mm, i was thinking of getting the CIG 250 with remote power feed, but chose the WIA as i got a good deal on it.

the place i bought it from had a special on, which included
2 rolls of wire, 2 magnetic squares, 2 welding clamps, zinc spray, anti spatter spray, mig nozel reamer, steel wire brush, saftey glasses, welding gloves, engineers marking out pen, 10 mig tips, 2 mig nozels and a cig auto darkening helmet.

WIA also had a special on that if you purchase one of there welders they throw in a miller auto darkening helmet in, so i ended up with 2 auto darkening helmets.

[dobre]

Hi rvk355,
congrats on your new wia mig and on the first pics to this board. Its a great looking unit and what a deal with all the extras that came with it. You also had thrown in a miller helmet which is fantastic and i cant wait for the bottom line for all this gear. I think that you did your research well as wia are a better unit than the cigweld in this division of welders. Wonder if the wia welder deal is aussie wide. Cant believe how well you've done on this fantastic deal. I would be keen for a review on the mig and both of the helmets.

Dobre

[rvk355]

Cheers mate, the WIA factory is actually around the corner from my work, i went there to see if you can buy directly from them, but unfortunatly you carnt, so they put me onto one of there dealers.

the WIA deal with the helmet had actually ended in october but the place i bought it from had actually extended the deal.

hopefully il have more pics of some projects il be doin

[dobre]

Great deal rvk355, that mig should serve you well for a long time. How many bickies did you have to part with?. Look forward to more pics. Well done mate.

Dobre

[rvk355]

all up cost me $2400

[grumpy]

Hi rvk355
Welcome to the board .A great purchase.WIA is very respected industry name in this country.
I have seen 10 year old models at Tafe. Meaning if the kids could not wreck it ,well that says a lot.

I write a lot on another board and and am amazed at the fellers that buy on mini price and then expect the machine to do what its not capable of doing.They pregnant dog and moan about cost of gas and rental and then want advice on welding car sheet metal with flux core.

You won't have any trouble if you remember the machine is composed of mechanical parts which need cleaning ,adjusting and replacing from time to time. Change your contact tips regularly and clean your nozzle of spatter and you will be pretty much OK. If not Dob and I are here.

This machine is right up there as a light industrial model and built to suit.
Spares are easily available and not pricey.
Practice, practice
regards
grumpy

[grumpy]

rvk355
Those pics are great and as such as are one of the reasons that will keep people coming back to this forum. Bloody good deal with the gear and helmets too!

For the benefit of the, not so gifted ,could you please tell us how you went about posting your photos.The board should really start to fire when we get a few more piccies to show. It will make a big difference in the" how to" stories and projects as well.
You know,the picture is worth a thousand words thing.
Anyway you don't want to do ALL the work do you?
Thanks
Grumpy

[rvk355]

Cheers mate, i actually view and signed up to many other forums, mainly car related as thats my main hobby.

il make a thread about how to try load up pics.

[dobre]

Hi rvk355, i was having a look at weldmatic pics and was wondering what the manual says about the soft-fast arc start. Is this a initial speed control dial of the wire until it forms an arc and then it assumes what your setting have been set at.
Dobre

[grumpy]

Hi Guys
The soft start arc was a feature thats been around for years (presuming its still the same thing).
it stops that explosive start on the wire ( ya know the one, pull trigger ,bang big friggin hole),as you may have on a thin sheet where you set up dip transfer.Thinking back it was like a spray start then "morphed"into dip transfer as you progressed.

This was one of the reasons I liked WIA.Back in the days ,when Alan Bond built Australia (1 or 2,can't remember) - the aluminium boat was welded by WIA machines CDT Controlled Drop Transfer technology. I remember that particular squeal noise .
In the early 80's. I saw personally WIA machines with plug in chips set up for specific jobs. WIA went into a partnership with the CSRIO and developed that machine. I suppose Miller owns the rights now as they own WIA.
Strangely not a lot is seen of the process now.

I just thought you needed to know that.

[dobre]

Hi, this dial on the wia does it decrease the amps settings to help with the initial arc and then go to and stay on the settings set on the other coarse and fine switches? does it regulate the wire speed when the trigger is pulled to avoid that big whack.
Dobre

[grumpy]

Hi Dob,
I would suspect so. If its similar to what used to happen the arc starts, all soft arc like spray for a split second and before its burns a big hole then quicly it jumps into dip.
I think it was like an timer over layed on the voltage.control. It made for very smooth starts.
No doubt it is something that rvk will be able to report back to us on.
cheers
Grumpy that

[rvk355]

Il dig the user manual up and write down what it says.

I have played around with it, and you can deffinatly notice the different when in starts from each setting.

if you have it on Soft, the arc is abit hesitant to start
have it on Fast and it starts up alot more quicker almost as though more amps have been put through it.

[dobre]

Hi Armando, thanks for the reply. I thought that it would be something like that and it gives you the ability to slow down the initial wire speed to have a gentler arc start. Once the arc has engaged the machine will operate at the selected wire speed you have set it at.

Dobre

[rvk355]

This is what it says in the user manual about the Arc start.

This control can be set to modify arc starting conditions. For many applications the control can be set at the mid point.

Rotating the knob towards 'FAST' will provide faster wire acceleration at arc start giving quicker arc starts, suitable for applications such as rapid tack welding.

Rotating the knob towrds 'SOFT' will slow wire acceleration, providing a softer start suitable for larger diameter and aluminium wires.