On Mon, 21 Sep 2015 18:02:06 -0700, etpm wrote:

I hardly ever weld stainless steel with my little MIG welder. Ernie says
if I use C25 gas mix the weld will be OK but will need wire brushing for
cosmetics. So I try C25 but the welds look like ****. Ropy and lots of
oxidation. And the wire won't come out right. And I keep getting burn
back. So I finish the gas mixing manifold so that I can get just 3% CO2
in the mix. Welds still look like ****! Thinking that maybe the gas
isn't getting mixed well enough in the mixer I make a new one. No help.
And not only does the wire keep burning back but the contact tip is
getting red hot! Now, you may think I'm stupid because I didn't check
the welder setup to make sure the polarity was correct before starting.
Well, I'm not stupid for that reason because I did check the polarity.
I'm stupid because I have spent hours trying everything to get good
welds. Stupid because even though I checked the polarity and compared
the cable connections to the diagram inside the welder cover I STILL GOT
IT WRONG! Stupid because I have had the cover open so I could keep
checking the setting of wire and feed and comparing them to the chart
inside the cover. This means that every time I looked at the welder I
could see that the polarity was wrong, but didn't. Finally, frustrated,
I sat down and stared at the welder.
And see the polarity is wrong. Anyway, I'm getting good welds now.
Almost looks like I know what I'm doing.
Eric

Hey, the best kind of stupid is the "I just found out that I _was_ stupid
because now I'm smart" kind of stupid.

--

Tim Wescott
Wescott Design Services
http://www.wescottdesign.com