New 250P problems

[everlastsupport]

Run the lower gas rate per Rambozo, and Change the direction you are welding. Use Push rather than Pull technique. The gun should be aimed to flow gas over the area you are about to weld, not the area you just welded. You will still get some soot with AL mig, along the sides beyond the bead, it's part of the process, it is not clean like TIG, but pushing the gun will clean up your welding about 90%+.

Also,for Every start, cut the wire back to the tip, this does two things. First it provides a nice sharp edge to begin the arc, but more importantly, it gives a moment of pre-flow, which is needed to create an environment that can support the arc. Some of your examples show that there was no shielding when the arc was initiated.

Don't mess with pulse yet
Change direction, Have Fun, and take more pictures!

Jim

Ditto on what Jim pretty much said. And lower that gas rate for sure. Are you welding outside? Is that why you have it so high? Black is normally oxygen getting in there. Why I ask, or you have it so high it is pulling it into the flow.

[performance]

I would add that asking for these parameters IS important. I cannot tell you how many times people have said "I have tried them all" and still was operator error. Trying them all does not answer our questions about the settings. Unless you have physically matched every possible combination of settings, which is in the millions or more you have not tried them all. Arc force is a major player in spatter control. But these welds are too violent, which says voltage is too high or wire speed is. Likely it is too much voltage at this point. As I said, adjust voltage first, then bring your wire speed to it. If you have an extra hand, have someone adjust the wire speed from low to high while you are welding to dial it in. I agree with the gas flow and gun position thing.

For an example of what these units can do, here is a picture of the 160/200 on 1/4" metal AT 16.5-17 volts with about 190- 200 wire speed with .030 wire.
Attachment 8289Attachment 8290

You said you had experience MIG welding before. It might be helpful to know what exactly you mig welded, what machine(s) you have used, and how long you welded with it(them). I've welded with a pretty broad range of MIGs, so I probably can give you something helpful, or put my finger on something that is not transferring knowledge wise over to this welder.

From the looks of the aluminum mig, it does look like ar/co2 mix instead of pure ar. But you said it is not I believe, so, the next issue would be the brown/black haze. That is from improper shielding no matter how you look at it. And, typically MIG aluminum does have a lot more dirty appearance to it. It's not for a tig weld look, even with single pulse.

[balleman3]

thanks for all the input, sorry I was not clearer from the start that was why I started a new post, I have the cover off and I’m calling tech support now.

[everlastsupport]

I don't think you need the cover off the machine, I think it's an issue with setup.

Re-read Mark's last post. Read what Jim and Rambozo wrote. Everyone is sort of repeating the same thing.

I would use 18-19 volts on 1/4" myself, but again, you will get in the ball park. No two people weld the same. The crazy CFH is one issue. It is probably not the machine... You might have a bad tank of gas too.

I will also ask again, you are welding inside and no fans or breeze?

[balleman3]

well I went on a telephone welding trip with mark the other day and the over current light would not stop tripping whenever the wire speed started getting up to where he wanted, I still have not heard back on the issue and am really in need of a mig unit that works as I have to pay the bills with my machines

[balleman3]

In other news the I found the duty cycle on the 256P I guess the thermal switch is bad or something, It starts spraying the end of the tungsten off fairly regular now, I think It is damaged permanently, I never got any warning lights at all, It is ok after about 15 min of sitting but I cant weld very much at a time anymore, really slow going. Its like a different welder. Same gas, reg, tungsten, aluminum and settings as the rest of the 1,300ft I already finished. It looks like I might be in the market for some new blue machines to bad I already spent four grand

[performance]

I am waiting to here back from the factory on the MIG. As I said earlier, about the 256, it wasn't meant for production welding. 3.5 minutes of welding at the amperage you gave, then 7.5 minutes off...that's what the machine is rated for. Give me a call so we can get things in the works anyway to send back.