So I’m here to tell you that there is no magic setting to make your mig machine run smoothly well there actually is but it’s dependent on you as a welder things that influence your settings and control how your machine runs are variables like material thickness the thicker it is the hotter we gotta go also travel speed some of us weld faster and can burn hotter on thinner materials some of us are slower and we gotta burn colder due to how fast we weld I’ve noticed that not a lot of companies provide a wps or were welding at home or on our own jobs and there’s no wps written well if you ever run into a wps it will give you a minimum voltage for that particular weld to be made along with a ton of other important information but for those welding at home what should your machine settings be that’s again dependent on a few different things the things I already listed along with your wire electrode type, diameter and even position so for most MiG applications not including FCAW you will be using ER70S aka hard wire used on mild steel the proper setting should sound like a Geiger counter going off (YouTube that sound ) some people say frying bacon but a Geiger counter is a way more consistent and accurate depiction of how it should sound so basically what I’m saying is the machine most likely has a chart on the inside of the door that opens the compartment where the roll of wire goes and it should give you a starting point to adjust and fine tune from based on materials and their thicknesses these are generally high in wfs and sorta cold in voltage honestly I don’t even really pay attention to the numbers when tuning a machine I go off the sound and feel if it’s popping and running jumpy I want to either increase wire feed speed or decrease voltage because it’s either burning the electrode faster than it’s feeding it causing the jumps or it’s not burning it fast enough causing it to jump by pushing unmelted wire into the base material personally on1/16”- 1/4” materials and thinner I like to be in the 18.5 to 21 range with a wire speed from 260-335 but this is all dependent on what machine I’m using and everything else I’ve already talked about but here

I’m going to do some research on this topic anyone got any experience welding up exotic metals like chromoly or magnesium etc what I do know is Exotic metals are high-performance materials beyond common ones like iron or aluminum, valued for extreme strength, heat/corrosion resistance, featuring elements like Titanium, Tantalum, Tungsten, Zirconium, Niobium, Beryllium, Hafnium, Rhenium, Vanadium, and precious metals like Platinum, Rhodium, Palladium, Iridium, Gold, Osmium, Ruthenium, often used in aerospace, medical, and energy sectors for demanding conditions, including superalloys like Hastelloy and Inconel. Common Exotic Metals (Elements & Alloys) - Titanium (Ti): Lightweight, strong, corrosion-resistant. - Tantalum (Ta): Highly corrosion-resistant, high melting point. - Tungsten (W): Extremely high melting point, very strong (Wolfram). - Zirconium (Zr): Corrosion-resistant, used in nuclear applications. - Niobium (Nb): Similar to Tantalum, used in stainless steels. - Beryllium (Be): Light, strong, used in aerospace. - Rhenium (Re): High-temperature strength, often in jet engines. - Vanadium (V): Strength-enhancer in steel alloys. - Hafnium (Hf): Neutron absorption properties, used in nuclear reactors. - Scandium (Sc): Lightweight alloy additive. - Yttrium (Y): Used in alloys and ceramics. - Cobalt (Co): Base for superalloys

Enjoy your day and travel safely

So for having zero social media following and minimal personal friends as members in this fairly new community it’s kind of exciting to have almost 50 members it doesn’t seem like a lot but to have 50 individuals be at least somewhat interested in the community to me is motivating me to keep you all interested and coming back to the page and being interactive even if it’s just clicking like or reading a post and sharing your thoughts on it it makes me want to be more active and provide more content for you all there just so much information to be shared I don’t know where to go next so suggestions are appreciated and even your own posts on the metal lab page is encouraged it’s all of our community let’s make it just as much fun and informal as it is educational thanks to all the new members and let’s keep it growing !!!!

https://jerswoodshop.com/gen-2-belt-grinder/ I found this on YouTube and Jer is super smart, and this seems super well thought out, so I purchased the plans. I have a broken mini wood belt sander and a mini disk sander, and this seems like it will replace both and allow me to super easily copy my fastest wood workflow for metal, which is: 1. laserprint, 2: glue to material, 3. bandsaw rough shape, 4. sand to the lines. So I’ll post the project here as I go along. Note: I’m a hobbyist here, and I’ll definitely take a long while to work on this project, with gaps in between.