MIG welder is pretty popular and perhaps the most useful welder among the rest. If you are a professional you know why it is. However, for many aspiring welders, it is important to understand how a MIG welder works.
As you know, MIG (metal inert gas) is an arc welding process that uses electrodes and current interaction to weld the material. However, in this post, we shall dedicatedly look at how it works specifically in the first place. So let’s find out.
MIG Welder Setup
Before you know how a MIG welder works, let’s know how you can set it up for initializing the process. So the first thing is always to keep the metal that you want to weld ready. The MIG welder (solid) doesn’t go pretty well with dirt, rust, or oil. So use the meal brush to ensure the cleanliness of the metal.
- Make sure the cables are connected nicely and properly. The connection must be tight and away from any damage. Check the cable before you start welding.
- Pick up the electrode polarity. For a welder, you need DC electrode positive or reverse polarity. You can find the polarity connection inside the welder as well.
- Now turn on the shielding gas and set its flow rate to 20 to 25 cubic feet per hour. For leakage, concerns use a soapy water mixture to inspect bubbles. If you are confirmed about the leak, opt for the new hose.
- Set the tension and adjust it as per the manual instructions.
- Make sure to remove additional spatter on the tubes
How does MIG Welder work?
MIG welder works best for thin sheets and thin sections of material components with equally good performance. In this welder, an arc is cast in between the wire electrode and the work-piece. It melts down both work-pieces i.e. metal and the electrode hence a weld pool is formed.
In this case, the wire acts as the major heat source as well as the filler metal to weld the joint. Then the wire is fed via a copper contact tube which makes the conduct welding current into the wire. The weld pool that is there ensures the safety and protection from external surroundings through shielding gas that is fed via nozzle wire. However, while working with the MIG welder the choice of shield gas is not made randomly, it can go wrong. It greatly depends on the material nature as well as on the application. After that, the wire is fed using a reel through a motor driver and then the MIG welder moves the welding torch along the joint line. It is not obligatory that the wire is solid, it can be the cord. This is a high-efficient process due to continuous feed.
Conclusion
Today we talked about the MIG welder working. The process may seem a little bit complex if you are altogether a newbie in welding. However, with practical lessons and real-time handling of the welder, you will understand things better. While you operate the MIG or any other welding machine it is highly recommended to follow safety parameters to keep off injuries and metal damage.