One of the questions you may likely ask before you purchase a wire welding machine is whether is it difficult to operate.

Although, some machines are complex and difficult to operate most especially for beginners many machines are also easy to use.

Basic knowledge about the wire welding machine will help in understanding its settings and functions.

However, many factors can affect how some machines are to be used for cases like wire welding machine it has little adjustment setting to put in place.  

And there are basic guides on how to operate the machine which is being provided by the manufacturer and this makes it easier to handle and operate.

No matter the odds you may feel about wire welding machine, purchasing one from a reliable and renowned manufacturer is the most recommended option for easy and convenient operation.

What Makes wire welding machines difficult to use?

Generally, there are three conventional ways of wire welding procedures and their adjustment

v TIG welding

v Electrode or “Stick” Welding

v MIG or “Wire” Welding

However, one setting which is common to the three mainstreams is called the Amperage setting. The setting decides the quantity of heat which will be generated at the time of welding.

Also, the quantity of heat needed is simply determined by the thickness of the metal that is being welded. For the weld to perform its duty, it has to fuse the metals totally, right from the top side to the backside.

Most importantly, if the amperage or heat is very low, the metals will not dissolve from top to bottom. However, the absence of penetration will minimize the strength of the weld.

On the other hand, when the amperage or heat is very high, the metal will dissolve too much. And this will allow the molten metal to fall like melted wax that drips from candles. Therefore, it will leave a hole that needs to be filled up again.

Differentiating between the various wire welding procedures

There are three common welding procedures thus;

TIG (Gas Tungsten Arc Welding, or GTAW)

This is for welders who have super hand-eye coordination. Its special characteristics when talking of amperage is that the foot pedal on the TIG wire welding machine influences the amperage.

In the resting state, the foot pedal begins at 0 amperages and slowly increases in amperage as the operator press the foot pedal down.

Stick (Shielded Metal Arc Welding, or SMAW)

Stick welding is easy to understand, and once you have little knowledge about welding, you can work around stick welding easily. And the basic guides provided by wire welding machine manufacturers will be of great help.

Any need to make a minute adjustment to the heat when under the hood, just pull the welding rod away from the weld puddle to long-arc gently.  

MIG (Gas Metal Arc Welding, or GMAW)

The main heat setting adjustment on the MIG wire welder uses voltage instead of amperage setting while other welding use more.

The setting of the voltage on the MIG welder decides the power being used when carrying MIG welding operation. Also, balance amidst voltage and wire feed speed needs to be located for good MIG weld.

Conclusion

For you to overcome some difficulties in setting up a wire welding machine, you have to have basic knowledge about it and this is always provided by the manufacturer.

Also, you need to be conversant with the common welding procedures or processes and you should be able to differentiate each.

There many wire welding technologies but the commonly used are TIG, MIG, and stick.

Most importantly, purchasing a wire welding machine from a reputable and experienced manufacturer is the most recommended option to solve any problem about having difficulties in its operation.