Lincoln Electric IM846-A manual Recommended Welding Procedures for Power Mode Table b.3

b-7 OPERATION b-7

POWER MODE™

The Power Mode™ process was developed by Lincoln to maintain a stable and smooth arc at low procedure settings which are needed to weld thin metal without pop-outs or burning-through. For Aluminum welding, it provides excellent control and the ability to maintain constant arc length. This results in improved welding performance in two primary types of applications.

•Short Arc MIG at low procedure settings.

•Aluminum MIG welding.

Power Mode™ is a method of high speed regulation of the output power whenever an arc is established. It provides a fast response to changes in the arc. The higher the Power Mode Setting, the longer the arc. If a welding procedure is not established, the best way to determine the Power Mode Setting is by experimenta- tion until the desired output result is established.

In the Power Mode two variables need to be set:

•Wire Feed Speed

•Power Mode Trim

Setting up a Power Mode procedure is similar to set- ting a CV MIG procedure. Select a shielding gas appropriate for a short arc process.

•For steel, use 75/25 Ar/CO2 shield gas.

•For Stainless, select a Helium blend Tri-Mix.

•For Aluminum, use 100% Ar.

Start by setting the wire feed speed based upon mate- rial thickness and appropriate travel speed. Then adjust the Volts/Trim knob as follows:

•For steel, listen for the traditional “frying egg” sound of a good short-arc MIG procedure to know you have the process set correctly.

•For aluminum, simply adjust the Volts/Trim knob until the desired arc length is obtained.

Note the Volts/Trim display is simply a relative number and DOES NOT correspond to voltage.

Some procedure recommendations appear in Table B.3.

Recommended Welding Procedures for Power Mode - Table b.3

MATERIAL

WIRE

WIRE SIZE

GAS

MATERIALTHICKNESS POWER/WFSMODE SETTING	22 ga.
	3/16
	20 ga.
	18 ga.
	16 ga.
	14 ga.
	12 ga.
	10 ga.
	1/4

COMMENTS

Aluminum 4043	Aluminum 5356	Mild Steel	Mild Steel	Mild Steel	Mild Steel	Mild Steel	Mild Steel	Stainless Steel	Stainless Steel
E4043	E5356	L56	L56	L56	L56	L56	L56	E308L	E308L
0.035	0.035	0.025	0.025	0.030	0.030	0.035	0.035	0.030	0.035
100% Ar.	100% Ar.	100% CO2	75/25 Ar/CO2	100% CO2	75/25 Ar/CO2	100% CO2	75/25 Ar/CO2	Tri-mix	Tri-mix
		Not Recommended	100 / 0.8	Not Recommended	90 / 1.0
		120 / 1.0	120 / 1.0	100 / 0.7	100 /1.0			80 / 1.5	50 / 0.5
		140 / 1.7	140 / 1.5	110 / 1.5	110 / 1.5	100 / 2.5	100 / 2.5	110 / 2.0	110 / 2.0
		190 / 2.0	190 / 2.0	125 / 2.0	125 / 2.0	125 / 3.0	125 / 3.0	140 / 2.5	130 / 2.7
400 / 2.0	400 / 2.5	260 / 3.0	260 / 3.0	160 / 2.3	160 / 2.3	160 / 3.8	160 / 3.5	210 / 3.0	190 / 3.5
		330 / 5.0	330 / 4.5	230 / 3.5	230 / 3.5	200 / 5.0	200 / 4.5	270 / 5.0	230 / 6.0
500 / 7.0	500 / 7.0			300 / 6.0	300 / 6.0	240 / 6.5	240 / 7.0	325 / 6.5	300 / 7.0
570 / 9.0	600 / 7.8			400 / 7.5	400 / 7.0
700 / 9.1	700 / 8.5
Not	Not
Recommended	Recommended
below 400	below 400
WFS	WFS

POWER WAVE 405M