First of all, I'm a pretty green welder, and this is my first infinitely adjustable everything machine. I love it, and am totally happy with how it's performing, just want to double check something.

In my current project I'm working on material in the 14ga-3/16" range, MIG, .035 wire, c25, clean and flat, running on 110 with a 6-3 SOOW 15ft extension cord.. In order to get that nice sizzle sound I'm having to turn the voltage way down below what any of the lookup tables recommend. Miller and Lincoln tables list somewhere in the 19-22v range and I'm running more like 16-19v.

Welds are clean, pen is good, travel speed is comfortable, but if I get anywhere near their recommended voltages I either blow right through the workpiece, or it just hisses and blows soot all around the bead. I start to get a decent looking weld if I crank the feed WAY up, but wind up with a high profile, and it still doesn't sound like I think it should. Wondering if maybe the calibration is off and the readout isn't accurate, or maybe it's just a hotter machine than red/blue?

Am I placing too much importance on the sound? Are those lookup tables more proprietary than I think they are? Should I even be worried about it if it sounds/looks/holds good?


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