Welding With Aluminum Wire; Setting Wire-Feed Pressure - ESAB EMP 205ic AC/DC Instruction Manual

5 OPERATION
4. If the tensioning arm is not released:
On the wire-feed assembly release the tension arm by pulling the tension knob up out
of its detent and rotating it toward you. The tension arm is spring-loaded. It will pop-up
when the tension knob in the previous step is rotated out-of-the-way.
5. Install rollers for selected wire size (see Appendix C).
6. With a clean-cut (no bends) strait bitter-end pull the wire from the newly-installed
bobbin and feed it through the wire-feed assembly until it protrudes out of the output
end about 1.18 in. (3 cm).
7. Close the tension-arm onto the wire in its groove on the wire-feed rollers.
8. Re-connect the torch assembly to the EMP unit being careful to insert the bitter end of
the wire protruding from the output wire-guide into the torch connector.
9. Power up the EMP unit. Gas does not need to be connected for this procedure.
10. With the torch cable laid out reasonably straight, feed the wire through the torch cable
until it is visible at its welding tip by depressing the trigger switch on the torch. Refer to
the relevant torch manual for length of wire-protrusion at tip end.
11. To more accurately set and verify the wire-feed tension for correct wire-feed pressure,
see "Setting wire-feed pressure" section.
12. Close the cover on the wire-bobbin side of the EMP unit.
5.8

Welding with aluminum wire

NOTE!
After completing the instructions in this section return to "Removing/installing wire"
section.
To weld aluminum using the standard supplied torch, refer to MIG torch instruction manual
for replacing standard steel torch conduit liner with a teflon torch conduit liner.
• Model EMP 205ic AC/DC uses torch model: Tweco® Fusion™ 180 A MIG torch with
10 ft (3 m) cable / Tweco® pigtail with 0.023 in. (0.6 mm), 0.030 in. (0.8 mm), 0.035 in.
(0.9 mm) contact tip and Operator manual.
Order the following accessories:
• Torch teflon conduit liner (PTFE liner), 10 ft (3 m): See PARTS section (Wire liner Table)
in the ESAB Torch Instruction Manual (see Note above).
• Teflon coated output wire-guide tube (select size to match wire from Table in
Appendix C).
5.9

Setting wire-feed pressure

NOTE!
This procedure requires the unit be powered ON. The gas does not need to be
connected for this procedure.
1. Turn power to the unit ON.
2. Start by making sure that the wire moves smoothly through the wire guide.
CAUTION!
It is important that the feed-pressure is not too high or too low.
3. Check that the feed-pressure is set correctly, feed out the wire against an insulated
object, e.g. a piece of wood.
0463 652 001 - 35 - © ESAB AB 2018