I got my little century 100 welder working with shielding gas finally. I bought it used, maybe 15 years ago as a flux core 120V "portable". welder. Maybe 5 years ago, the FCAW welds got crappy. I had to replace some diodes. It has 2 stacks of 6 little flat "pill" diodes. I was told they used to be used in the first generation GM Delco alternators too. (1960s). I knew it had a gas valve but between the cost of tank, regulator, flowmeter and hose, I never made the conversion. Last year I needed to do some body work and bought all the stuff. It did not go well, and I got ugly welds, but they stuck, and the warts could be ground off, and welds redone until I was happy enough for out of sight repairs. I thought some of the diodes had gone bad again. THis time in going into the guts, I found the hose from the gas valve was off the feed end of the line to the gun. So, I put that on and tried it.
Still lots of ugly welds trying to find a heat/speed combination that worked. It only has 4 settings, labelled 1,2,3, and 4; with speed labelled 1-10. I tried to find starting points online but everyting said "refer to the manual". I have no manual and none appear to be online. This is probably 40 years old, so the factory ahd dealer response is "Buy a new one." But I did find that with 3 and speed of 6 I could get a nice bead with .030 wire. I need to do some welding in the trunk (out of sight) of one of my cars, so I hope I can make some half fast welds when the rime comes. (say the words half and fast together real fast)
If anyone has any experience with this machine in mig/GMAW form, I'd appreciate any words