Weld Quality Questions

[CarMichael Angelo]

I was gonna ask this on another thread, but that woulda derailed poor dudes progress thread so I'll ask/discuss it here.

I've been welding for years. Occasionally, I'll get a pretty good looking weld, other times the welder will do a crap job on similar metal/thickness(s) that it worked fine the time before.

1. Most frustrating for me, is I'll be welding along and the thing will occasionally sputter, and will act almost like it's cutting off and on very quickly. I typically release the gun trigger, and restart the weld when this happens. Sometimes that works, other times it'll just happen again a little further along the weld.

It's a Lincoln 110v welder that's about 10+ years old. When these things get old what wears out in the electronics that makes it perform less than optimally?

2. Other times (on setting D, the hottest setting) This thing will weld like a sumnbi tch, and will weld the hell out of .125 wall stuff, but will spatter all over the place. Why does it throw spatter all over the surrounding metal? it doesn't happen on the C setting at all.

This was welded on my C setting: you can just start to see some of the spatter I'm talking about.

These are the 16ga parts to my Frank N pan. Had this been thicker, and the heat been up to the next setting, that spatter on the side wall would be all over the place. What do I need to do to stop that?

Also, This is the fully completed Frank N pan. I trigger pulsed the weld to keep from melting through the thinner pan metal. Those little pinhole looking things are not through, so there is no leakage, but it happens every time I weld this way. What the hell is that about?

 

[RacEoHolic330]

I think you just need a little more wire speed for the pulse welds. I noticed the rows of donuts when I started welding my turbo pipes. Cranked up the speed a bit and it filled in better. I can't comment about the splatter though. I'm just a shade tree welder. Nice looking welds Mike. Not bad for an old man with shaky hands.

 

[RangerJoe]

I know nothing about welding, but that pan looks freakin cool!

Joe

 

[hoopty5.0]

I have similar issues as stated by Mike, but with my 220v Hobart 190.

 

[revhead347]

I gather you aren't using gas, just flux wire? I use the same setup, and it does it occassionally. I think most of the sputter and splatter comes from impurities on the metal surface that cause too much electrical resistance.

Kurt

 

[CarMichael Angelo]

I gather you aren't using gas, just flux wire? I use the same setup, and it does it occassionally. I think most of the sputter and splatter comes from impurities on the metal surface that cause too much electrical resistance.

Kurt

No, there is gas hooked up to the welder.

After going downstairs, and messing with it, I think that maybe I'm getting too far ahead sometimes and the welder has a problem melting that. If I move slower, that doesn't seem to happen as much.

 

[hoopty5.0]

No, there is gas hooked up to the welder.

After going downstairs, and messing with it, I think that maybe I'm getting too far ahead sometimes and the welder has a problem melting that. If I move slower, that doesn't seem to happen as much.

It's a fine line. If I go slow, I melt through, if I go too fast, it sputters. So turn down the voltage you say? Well then the beads stand up too tall and I dont get the penetration I need. Bah!

 

[TrophyHead]

You can buy anti splatter spray. May help?

Looks pretty good to me. Nice work.

 

[Grabbin' Asphalt]

I've done some welding in the past but like my foreman said there is a fine line between your speed and the feeding speed. Not saying that's the problem cause a lot of variables are present with metals and temp etc

 

[Noobz347]

I've done some welding in the past but like my foreman said there is a fine line between your speed and the feeding speed. Not saying that's the problem cause a lot of variables are present with metals and temp etc

Metal temp is HUGE.

 

[hoopty5.0]

Metal temp is HUGE.

So pre-heating the work could allow for the use of a lower voltage and better penetration?

Edit - I think when I get home tonight, I'll make some videos and some of the more skilled folks can critique. @madmike1157 maybe you could do the same?

 

[84Ttop]

I always preheat, always. Splatter would be too much wires speed most of t time. As far as that occasional mishap look into replacing the liner in the torch cable. If its been bentpinched or stepped on it can and will snag the I replace my liners almost every year.

 

[f8tlfiveo]

110v welders are limited on thickness also, are you welding over 1/8 inch? If so preheating will give you a much better weld. If the material is already hot the welder doesn't have to work as hard to heat up the material. I have welded 3/8 already with my 110v with some major heat. It would only go in short bursts though because the duty cycle is 30%. It blew a breaker about every 10 seconds though I really was abusing the welder

 

[stykthyn]

Crap man. I learned to weld oldschool. Gas tanks and a rod. Pops also showed me how to fill with lead. Wish I knew more about a mig setup.

 

[jozsefsz]

Those are some nice welds my friend. I don't know how to avoid spatter 100% unless you're welding pure steel in a pure vacuum. Looks like 30 seconds with a grinder and you're done. Shoot, ever looked closely at the painted-over spatter on a $20K Harley frame? If I could get half that good with my Lincoln I'd be a happy man.

Some good info here:
http://www.linde-gas.com/internet.g...rview_of_shielding_gases_60734_1217_82202.pdf

Including:
3. Why am I getting a lot of spatter on my welds?
There are several reasons that spatter may be generated, but the most
common causes are:
• using unstable welding conditions – incorrect voltage for a given
welding current
• poor welder technique – too long a stick-out or bad torch angle
• surface contamination on the component – oil, grease, moisture, etc.
• surface coatings – paint or zinc galvanising
• using carbon dioxide as the shielding gas – mixed gases are more
stable producing less spatter
Training the welder to set good welding conditions and cleaning the
component properly can eliminate many of the problems.

 

[CarMichael Angelo]

I'm inclined to say that I'm a number three. I tend to tip the gun too much so my blind ass can see what I'm doing. If you look at the pic where the welds converged on the part that I was putting together for my pan, the corner is really spattered, the rest is fairly decent.

I just want to be able to correct what I'm doing wrong.

Thanks all.

 

[f8tlfiveo]

The spatter has a lot to do with your power to wire feed ratio. I use .030 wire in mine, but my buddy runs the .023 in his Lincoln 140c and I feel like I can dial his in much better. Don't know if it is the wire size or just the finer adjustment his welder has. Mine has 4 settings for power, and a wire feed knob. His has 2 knobs that can be adjusted anywhere in the range of the dial. But they do make spatter spray if you can not dial it in.

 

[Noobz347]

I'm working part time at a machine shop. On the machines there (these are huge industrial Miller machines), I have two sets of settings. One for in the morning, and one for about noon-ish after all the shop heaters have been on for 3-4 hours.

Just that ambient heat makes a difference.

 

[A5literMan]

I'm working part time at a machine shop. On the machines there (these are huge industrial Miller machines), I have two sets of settings. One for in the morning, and one for about noon-ish after all the shop heaters have been on for 3-4 hours.

Just that ambient heat makes a difference.

Oh yeah! Try doing it outside when it's cold. It really sputter/pops instead of that "I'm frying bacon" sizzle

 

[Rick 91GT]

I'm a certified welder for all positions Tig, and flat, horizontal and vertical for Mig and Stick.

Speed is really critical with a Mig welder along with gun angle. Are you grinding off the mill scale on the steel so you have nice clean material? What is the wire grade and thickness? How far is your stick out?

If your getting the "bacon sizzle" sound your settings are pretty good, just work on angle and working speed. Do some dry runs as well this will help with body positioning so your smooth with your pass. It was mentioned earlier about duty cycle, you might not be able to go over 10" when your cranked up.

Pure argon shielding gas? What setting?