poor welding

[j_tomo]

hey guys,
Im by no means a welder but im having problems running a nice weld

heres a pic of what its doing (crap camera)


theres lots of fumes and splatter

Im using a cigweld transmig 165
Ive also refilled the wire with sheild core 15, this is what the store reccomended for general purpose work
it used to weld ok, Ive also noticed the wire I were using was copper and the new stuff is silver
Im using gas

does anyone know what sheild core 15 is used for?
thanks in advance
Jeremy

[motorhead]

I may be wrong but not sure you should use gas and sheild core Smoke marks on rail look like galv smoke? Grind galv finish off before welding, not good to breath

[andrew007]

hi m8,sounds like you have got flux cored wire.have you changed your contact tip to suit wire size?should also be using co2 gas for this wire & drag weld pull,not push as you do with solid wire.you will also get alot of splatter & slag on top of weld,like stick welding.

[j_tomo]

Hi there, im using gas, the steel im working with is painted not galv, ive also gound the areas im welding to bare steel
theres a light powdery slag aswell

is sheild core a gas type wire? I cant find any product info on the net

thanks

Jeremy

[j_tomo]

ahhhhh thanks Andrew, yea im using it as a pusher set up
well, back to the store tuesday

[oldblue]

It's very important to cap the end of your weld,ie pause when you reach the end of your run and build up the crater.
If you don't then this could be where it may start cracking.

[safaripete]

the piece of angle iron looks to be galv from the pic?

if ur using flux cored wire theres no need for gas as the flux inside the wire shields it

but what others have said is pretty well bang on the money

[Petemcc]

i vaguely remember something with my cigweld welder I had to change the polarity in the welder when going from gassless wire to running co2 not sure why of what the conciquences are but could be a thought

[coxsy]

you haven't concidered that the fumes are just part of the normal resduefrom the weld flux

[new2zukes]

i have had very little experience with flux cored wire but i will never go back to it, its a dirty weld and has poor penitration (unless used with gas) in my opinion i would go back to normal gas wire and used your co2. but if you want a nice clean weld i would use argoshield but that means renting bottles which unless your doing a project get expensive. as for fumy welding get a piece of mild steel plate or well any mild steel and practice your welds if it still fumes have a play around with gas. i would say it will be the fact that you still have some paint close to the weld and the paint is just smoldering away. as i say im no expert but have gone down the road before about flux wire etc. as for welder the cigweld welders are great welder if i could afford one id get one.

[Engineer]

Co2 is ideal for flux cored wire, however argosheld will be fine aswell to be honest you wouldnt be able to tell the difference between the two if you havent done alot of welding.

Flux cored welding is fine for heavier duty work and no real need for it on that size box and angle. Flux cored cant be run as cold solid core to get a good weld weld.

how many amp is your mig, what amperage do u have it set to and what size wire?

do you have the right drive wheels and contact tip for the size wire?

is your gas actually coming out of the nozzle?

id suggest a general purpose solid core wire if thats not what u already have

good luck

[j_tomo]

hi guys thanks for the pointers
Im using southern sheild gas
the weld in the pic was cranked right up as any less wouldnt penetrate

the old and new wire are 0.8MM

hers some specs on the welder
• 240V.
• 10amp supply.
• Fan cooled.
• Gas/gasless MIG welding.
• 6 fine welding voltage control settings.
• Current Range: 30-165amps.
• Duty Cycle: 20% at 150amp
• Duty Cycle: 100% at 67amp
• Single phase, lightweight compact & portable.
• Reverse polarity for gas/gasless welding.
• Thermal overload protection.
• Includes Gun & 3m Worklead.
• Weight 30kg.


on a unrelated matter, when posting I cant scroll through previouse mesages as the silly google adds is in the way regardless of screen size

thanks
Jeremy

[j_tomo]

Ive just been watching a few vids on youtube and found this
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H9wLS1Ji ... re=related
the man reverses the polarity on the welder
ill give that ago now

and I thought the net was only good for O.R.E and p@rn

[haydgq]

Ive just been watching a few vids on youtube and found this
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H9wLS1Ji ... re=related
the man reverses the polarity on the welder
ill give that ago now

and I thought the net was only good for O.R.E and p@rn

On the mig's that are gas or gasless you reverse the polarity when using flux core wire and no gas, For c02 or argon gases you leave it and run the standard mig wire with gas of your choice.

Ive gone through all this recently when playing around with a Mig so my comments are not 100% fact as im a learner also

[motorhead]

[quote="j
and I thought the net was only good for O.R.E and p@rn [/quote]


I thought it was the other way around

[j_tomo]

It is, but I have to give the site the most credit
Well I tried reversing the polarity and it is alot beter but im still not happy with the spatter, ill have another play with the herbs and speed tomorow but as im welding in a garage I think ill go back to solid core

[chevrolux]

i have just been getting clued up on welding too. (Did one of those night classes at ucol). was bloody good becasue we got to use all sorts of different wires and gases. And I found exactly what you have said. The flux cored stuff had heaps more splatter and was much much more sensitive to the power and wire speed settings. Solid wire with agroshield gave the nicest weld in my opionion.

[coxsy]

you can try anti splater spray or mig drip, all help the mig to run better and help with spalter clean up

[rowinz]

why does reversing polarity improve the weld? Whats the theory behind?

[coxsy]

the droplets drop into the welled pool instead of being pushed into it