Background: I'm making a table out of 1-3/4" square stainless tube, 1/8" wall thickness (it will support a heavy wood top). I capped each of the four legs on both sides, with the caps brazed with less current instead of welded to avoid melting the edges. That worked perfectly.
So I went to weld the first leg to one of the horizontal pieces. I filed the edges so they fit well and cleaned with Scotch-brite and then acetone. I tacked it on both sides, made sure it was square, and then welded the sides. Strangely, I got a little splattering but it still seemed to work mostly ok. I checked my gas and still have 1000 PSI in the tank, and the regulator indicates I'm flowing about 21 CFH on my Furick #10 Jazzy cup with a gas lens. Everything on the torch is tight.
Then I went to weld the top joint and immediately got a ton of splattering and couldn't weld, like I don't have any gas flowing. Tried it again, same thing. Made sure the ground was good and tightened the ground clamp to the table. Same problem. Grabbed a piece of scrap tube the same size and laid a bead on it, no problem. Went back to the table pieces and it still splattered. Went back again to the scrap tube, worked fine. What the heck? I seem to have enough gas flow. The ground is good. The metal is clean. Tungsten is ok. Could it have anything to do with the fact it's capped on both ends?
Pic below (turned 90 deg for some reason), where you can see the vertical piece that is capped on both ends, and where the splattering occurred when welding to the horizontal piece (cleaned with a wire wheel). Any help greatly appreciated. Thanks!
Problem solved! It was the fan from the welder that interfered with the argon flow. That is why it worked on another piece that was in a slightly different location. I already made an air shield because the welder exhaust is next to my welding bench. But since this piece is big, I moved the table out and the workpiece happened to be in a place where the exhaust flow interfered with the argon. These gas lenses are super sensitive I guess.
Glad you found it! I'm not sure if gas lenses are more sensitive to drafts than regular setups, but stainless probably made it more obvious...good chance you would never have noticed on carbon steel.Lippy wrote:Problem solved! It was the fan from the welder that interfered with the argon flow. That is why it worked on another piece that was in a slightly different location. I already made an air shield because the welder exhaust is next to my welding bench. But since this piece is big, I moved the table out and the workpiece happened to be in a place where the exhaust flow interfered with the argon. These gas lenses are super sensitive I guess.
Miller Syncrowave 250DX TIGRunner
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Miller Millermatic 350P
Miller Regency 200 W/22A and Spoolmatic 3
Hobart Champion Elite
Everlast PowerTIG 210EXT
I used to have a welder that did that. Always had to block the front of it if it was aimed at the work. What's really hard to find is when it doesn't "Quite" cause enough disturbance to totally hose up the welds, but just enough that it isn't right...Lippy wrote:Problem solved! It was the fan from the welder that interfered with the argon flow. That is why it worked on another piece that was in a slightly different location. I already made an air shield because the welder exhaust is next to my welding bench. But since this piece is big, I moved the table out and the workpiece happened to be in a place where the exhaust flow interfered with the argon. These gas lenses are super sensitive I guess.
File this experience away in your head for later. It can bite you several times before you make it standard procedure to just block the thing off.