Welding Tips and Tricks

Hey folks, first post on here for me...and the reason I decided to join. First, I'm not even close to an experienced welder. I've been "teaching" myself via youtube videos. Anyway, a while back I got a Lincoln weld pack 125 at home depot. It was completely different from my experiences with stick, but things have mostly been going great. Recently at an auction, I picked up a shit ton of metal and have been pulling my hair out ever since. I can't seem to weld 14 ga metal to save my life...I started with the door chart and started burning through right off the bat. I can get a bead about 3/4 of the way across, but then it burns through. I've played with temp/wire speed and cannot find a combination that gives good penetration without blowing through. I can get the weld with 5 tacks, but still feel like i shouldn't have to do that

as i stated, i tried multiple combinations without success
it's fcaw only, so i didn't look for polarity
i moved the ground from the table and put it right on the tubing
my wire tension was waaay too tight (poked a hole in my hand when i checked this am) and i dialed it down
i try to watch my travel speed/angle and distance as close as i can
weather has been decent, so i haven't tried preheating....if that's the issue, i'll just get used to tacking and quit bothering

after watching multiple videos, i have noticed that i don't seem to have as much slag coverage as apparently i should...never have since i got the welder, but haven't had any problems/failures either.

Welcome to the forum. If the structure you are welding has no job that will spend on strength of the weld you may have to switch weld and doing a quarter at a time or half at a time and give the metal time to cool off or take the lowest setting and put in multiple passes.

Farmwelding wrote:Welcome to the forum. If the structure you are welding has no job that will spend on strength of the weld you may have to switch weld and doing a quarter at a time or half at a time and give the metal time to cool off or take the lowest setting and put in multiple passes.

Thanks! This is my first time back on a forum since the days of dial up

This project is just a bed frame that will support about 350 lbs, so I feel like just tacking the corners would hold it together but down the road I may have projects that need to be stronger. When i use 5 tacks (think of your fingers) 3, 5, 1, 4, 2 it spreads the heat and gets the job done.... I just wanna know if there's another reason (settings, angles, etc) that i'm messing up. The lack of slag makes me think it's me doing something a bit off rather than this only being a heat issue. I bought 1200' of this stuff so i wanna work out any issues sooner than later...

edit, nevermind, missed a part. Let's see pictures of work. You need to catch up to how forums are run now a days.

J.Fitz wrote:The lack of slag

Lack of slag, using FCAW? Flux-core wire welding (the "FC" in FCAW) uses flux instead of shielding gas, and absolutely definitely produces slag. Are you maybe using a shielding gas process?

As you suspect it may be a heat issue: flux-core runs hotter, generally. You may be building heat as you weld, and by the time you get to a long-ish weld you've accumulated heat up to burn-through temp.

Artie F. Emm wrote:

J.Fitz wrote:The lack of slag

Lack of slag, using FCAW? Flux-core wire welding (the "FC" in FCAW) uses flux instead of shielding gas, and absolutely definitely produces slag. Are you maybe using a shielding gas process?

As you suspect it may be a heat issue: flux-core runs hotter, generally. You may be building heat as you weld, and by the time you get to a long-ish weld you've accumulated heat up to burn-through temp.

No shielding gas whatsoever...the is a FC only welder (unfortunately). At least with this stuff i'm only seeing a little on the sides of the bead. I watched a bunch of videos (how i ended up here) and they all seemed to have complete slag coverage. They were welding thicker stuff, but if i'm welding properly i didn't think the thickness would matter...

When i first got this welder, i was welding 1/8" angle of various heights and i'm pretty sure i had complete slag coverage on that stuff...but it was much harder to get off than what i saw in the videos :/

i'm gonna play with the settings more, but i think i tried all that seemed reasonable...otherwise, i'll just get used to tacking for a while

Some brands of flux core will leave a heavier slag covering than others. I've found cheaper "no name" bands don't leave as much as say a roll of Lincoln brand wire. What wire are you using? Pictures?

J Fitz,

This might help. There's some mention of what parameters cause incomplete slag coverage.

http://www.lincolnelectric.com/en-us/su ... oting.aspx

Good luck,
Larry

Oscar wrote:Some brands of flux core will leave a heavier slag covering than others. I've found cheaper "no name" bands don't leave as much as say a roll of Lincoln brand wire. What wire are you using? Pictures?

i'm using lincoln 030 wire...still figuring out the forum, i'll try to get some pics up soon.

ldbtx wrote:J Fitz,

This might help. There's some mention of what parameters cause incomplete slag coverage.

http://www.lincolnelectric.com/en-us/su ... oting.aspx

Good luck,
Larry

Thanks for posting that link! I watched it the other day, but went ahead and watched it again...I think my lack of slag is from moving too fast, but when i try to go slower i burn through. Prior to watching this, my work distance was closer to 1/4" so i'm trying to break that habit. will working too close cause more heat, or just the lack of slag preheat he mentioned? also, he says to have a drag angle of ~5-10 degrees, then promptly angles closer to 45 degrees ??

J.Fitz wrote:

ldbtx wrote:J Fitz,

This might help. There's some mention of what parameters cause incomplete slag coverage.

http://www.lincolnelectric.com/en-us/su ... oting.aspx

Good luck,
Larry

Thanks for posting that link! I watched it the other day, but went ahead and watched it again...I think my lack of slag is from moving too fast, but when i try to go slower i burn through. Prior to watching this, my work distance was closer to 1/4" so i'm trying to break that habit. will working too close cause more heat, or just the lack of slag preheat he mentioned? also, he says to have a drag angle of ~5-10 degrees, then promptly angles closer to 45 degrees ??

The three things I got from the video that will cause incomplete slag coverage are: Low wire feed speed (which also lowers the current), slow travel speed, and short CTWD (contact tip to work distance) or what we generally call stickout. Short stickout also raises the current, due to lower resistance in the wire, and might be contributing to your burnthrough. Just a guess.

I haven't welded on any material less than 1/8" (11 ga) in so long that I'm really the wrong guy to ask about thinner material. Hopefully, some more of the sheet metal guys will jump in here. Like others have mentioned, pics will be good when you get the forum figured out.

Less us know how it goes,
Larry

If you're moving slower and you burn through, then you need to adjust other parameters, including weld progression/sequence. For 0.030"-0.035" FC wire, I prefer a very short stickout at first. This gets the beginning of the weld a bit hotter than is intended. In the few milliseconds that it takes to allow the puddle to grow and wet out, the heat-travel already has a head-start on you, and is "pre-heating" the metal ahead of you. I do it this way to try to avoid a cold start, then as I move along, I gradually increase the stick out closer to about 3/8"-1/2" towards the end of that stitch weld. This way the heat build-up that acts as extra amperage is slightly counteracted by the colder weld from the longer stickout near the end.

I am not a welder by any stretch of the imagination, but I went thru the same scenario. I couldn't get thin sheet metal to weld at all with fluxcore. The best I could do was large tacks and back stepping and moving around the joint.
If someone has a better solution, I would like to know as well.

Oscar wrote:If you're moving slower and you burn through, then you need to adjust other parameters, including weld progression/sequence. For 0.030"-0.035" FC wire, I prefer a very short stickout at first. This gets the beginning of the weld a bit hotter than is intended. In the few milliseconds that it takes to allow the puddle to grow and wet out, the heat-travel already has a head-start on you, and is "pre-heating" the metal ahead of you. I do it this way to try to avoid a cold start, then as I move along, I gradually increase the stick out closer to about 3/8"-1/2" towards the end of that stitch weld. This way the heat build-up that acts as extra amperage is slightly counteracted by the colder weld from the longer stickout near the end.

I welded some 1/8" angle this morning with no problems at all but haven't been back to the 14 ga yet...family in town. I like the way you're thinking with this! Next time i get a chance, i'm gonna try this. Might apply it to other stuff as well

I have a Lincoln 180 and use flux core only. Not sure of the conversion but I use a lot of 100 wall tubing which I am guessing is in the 14 guage range. Once in a while I need to do a lap weld down to aprox 20 guage ( body metal) with mixed results but it can be done. I use Lincoln .035 all position wire -Innershield NR-211-mp -E71T-11 . When I started welding I played around with settings etc. with mixed results. One decent weld the next crap. What really turned solved the problem for me was anti-spatter spray. I use a TSC product Powerweld (Canada) cheap at six bucks a can. Somehow it makes welding much easier and seems to widen the sweet spot and make setup much easier and not as much smoke. I just give the weld a quick swipe with a small wire wheel in a small high speed drill and it is clean. It doesn't take much just a mist to dampen the area and go. It is also paint compatible and I just do my normal prep and spray. To make it easy to handle with welding gloves on just get one of those snap on spray can handles at the hardware. Of course this is only one component in the process but it does help. good luck.

homeboy wrote:I have a Lincoln 180 and use flux core only. Not sure of the conversion but I use a lot of 100 wall tubing which I am guessing is in the 14 guage range. Once in a while I need to do a lap weld down to aprox 20 guage ( body metal) with mixed results but it can be done. I use Lincoln .035 all position wire -Innershield NR-211-mp -E71T-11 . When I started welding I played around with settings etc. with mixed results. One decent weld the next crap. What really turned solved the problem for me was anti-spatter spray. I use a TSC product Powerweld (Canada) cheap at six bucks a can. Somehow it makes welding much easier and seems to widen the sweet spot and make setup much easier and not as much smoke. I just give the weld a quick swipe with a small wire wheel in a small high speed drill and it is clean. It doesn't take much just a mist to dampen the area and go. It is also paint compatible and I just do my normal prep and spray. To make it easy to handle with welding gloves on just get one of those snap on spray can handles at the hardware. Of course this is only one component in the process but it does help. good luck.

Thanx for taking the time to reply...i've never tried "anti-spatter" type sprays, but it couldn't hurt. I have a tractor supply on the way home, but it appears the product you use is a "canada only" product. hafta see if my local store has it under another name/sku/part number or something.

i did get lucky last week and traded for a hobart mig welder and a plasma cutter....i was building some stands for water troughs last night with the same tubing and didn't seem to blow through with the mig. i just went with the recommended setting and went to town!

J.fitz thank you for your reply. As far as the brand of spray I use it is only because it is fairly cheap and easily available for me. I tried it on a whim as I was getting frustrated with inconsistent and dirty welds. The reason for the flux core is the versatility. I am not a professional welder but I can weld all positions-indoor-outdoor - new and old metal and my 180 would have a pretty short duty cycle if I hooked up the mig kit for my projects which usually use from 100ml to 1/2 in material. I also like my tools portable. If my brother needs a fix on the farm I just pull the plug and go. That's also the reason I have a Hypertherm 30 air -self contained -just go. Sounds like you have some nice equipment there. Good luck.