Welding Tips and Tricks

It's not all that important a question, but it piqued my curiosity . I don't weld steady, by the end of the project, my welds start looking half ***, at least to me. I was making a splash guard for my metal lathe and not having a brake I slotted the bend, leaving smaller tabs for bending. It was 16 guage sheet. Before slotting I ground down to bare metal, my get-a-round-to-it was three years old and the sheet had taken on that brown colour. Then I welded up the slots. As my weld wandered along, every once in a while, I would get a pop and I would loose my stick out. I was wondering why ? My welder is Millermatic 250x, I've had it since new and almost used up the large spool of .035 he threw in. Air Liquide (LA) spool brand.

Some sort of contamination. Oil, dirt, bad gas coverage, or rust on the wire.

As Bill said, oil is the most likely culprit. If you have used cutting fluid at all on your lathe, it has impregnated the guard and the heat from welding has brought it to the surface, despite wiping down beforehand.

Gun liner could be dirty causing slight wire hang up too.

Thanks, I'll tighten up the drive a little and put a new tip on. And see if that helps, if not, I guess it's time for a new liner. It's top quality MIG wire, Blueshield.

Downwindtracker2 wrote:Thanks, I'll tighten up the drive a little and put a new tip on. And see if that helps, if not, I guess it's time for a new liner. It's top quality MIG wire, Blueshield.

If it is sticking, it may be in the tip. They are available a little oversized from some manufacturers. If your wire is old, it could have some rust enlarging the dimension of the wire. Run some without striking an arc. You may run smoothly, but stick a bit when hot, and expanded. Tip cleaners used with acetylene torch work well for shining the inside of a tip.

Liners, sized right, and not kinked run a long time.

I always clamp a piece of fine scotchbrite with a large clamp style paper clip just before my drive roller keeps all the crud out of my liner and wipes the wire as it goes just a thought