Welding Tips and Tricks

Hey there, we are having an issue with our sub arc flux feed and recovery system. The flux feed hose has got clogged on several occasions. The system is made by Weld engineering company, it’s the mighty Mac-x model. We have shortened the hose length. The flux is dry and brand new. If anybody out there is familiar with this model or process, any info would be appreciated. The system is new to us and we are stumped.. thanks

Welder chimp wrote:The system is new to us

"New" as in brand new, or used equipment that's new to you? I'm wondering if you can contact the vendor for support.

If it recycles the recovered granular stuff you may be getting chunks that are small enough to fit through a screen but big enough to gunk up the flux feed. Take a sample of what is coming through and make sure it isn't clumpy.

Then beat it with a hammer till its dead. I hate flux recovery/feeders.

Artie F. Emm wrote:

Welder chimp wrote:The system is new to us

"New" as in brand new, or used equipment that's new to you? I'm wondering if you can contact the vendor for support.

It’s Brand new equipment, the vendor has made a few suggestions, but we’re still working on it.

PeteM wrote:If it recycles the recovered granular stuff you may be getting chunks that are small enough to fit through a screen but big enough to gunk up the flux feed. Take a sample of what is coming through and make sure it isn't clumpy.

Then beat it with a hammer till its dead. I hate flux recovery/feeders.

I’ll take a closer look at the flux/screen thing.. I like the hammer part better. Thanks

Is there a crusher on the intaks of the machine to resize the material being recycled?

How much of your flux media has gone ceramic post cool? How far behind the gun is the pickup?

Your post seems to indicate the plugging is occurring at the point of the cycle where the media is being redeposited onto new weld. Exactly where is the plugup occurring?
Is the media cold where the plugup is occurring?

What's the humidity situation with regard to the media?

Franz© wrote:Is there a crusher on the intaks of the machine to resize the material being recycled?

How much of your flux media has gone ceramic post cool? How far behind the gun is the pickup?

Your post seems to indicate the plugging is occurring at the point of the cycle where the media is being redeposited onto new weld. Exactly where is the plugup occurring?
Is the media cold where the plugup is occurring?

What's the humidity situation with regard to the media?

The pickup is about 6-8” behind the arc.
The plug is occuring at the halfway point from the recovery tank to the weld nozzle.
The media should be cooled off by the time it is getting plugged.
I don’t believe humidity is an issue, we’re in Michigan in a climate controlled shop.

Welder chimp wrote:

Franz© wrote:Is there a crusher on the intaks of the machine to resize the material being recycled?

How much of your flux media has gone ceramic post cool? How far behind the gun is the pickup?

Your post seems to indicate the plugging is occurring at the point of the cycle where the media is being redeposited onto new weld. Exactly where is the plugup occurring?
Is the media cold where the plugup is occurring?

What's the humidity situation with regard to the media?

The pickup is about 6-8” behind the arc.
The plug is occuring at the halfway point from the recovery tank to the weld nozzle.
The media should be cooled off by the time it is getting plugged.
I don’t believe humidity is an issue, we’re in Michigan in a climate controlled shop.

What's the feed mechanism from the media tank to the gun? Gravity alone? Is there a bend or kink in the gun feed conduit?
Is the feed conduit metal or plastic?

Almost sounds like the vacuum is picking the media up hot enough to clump or grabbing clumps from the post arc pile. Can you shut the vac off for a couple feet and pull a sample of what is being sucked up to look for cinders? Might be a matter of putting a clinker preventer in the pickup.

Can you move the pickup farther back from the arc itself to provide more cooling?

Can you run one of the $10 endoscopes down the gun conduit and look for hang points?

Real dumb possibility, was the gun flux tank and conduit inspected for complete cleanness prior to running the machine the first time? I've seen some pretty big media blast systems plugged by cigarette filters over the years.

Back at it again in the morning, thanks for the input. I’ll try a few of your suggestions in the AM. Thanks

This manufacturer?
http://www.weldengineering.com/hd.php

Which model?

Mighty Mac-x3000, pressure tank flux feed..

No issues today, I think whacking the feed hose with a stick every now and then is the solution to the problem. Thanks all

Syntron makes a long line of vibrators, from large enough to rattle a coal car down to the size of your thumb.

You can also cobble one up from a small DC relay and a diode to provide encouragement vibes on the drop tube.
Just be aware when a vibrator plugs something, it's plugged damn good.

The cure for plugged damn good is the flexible drive shaft from a weed eater on the scrap pile chucked into a battery drill.
It also works really well for hair clogs in sink and shower drains if you weld a small cutter on one end.

what is the air pressure to move the flux to the weld nozzle Lincoln and there flux tanks for the K-114 guns is around 30 psi and if the flux gets real granny like sea salt it can to clog a lot just like too fine can blow out

fuzz1580 wrote:what is the air pressure to move the flux to the weld nozzle Lincoln and there flux tanks for the K-114 guns is around 30 psi and if the flux gets real granny like sea salt it can to clog a lot just like too fine can blow out

We run around 30psi. We’ve kept an eye on the new to old flux ratio, trying to keep the new flux higher than old and this has helped.