gasses

[Mark Whiddon]

Hey guys need some input on this. I have been using a 130amp 110v wire welder with flux core wire in it and love the way it welds. I like the convienience of being able to weld outside when needed and have had no problems with weld quality (once I figured where my porosity was coming from). I have recently bought a HH175 and am thinking about going gas with it. The main reason is due to the spatter from the flux core. I was thinking of going straight co2 due to increased penetration/money. My question is what/how much difference is there in spatter going from flux core to co2?(is tha argon/co2 going to produce THAT much less spatter than co2?) Second how difficult would it be welding outside if my gas was turned up a bit from 20 up to around 30? Would that overcome some of the wind issues and if so how much (lbs) of wire could I expect from a big bottle of co2 (thinking around 200?cf)? Thanks and I hope this made sense, it will be my first try at mig.

[Roger]

Higher flow helps with wind under 3 to 5 mph but for real wind need to block it from weld area. I have use small box up wind weighted with steel scrap close to weld. Can get away with small close to weld bigger further away. Good fence keeps away unwanted people and wind.

[d.paulson]

I think the cost of the gas is irrelevent. You need a good quality weld. If you cannot overcome porosity with either turning up gas presure and/or blocking wind, change to flux cored wire.

[Guest]

Amen!

[Dan]

Re: gasses

Originally posted by Mark Whiddon
Hey guys need some input on this. I have been using a 130amp 110v wire welder with flux core wire in it and love the way it welds. I like the convienience of being able to weld outside when needed and have had no problems with weld quality (once I figured where my porosity was coming from). I have recently bought a HH175 and am thinking about going gas with it. The main reason is due to the spatter from the flux core. I was thinking of going straight co2 due to increased penetration/money. My question is what/how much difference is there in spatter going from flux core to co2?(is tha argon/co2 going to produce THAT much less spatter than co2?) Second how difficult would it be welding outside if my gas was turned up a bit from 20 up to around 30? Would that overcome some of the wind issues and if so how much (lbs) of wire could I expect from a big bottle of co2 (thinking around 200?cf)? Thanks and I hope this made sense, it will be my first try at mig.

Mark

In my opinion, if your going to use only one type of shielding gas for welding mild steel CO2 is a very poor choice. Co 2 is a very difficult gas to tune your welder in with. The arc can be very unstable. C 25 is a much more user friendly gas that creates a very stable arc.. A C 25 gas mix will produce a much better looking weld bead with very little spatter. If your worried about penetration you might think about using C50. The 25% increase in the Co2 will help increase the weld bead penetration. Actually though, I have never used the C50 mix, but I am seriously thinking about giving it a try. C50 is the gas mixture that Rocky D uses. Rocky, if your reading this can you give us some input on this gas mixture. What is the spatter like? How well does the weld puddle wet out. How stable is the arc?

So you Know, the only time anymore that I actually use CO 2 is when I short arc 3/16" or 1/4" thick steel that is going to have some loading, but the situation it is being used in isn t life threatening. Im attaching an example of one of these welds. I made this sample for you this evening. The material thickness is 1/4" and the joint design is a T joint. Dont be fooled by the weld bead appearance, an argon/Co2 mix has a much stabler arc and is easier to weld with. This stacked nickel look is actually, the only way that I can produce a somewhat nice looking weld bead with CO 2 anymore. As I stated it is a difficult gas to tune the welder in with, I was actual suprised that I produced the weld quality that I did because I haven t used CO 2 for at least a year. I ran 3 of these weld beads and broke two of them. They both broke through the center of the weld and showed signs of fusion to the root .

If you going to weld outdoors with solid wire and shielding gas. I recommend that you build yourself some of the barrier/wind blocking screens that Dave Haak recently posted a picture of in the project section. I use a similar design at work to block my welding arc from the eyes of our production workers, and also to block the wind when I need to weld something outside the shop door that is to large to bring inside. If you build them right they are very light weight and easy for one person to move around.