Mig Gone Haywire

[turnitupper]

View attachment 103818

Adding lost text. Flow meter to put over mig nozzle [not too hot] .Will give pretty accurate flow rate right at nozzle. They have saved me a lot of gas in three years . I am cheap! Especially handy if you ,like me, have dial gauges. Bought on aliexpress 3 years+ ago for ~$50 for twenty units. Don't let welder friends see them or you will end up with only a few yourself. I have 5 left, well 3, two died from heavy steel and heavy boot.

 

[Franko]

I was curious what that was, turnitupper. Not a bad gizmo.

 

[Franko]

Franko,
It may be possible to remove the coating by soaking it in a muratic acid solution.. I know muratic will remove chrome if the part is left to soak in it. Years ago I worked on concrete pumps and we had some spendy parts soaking in muratic acid to remove some concrete that had gotten by some seals. It cleaned the parts alright, right on down to bare metal after it disolved the chrome. Oops.
I have a love hate relationship with auto darkening helmets and I have some expensive ones. Are you sure you are not getting reflection from your ceiling lights directly on one of the sensors? Do your helmets have sensitivity adjustments?

Darrell

I was never any good at flipping a regular welding hood down. The first one I go was a HF special. It worked pretty well but occasionally I get a brief flash. That would add up fast for a welder person that welds every day. But, sometimes it wouldn't darken when I was using the TIG, and I found out that there are helmets made specifically for TIG. It works very well with the TIG. I've never seen a flash. I think there are 3 sensitivity settings. I have on lowest setting but reflected light off the table still activates the shade.

I ordered the new one on recommendation from some guys at a welding forum I frequented.

The muratic acid is a good suggestion. I used it to de-rush some very rusty stuff when I rebuilt an old Willies Jeep. The stuff looked sandblasted when it came out.

 

[18w]

Franko,
One last idea that may keep you from using the acid. Years ago we used a spray on anti spatter product that dried flat black. You would have to reapply occasionally. I, for the life of me, can't remember what company made it. You might ask your welding supplier if they know about it.

Darrell

 

[Franko]

I ran a few test beads this morning. It looks like it's all working as it should.
They are done with an oval weave on the same grinder brushed piece of angle.
I see a little of the contamination, but I didn't want to grind to keep the conditions the same on both tests.
First bead is top left, going down on subsequent welds. Then across to the right and down.
No cratering at the ends of the welds. I backed up just a little at the ends.
I ran amperage and feed recommended on the chart on the machine, 6-60 with about 1/2" stick out.
I tried 5-50 on the last 6 beads and I don't see any difference. Gas was set at 19 CFH.
They look pretty good to me.

 

[shoeboxpaul]

Franko,
You may have checked this already but, is the tip even with the cone? If the tip is recessed, it can cause issues. Slight stick out is better. I am not a pro welder but, I did this on a little Harbor Freight 110V MIG and it vastly improved the results. Until I did, the "sound of bacon" was not there.

 

[Jeephead]

I ran a few test beads this morning. It looks like it's all working as it should.
They are done with an oval weave on the same grinder brushed piece of angle.
I see a little of the contamination, but I didn't want to grind to keep the conditions the same on both tests.
First bead is top left, going down on subsequent welds. Then across to the right and down.
No cratering at the ends of the welds. I backed up just a little at the ends.
I ran amperage and feed recommended on the chart on the machine, 6-60 with about 1/2" stick out.
I tried 5-50 on the last 6 beads and I don't see any difference. Gas was set at 19 CFH.
They look pretty good to me.

View attachment 104134

My experience with AL. Do not use grinder or wire brush. They imbed impurities in the base metal and float up when welding. I use die grinder or cutters only, wipe with acetone. I always check gas flow by putting nozzle in water and hope to get bubbles to confirm adequate flow, so many things can screw this up. Good bubbles = good flow but sometimes too much.

 

[Franko]

Franko,
You may have checked this already but, is the tip even with the cone? If the tip is recessed, it can cause issues. Slight stick out is better. I am not a pro welder but, I did this on a little Harbor Freight 110V MIG and it vastly improved the results. Until I did, the "sound of bacon" was not there.

My contact tip was a little recessed in the cup. I got a two-pack of spare cups yesterday and used my lathe to cut one down about 1/8". The tip sticks out about a tenth, now.

My experience with AL. Do not use grinder or wire brush. They imbed impurities in the base metal and float up when welding. I use die grinder or cutters only, wipe with acetone. I always check gas flow by putting nozzle in water and hope to get bubbles to confirm adequate flow, so many things can screw this up. Good bubbles = good flow but sometimes too much.

Jeephead, I got a few stainless brushes when I was trying to solder aluminum as was recommended by the maker of the solder. When I was experimenting with the spool gun I used them to clean the aluminum, plus a wipe with acetone.

 

[rick9345]

Good info
well followed
nice to solve problems,well done
Good Tig welding comes with proper torch angle(and clean,clean). Hard to control , when not welding frequently, penetration over appearance for me. Usually my last weld of the day is the best looking one.
Next time I weld learning curve starts over.
The black spots on the tig welds(steel) is silicon/impurities floating up and fusing.

 

[Franko]

Thanks, Rick. No kidding about the last weld. That's the way with most of my projects. By the time I finish, I've almost figured out how to do it.

The impurities are weird. It is the first time I've seen that on my welds. I even saw some on the last MIG welds where I had ground the metal. I'm usually pretty good about cleaning the metal before I weld.