New Welder - What am I doing wrong?

[TLCDino]

Hey guys,

I am a total self taught amature welder and having a lot fun figuring it out. My first project is massive welding table. I will post it later, but I have a quick question about massive spatter.

I am using a Miller 211 - Love it! - and it works like a dream for me with the autoset feature. However, I am getting ton's of BIG spatter when I use .035 wire. When I use .030 it lays beads like butter. My stack of dimes is really getting fairly decent for a hobbiest.

But when I switched to .035 I get the picture below. The photo is an extreme example, but it is really "snap, crackle, pop-ish" versus the .030.

I am welding on mild steel, 1/8 wall square tubing. I am using 2 inch primarily, but the legs of the table are 4 inch.

My shielding gas is flowing. I have the 211 auto on .035 wire on 1/8 material.

Any suggestions?

Thanks for the advice and any encouragement is appreciated!

 

[IDASHO]

Your wire to gas ratio is too high.

Either slow the wire speed down, or increase the flow of the shielding gas.

 

[Jzytaruk]

It may be that your arc is too long and that you are pushing at too great of an angle. Also, what are you using for a shielding gas? CO2? or Argon/CO2 mix?

With short circuit mig, you will want to to keep your contact tip pretty close to the base metal, and a gentle push. Otherwise you will burn holes or have excessive build up.

"Stack of Dimes" is purely a cosmetic thing, and you should master consistent travel speeds and proper gun incline & angle..

 

[Stick]

If it was welding fine with .030, but looks like that with .035 you probably need to increase your voltage. Are you familiar with the different modes of MIG transfer?

"Short circuit" is exactly what it sounds like, the wire hits the surface, creates a short circuit, and explodes forming an arc. This is what happens when the wire speed is too fast for the arc, or if you don't have enough voltage.

"Globular" is when the when the arc forms without a short circuit, and the wire is transfered in molten globs across the arc to the surface of the work. Most MIG machines weld using globular transfer.

"Spray transfer" is when the wire is actually sprayed onto the work through the arc in droplets even smaller than globular transfer. It takes a lot of voltage and wire speed (along with the proper shielding gas mix) to be able to spray. Not many consumer machines are capable of spray. It's also more suitable for heavy fabrication, and thicker workpieces because of the amount of heat that is transfered into the material. We spray a lot of stuff at work, but most of our fabrication is 3/8"+

 

[Zeke]

.035 is big wire for solid. Do you need that big a wire? What are you welding? That just looks like medium wall tubing.

Could your .035 in fact be flux core? Read the label on the spool. Did you change your contact tip and drive wheels?

 

[z28snksknr]

.035 is big wire for solid. Do you need that big a wire? What are you welding? That just looks like medium wall tubing.

Could your .035 in fact be flux core? Read the label on the spool. Did you change your contact tip and drive wheels?

+1 for that (possibly) being flux core wire. Otherwise, I concur with hte above post that you need more voltage.

 

[JimDon]

agreed, sounds like flux core and that's going to splatter a lot. No matter what you are welding and what you are welding with, stick or wire feed, a lot of pros will set their machine by ear! It should sound like bacon sizzling in a pan. Get that sound, and you'll get it right. It takes a little practice, but that is possible to achieve.
Good luck and keep us posted,
JimDon

 

[MoonRise]

A couple of things.

First, shielding gas flow rate usually does not really affect spatter levels. Usually, insufficient shielding gas flow (or a breeze/draft blowing away or otherwise disrupting the shielding gas flow) shows up as porosity. Excess gas flow can also (a bit counterintuitivly) cause porosity (via the venturi effect or other gas flow disturbances). General setting for 'small' GMAW jobs/machines is 20-25 CFH. In a calm draft/breeze free shop, you may be able to lower the gas flow rate down to 12-15 CFH with no adverse effects. A slight draft/breeze in a shop may require you to raise the gas flow rate up to 25-30 CFH. Large 'industrial' jobs/machines/wires may require gas flow rate of 50 CFH. YMMV.

Next, 0.035 solid MIG wire is a common size, but so is 0.035 FCAW wire. Double check what you have.

Next, if 0.030 solid wire works juts fine with the Auto-set on 1/8 inch thick material, then just use that wire and settings on that thickness material.

The auto-set might not (Hah! A bit of an understatement there, based on your RW results there.) be getting the settings quite right for 0.035 solid wire and 1/8 inch thick material. So you can 'fine-tune' things a bit and take the machine off of Auto-Set and go from there.

If you want more detailed answers, you kind of have to give a little more details of what you hvae going on there. You listed 0.035 solid wire (same brand and specs as the 0.030 wire you used, or a different brand?) and a MM211 on Auto-Set on 1/8 inch material, but what shielding gas are you using?

For 0.030 solid wire using 100% CO2 shielding gas on 1/8 inch steel for a **** joint done in the flat position in short-circuit transfer mode, recommended settings are about 21-22 Volts and 115-130 amps (WFS of about 275-300 ipm). Using 0.035 solid wire, settings would be about 21-22 Volts and 160-175 amps (about 225-250 ipm) (which seems a bit 'hot' for me). If using C25 gas, drop the voltage 1-2 volts.

In general, if your voltage is too high for the WFS/amperage, you start to get some more spatter (because you are getting out of short-circuit transfer mode and into globular transfer mode). Instead of the smooth 'bacon-sizzling' sound of short-circuit transfer mode, you get a sizzle-snap-POP sound going on in globular transfer mode. We won't even get into spray-transfer mode.

In general, set the voltage and then set the WFS. If the voltage is too high for the WFS, you get a less-stable arc and more spatter. If the voltage is too low for the WFS, the wire will stub into the work and will "push back". Set the voltage halfway between those settings.

Miller's MIG handbook http://www.millerwelds.com/pdf/mig_handbook.pdf lists voltage, WFS, stick-out, and dirty workpiece as the top four reasons/causes for excessive spatter levels.

 

[charle10]

Being a fellow amateur welder, my first thought was not enough gas, caused by low gas flow, or stick out being to long. But moonrise is right, that usually leaves a lot of porosity as well.

Is the steel clean?

When welding is the wire pushing the gun away from the weld? If so I'd Look at your settings, and that you have a good ground connection.

Did you re-adjust after you changed wire sizes, or are you running the same settings as with the .030"?

Is polarity correct? If you did put in some flux core, and want to run it, don't forget to change your polarity.

 

[Professur]

Where did you get the .035? Many people have had a lot of complaints when they get their wire from Harbor Freight and similar stores.

 

[D KRAGER]

You guys are getting way too technical. Play with your settings til you get a nice smooth weld.

Wire speed too fast. Or not enough gas. Those auto-set deals are only a starting recommendation.

Too many variables to tell for sure, but travel speed has a lot to do with settings also.

 

[ZTFab]

You guys are getting way too technical. Play with your settings til you get a nice smooth weld.

x2

I would bet the voltage is too high for the given wire speed.

I would also just stick with running the .030"