weld spatter

[blue dog]

I have been spraying the material that i am welding with wd40, this keeps the spatter from sticking to the material, it seems to work well. I had a friend tell me to use PAM, has anyone heard of this? and lastly, do you think as i am mig welding, as the wd40 is being burned off, do you think it is affecting the quality of the weld itself?

 

[Stick]

The best way to reduce spatter is to have your settings dialed in correctly. Most of the problems I see are from either not having enough voltage or having too much wire speed. Both have the effect of changing the arc length and the heat input to the weld. Generally, I try to weld in spray-arc when possible, but that's difficult to do with thinner materials.

Also, make sure the surfaces you are welding are clean, dirty material increases spatter. If you are welding outdoors, you may be getting the shielding gas carried away by a breeze. Are you pushing or pulling the puddle? Pushing the weld puddle will generate more spatter than a neutral/drag position of the torch. Are you using pure CO2, or a mix like C25? Pure CO2 will generate more spatter than an Argon mix.

As far as using something like Pam, I know lots of people that use it, though I'm not really a fan. I would stay away from using WD-40 as an anti-spatter, the introduction of hydrocarbons into the weld pool isn't a good thing, and who knows what kind of fumes are released at welding temperatures.

 

[Jack Olsen]

I use Pam for the nozzle, but I don't think I'd want to introduce any contaminants to the actual part of the steel I'm welding. Is this for flux core? I'd agree with Stick that if the spatter is enough of a problem that you're spraying the steel, you might be generating more spatter than you need to.

 

[iagsxr]

Why not an actual anti-splatter?

Honestly don't remember what the one I use costs, but it lasts a long time.

 

[hofferwood]

LPS anti-spatter....$11.50 at Grainger

 

[blue dog]

I appreciate your input, its not like i am getting a ton of spatter and my machine gets dialed in for what material i am welding, just sometimes there is spatter and i have to clean it off. When i use wd40 it makes it go away . I might give the pam a try. I upgraded from a miller 211 to a 252. I could not be happier with the new machine. Mostly the material i am welding is 4130 2" tube that is 120 wall. Again the spatter is not a huge issue, just wanted to see what you guys do or use.
Thanxs garagejournal and have a great rest of your weekend.

 

[trbomax]

I would be concerned about what gasious compounds are being formed with the pam and wd.When cooking with the pam,you are not adding vaporized metal and argon,copper from the wire coating into the mix. Just get some paintable nozzel spray and spray the area to be welded while its still cool. Any spatter can be wiped off with a glove.

 

[Wanna Ride]

You realize WD-40 is flammable, right? If you must use anything, just use anti-apatter.

 

[Chp]

I would hesitate at putting any kind of oily substance in the weld area, except for possibly the purpose-formulated anti-spatter. Even then, on critical joints, I would shoot for the cleanest joint possible and just manually clean off any spatter. 99% of the spatter should come off with light scraping. A chisel and light taps from a hammer easily breaks off any of the more fused-on spatter.

 

[zmotorsports]

I occassionally dip the hot nozzle into tip jelly, but that is mainly to prolong the life of the contact tip and nozzle. If all of your settings are spot on there shouldn't be any noticable spatter. I do know people that use various sprays but I would recommend using a anti-spatter rather than something that is designed for something else, especially when the anti-spatter is not that expensive and it does last quite a while. Mike.

 

[ZRX61]

I've used Pam, it works. Couldn't find my can of anti-spatter....Nice garlicy aroma in the shop that day...


I use the tip jelly stuff also.... & I always give the nozzle a quick dip when I'm done for the day so it's ready next time.

 

[yhprum]

Is the polarity set right? Its opposite for gassless wire.

 

[Wanna Ride]

I've never got too much spatter from my 110 unit, but seem to have a little more on the 220 machine when welding pretty heavy material.

 

[ephotrod]

There are a couple machinist who taught me to use joy or dawn as an anti splatter. They also use Joy when repairing torch hose lines.
Josh

 

[t100]

you are mig welding chrome-moly???? aren't you supposed to weld it with Tig? Indycar rule book says GTAW is the only approved method. one single mig bead got your car DQ'd at Tech.

 

[Stick]

you are mig welding chrome-moly???? aren't you supposed to weld it with Tig? Indycar rule book says GTAW is the only approved method. one single mig bead got your car DQ'd at Tech.

For sure he'd fail a tech inspection at any sort of sanctioned race, but 4130 isn't limited to roll cages. We use it quite a bit at work for support structures, pins, etc. Generally we preheat to 350*F and spray away, roughly 500*F post heat on thicker materials. No problems so far in the couple years I've worked here.

From the Miller website:

When welding 4130, preheating to 300°F is strongly recommended by the American Welding Society (AWS) to relieve stresses in the metal. When choosing a wire, most people opt for ER80S-D2 or ER70S-2. ER80S-D2 will provide the most weld strength. The ER70S-2 is easier to find and provides a strong weld, but you’ll be sacrificing some strength by choosing this filler metal over ER80S-D2. When it comes to shielding gas, 75/25 (Ar/CO2) is recommended for most applications and 98/2 (Ar/CO2) for anything over 3/16 in.

Cleanliness is critical when welding 4130. Make sure that all mill scale and oils are removed using mild abrasives and/or acetone. When you strike an arc, keep your heat input low to reduce stresses in the metal.

Post-weld heat treatment of 4130 varies from one application to another. If ductility and toughness are your goal, post-weld heat treatment is recommended up to 1,200°F. If the material you are welding is thinner than .120 in., stress relief through heat treatment is not as critical.

Sounds like mig welding 4130 isn't a problem to me, as long as he isn't doing aircraft frames or roll cages.

 

[blue dog]

Mig welding is allowed by SCORE on roll cages. they stipulate that all roll cage material is 4130 and 120 wall thickness. Never had a issue with what you guys are talking about. Off road race trucks that race the baja 1000 take a much harder beating then they do in the left turn , left turn sport. Roll cages pass a tech inspection and need to be inspected yearly. Just because Nascar says that a roll cage needs to be tig welded, does not mean that all sanctioning race body's do.

 

[Ben Iv]

http://www.weldaid.com/nozzlekleen.php

This is what we use at work, cuts the cleanup time way down just a light mist onto the areas to be welded.

 

[devo]

I agree with Stick. When I was welding (production - everything was clean) full time, we never used any anti spatter product on the material or nozzle/tip. Dial in the settings, and what little spatter is left can be easily and quickly scraped off with one of these:

Cheap prybars from HF or similar are my favorite spatter scrapers...