Yet another rate my weld

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I know I need some work on my starts and stops, other than that how does it look?  1/4 plate to 1/4 wall square tube.  Lincoln powermig 300 using L-56 wire 75/25 gas and suggested settings. Attached Images
Reply:The bead looks pretty good.....BUT..... clean the metal first.Lincoln pro mig 180Lincoln Square Wave Tig 300/wp 20/home built water cooler Victor, Purox, Harris, O/A welding/cutting setupsVintage Craftsman drill pressVintage Craftsman/Atlas 12"x 36'' lathe7''x 12'' w/c band saw Everlast 140 st
Reply:Pulling too far out of the front edge of the puddle. Try tightening up your motions a little bit and you should be ok. Also the spatter should be a little less if you try to slightly push the puddle rather than drag it. Tons of people claim that pushing it traps slag in the weld but I have been doing X-Ray quality welds with the push method and never had a problem.CERTIFICATIONS:7018M- H.V.O10718M- H.V.O11018M- H.V.O9N10- H.V.O71T-1-HYM- H.O.V100S1 PULSE ARC 0,035- H.O.V100S1 PULSE ARC 0.045- H.O.VER70S-3 PULSE ARC 0.035 H.O.VER70S-3 PULSE ARC 0.045 H.O.VER5554- H.O.V
Reply:Wow 260 + views and only two comments.  Its either that good or that bad.   Thanks for the comments.  I don't get a chance to go out and play with the welder much, between work, kids and life in general.  So it has been a while since I have used it, I thought I did pretty good for not using it for the last 2 or 3 months.  I did clean the metal I just didn't go crazy with it, should have done a little more looking at it now.  Keep the comments coming.Thanks,Kevin
Reply:Originally Posted by MichgrizI know I need some work on my starts and stops, other than that how does it look?  1/4 plate to 1/4 wall square tube.  Lincoln powermig 300 using L-56 wire 75/25 gas and suggested settings.
Reply:Since I never MIG'd before I'd have to say it looks as good as any of my stick welds and that's good enough for me.
Reply:A couple of things I noticed;1. It could be just the picture, but it looks like your weld is unevely distributed on the 2 pieces of metal. I'm not sure that's clear, but it should be even. It could also just be that way because of the way the tubing is rounded, in which case I would probably run 2 or 3 passes here.Excuse my crude drawing for clairity.This is how it looks like your weld is distributed;This is how I would like to see your weld distributed;Depending on your machine, wire size and plate thickness, it might be easier in 3 passes;2. As NHMatt pointed out, I think you need to make less of a "whipping motion". Steadyness definitely comes with practice.3. You never mentioned what you were welding this up for. I am not an engineer, but typically you would stop your welds about 1/2" away from the edge of the plate. This will lessen the chance of stress cracking.Last edited by Eric N; 12-23-2011 at 05:52 AM.
Reply:Mich your technique is basically sound, however you have one small problem, and one much bigger problem.The small problem is that you're weaving on flat/horizontal welds. There is no logical justification for weaving on flat/horiz.. This will confer no benefits to your welds,and may cause defects.OK,now your big problem is you've selected the "short circuit transfer" mode for a thickness for which it's totally inappropriate.You should NEVER use MIG "Short circuit transfer" on anything thicker than 1/8" or 3mm! For 90 deg. inside fillet welds I'd feel safe reducing that further to no thicker than 3/32" (2.5mm)Using short circuit MIG on 1/4" will result in both voltage and current that is much too low for the thickness. In turn This will cause serious, extensive lack-of-fusion and lack-of-penetration defects. These defects are almost never apparent from visual examination alone.You have two options here. 1) Use spray transfer, thereby increasing you current and voltage by at least 75%-switch to Ar+20%CO2 or Ar+15%CO2 (Note: 25%CO2 is generally too much for good spray transfer)-if you're using .035" wire select around 500 in/min and 27-29 volts.  Start at 27 volts and increase the voltage as needed to stabilize the "spray transfer" arc.2) Use .045" E71T-1 "dual shield" wire instead of solid wire. - select 475 in/min and 28 volts. Both these options will result in significantly more heat input, so don't be alarmend at the dramatic increase in current. May take some getting used to. you may wish to use a darker lens.Also, it never hurts to take a minute and grind your joints (shine-ify) before welding. Bottom line, please don't use short circuit transfer on things other than gauge thicknesses any more. If your manager insists that you do so, ask how good his liability insurance is...Last edited by Joshfromsaltlake; 12-23-2011 at 05:55 AM.Reason: incresed readability
Reply:Also, more onto what Josh said, welding hotter and in spray transfer will result in cleaner looking, stronger welds, and it will cut down on spatter.
Reply:Originally Posted by [U You should NEVER use MIG "Short circuit transfer" on anything thicker than 1/8" or 3mm![/U] For 90 deg. inside fillet welds I'd feel safe reducing that further to no thicker than 3/32" (2.5mm)Using short circuit MIG on 1/4" will result in both voltage and current that is much too low for the thickness. In turn This will cause serious, extensive lack-of-fusion and lack-of-penetration defects. These defects are almost never apparent from visual examination alone.
Reply:Originally Posted by Eric NAlso, more onto what Josh said, welding hotter and in spray transfer will result in cleaner looking, stronger welds, and it will cut down on spatter.
Reply:The weld joint your making is a Flare Grove, the extra passes would be considered reinforcement or Fillet welds, I would recommend removing all splatter before taking pic
Reply:Originally Posted by Eric NA couple of things I noticed;1. It could be just the picture, but it looks like your weld is unevely distributed on the 2 pieces of metal. I'm not sure that's clear, but it should be even. It could also just be that way because of the way the tubing is rounded, in which case I would probably run 2 or 3 passes here.Excuse my crude drawing for clairity.This is how it looks like your weld is distributed;This is how I would like to see your weld distributed;Depending on your machine, wire size and plate thickness, it might be easier in 3 passes;2. As NHMatt pointed out, I think you need to make less of a "whipping motion". Steadyness definitely comes with practice.3. You never mentioned what you were welding this up for. I am not an engineer, but typically you would stop your welds about 1/2" away from the edge of the plate. This will lessen the chance of stress cracking.