Setting for Thin Mild Steel Butt Joints

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I have an Everlast 250 machine and am welding a motorcycle exhaust pipe (2-stroke) made out of 20 gauge mild steel. I finally got good at tacking and assembled what is a complex set of cones I made on a slip roll. The butts on the cone seams are pretty tight - a few places with tiny gaps. It was a lot of work to craft the pipe and before I set off to weld it I'm practicing on sheet stock. I've been using the foot pedal that came with Everlast machine... it's really cheap and wonky, but gets the job done. I have a finger trigger as well.I can't seem to get settings that don't blow right through the thin steel. Initially I had the machine set at 30amps and was using ER70S-2 .030 wire I took off a MIG reel. I've also tried 1/16" rod. Just can't get a nice bead running.I had some better luck using a slow pulse setting and can run a bit before I blow a hole - clearly too much heat or I'm moving too slow.Are my settings/method fundamentally wrong? Suggestions?I've read that using SiBr might be easer for a newbie to master. 2-stroke pipe do run a lot cooler and SiBr might work fine in this application. Thoughts?Thanks for any pointers you can send my way.
Reply:The bigger wire helps, that skinny mig wire is a problem  I like size bigger so the wire is bigger than any gaps.www.urkafarms.com
Reply:Mig You should use E70S-6 0.023 wire.The wire you are using is hard to weld light gauge If you are tig welding I use a torch for that works the best for me in  that location. But the rod is E70S-3 very small. Typically I use brazing rod or fluxcore for exhaust pipesDave

Originally Posted by traderyoda

I have an Everlast 250 machine and am welding a motorcycle exhaust pipe (2-stroke) made out of 20 gauge mild steel. I finally got good at tacking and assembled what is a complex set of cones I made on a slip roll. The butts on the cone seams are pretty tight - a few places with tiny gaps. It was a lot of work to craft the pipe and before I set off to weld it I'm practicing on sheet stock. I've been using the foot pedal that came with Everlast machine... it's really cheap and wonky, but gets the job done. I have a finger trigger as well.I can't seem to get settings that don't blow right through the thin steel. Initially I had the machine set at 30amps and was using ER70S-2 .030 wire I took off a MIG reel. I've also tried 1/16" rod. Just can't get a nice bead running.I had some better luck using a slow pulse setting and can run a bit before I blow a hole - clearly too much heat or I'm moving too slow.Are my settings/method fundamentally wrong? Suggestions?I've read that using SiBr might be easer for a newbie to master. 2-stroke pipe do run a lot cooler and SiBr might work fine in this application. Thoughts?Thanks for any pointers you can send my way.
Reply:First you need to make sure you have the basics correct before you worry about the size of your tungsten or the size of your filler wire. By that I mean, if you are holding too long of an arc or an incorrect torch angle, both of those will cause you headaches and there are no settings that will correct those. Second, once you have ensured that torch angle and arc length are not issues, try the rule of 33 (33 pulses per second, 33% background current, 33% pulse on time, and you will reduce your tendency to blow throughMiller Multimatic 255
Reply:Please make it stop. This is getting to be ridiculous.

Originally Posted by smithdoor

Mig You should use E70S-6 0.023 wire.The wire you are using is hard to weld light gauge Typically I use brazing rod or fluxcore for exhaust pipesDave
Reply:

Originally Posted by smithdoor

Mig You should use E70S-6 0.023 wire.The wire you are using is hard to weld light gauge If you are tig welding I use a torch for that works the best for me in  that location. But the rod is E70S-3 very small. Typically I use brazing rod or fluxcore for exhaust pipesDave
Reply:Second, once you have ensured that torch angle and arc length are not issues, try the rule of 33 (33 pulses per second, 33% background current, 33% pulse on time, and you will reduce your tendency to blow through[/QUOTE]Thanks for this. I'm going to have to get me face a lot closer to watch the arc length and torch angle - I think I'm using far too shallow an angle. Will definitely try the 33 rule - very cool.The advice about tight joints is spot on, but when you're rolling truncated cones and trying to align all of them it's pretty much impossible to ensure a perfect butt joint. That's one of the reasons I've been considering SiBr in those spots.
Reply:You get more used to it, get some scraps and see how hot you can do it then back off a little.  The joints do not all need to be perfect, it can be one of the advantages of tig, can be quite forgiving once you get it.www.urkafarms.com
Reply:As was mentioned, it's not the settings, per say.  It's you, the welder.  As Louie and Justin from the video mention, there are no settings that will correct lack of technique/skill/know-how.  I'm not saying I'm a great welder, far from it, but it takes time and coherent practice to really "get it down".  Yes sometimes machines do have weird settings like the hot-start on TIG, but for 20 gauge which is what, 50 thou, it shouldn't make that much of a difference.  Now If you're trying to weld 0.020" then too high of a hot-start can start to affect things when you're really getting into thin stuff.Last edited by Oscar; 15 Hours Ago at 12:15 PM.

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Reply:

Originally Posted by Oscar

As was mentioned, it's not the settings, per say.  It's you, the welder.
Reply:

Originally Posted by traderyoda

No question about the inexperience part. I've got plenty of 20 gauge (.036") to play with and will keep at it. I noticed a lot of the demos I've watched have the plate on a heat sink. I've not been doing that because I'm planning to weld an exhaust pipe where heat blocks and purge gas aren't possible. In learning how to tack this stuff I had problems with various approached until I learned the burst approach and had dialed in the right settings. After that I was home free. Same thing here - I need to learn the right approach and then tweak the settings until I'm consistent.I appreciate the great help on this forum as it will shorten my learning curve!
Reply:

Originally Posted by Oscar

   0.036" is crazy thin to be starting out with...
Reply:By the way, I chose 20 gage because my slip roll couldn't handle anythin bigger and it's a historical machine and I'm trying to match the original pipe which was gas welded in the 60s.
Reply:Yoda,, why don't you get some thicker material just to learn your machine and refine your ability to stick it together.  CLEAN the coupons or practice sheets to shiney metal and first run beads then practice adding filler.
Reply:

Originally Posted by traderyoda

I'm finding that out big time! I'm able to do much better with 16 and 18 gage with pulse. Exactly as you stated, the 1/16th rod was a flop. Backing off on amps only made it longer to get to the pool going and by the time the rod melted I had a hole, even with the rod close to the action. So I switched to the MIG wire I got from my buddy. That helped but I don't have the skill yet to move fast enough... I'll get there.You tips are super - I pick up some of the .045 rod for those gap areas. I'll try just laying the wire and zapping the rod ala tacking. Meanwhile, I'll just keep burning away on samples until I have it down. As you say, I'll have to get comfortable getting up close to the weld to see what's going on in more detail. A magnifier might be just the ticket.Thanks much!