FCAW weave slag entrapment?

admin

Hey guys, This weekend I will be helping out a family member with some farm equipment. Its gonna be field welded and all he has at his disposal is 110v. I was going to do some stick welding but after trying to run a couple beads I realized I'm beyond rusty, so as my instructor always told us stick to what you know, I decided to get some .035 FCAW wire. Most of what I will be welding will be 3/16", but its dirty seasoned steel. I haven't done any FCAW since school, but the fundamentals should be similar to GMAW which I do everyday at work I think. My main question is will weaving cause slag entrapment with doing FCAW? Its kinda a habit since I stitch a little while mig welding.Flat. filletLast edited by aadad; 06-07-2016 at 01:22 PM.
Reply:The smaller FCAW wires I use will entrap slag if you weave much, yes.  I try to either do straight stringers or weave not much more than the width of the wire.  I don't weld vert down with them either; only vert up.  Vert up you need to have your gun's nozzle / tip pointed either directly perpendicular to the weld, or actually down at it, as opposed to stick or GMAW which you usually keep an 'up' angle to the nozzle.  So in those regards, FCAW is different than GMAW.  It also runs well only in a relatively narrow voltage / ipm range, and you need to keep your tip-to-work distance in the proper range which is narrow as well.  None of this to scare you away from FCAW, but it isn't as forgiving as MIG.Find the specs for your wire online and keep within the operating ranges noted by the manufacturer.  Also note that some FCAW wires are not rated for multi-pass use; they are single-pass only.  That might matter for your application.As far as using the 110V welder on 3/16", you're most likely going to want to preheat some in order to ensure full penetration, and design your joints and repairs to have more weld area than you would with a full-powered machine.  3/16" is a tall order for most if not all 110V welders.  They're more of a sure bet on 1/8" and thinner.The standard disclaimers apply if you're actually planning a trailer build and not farm equipment repair, for example....and those disclaimers are along the lines of, "don't be an idiot."  Don't forget to use DCEN polarity if your machine is not flux-core only and already set up that way.
Reply:It will help if you don't out run your puddle. It's not so much the size of your wire, it's the size of your puddle. Are you going to be using dual shield? I don't have much experience with gasless other than way back in school, and back then they taught not to run anything but straight stringers with it.
Reply:.035 hobbart wire from fleet farm. As for out running my puddle, I never weave outside the puddle, I always stay within the puddle.
Reply:Fcaw you want you pull the weld along definitely  do not want to push itSent from my SM-G935P using Tapatalk
Reply:Sent from my SM-G935P using Tapatalk
Reply:Looks like your traveling in spurts instead of steady, even travel. could tighten up the weave also.
Reply:Actually i do fairly well for having ADHD but that aside i appreciate the feedbackSent from my SM-G935P using Tapatalk