Practice piece

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Ive been playing with this coupon for practice and thought Id show it to the other new people.  Any critiques are more than welcome.Mig, .035 wire, wfs 375, volts 20  material:1/4"x2"x6" full penetration pass, 2 lap passes, T with cover passes over root.  Cover pass over root of butt joint.  Had a burn through on the full, I welded it shut and kept going.  Seem to be having the most trouble controlling that one.  I welded the 't' in the flat position and when I flip it over the lap is horizontal on the back side. Attached ImagesVarious GrindersVictor Journeyman torch200cf Acet. 250cf oxygenLincoln 175 plus/alpha2 gunLincoln v205t tigLincoln 350mpEsab 650 plasmaWhen you can get up in the morning, Its a good day.Live each day like its your last.
Reply:The second pic is way cool  Looks like your getting the settings down.....zap!I am not completely insane..Some parts are missing Professional Driver on a closed course....Do not attempt.Just because I'm a  dumbass don't mean that you can be too.So DON'T try any of this **** l do at home.
Reply:Gosh, thanks.  With mig zap, would you do a big weave over the root like I did here or would you do 2 straight passes?  The weld looks huge, like I might have gotten carried away..Various GrindersVictor Journeyman torch200cf Acet. 250cf oxygenLincoln 175 plus/alpha2 gunLincoln v205t tigLincoln 350mpEsab 650 plasmaWhen you can get up in the morning, Its a good day.Live each day like its your last.
Reply:Originally Posted by DoolittleGosh, thanks.  With mig zap, would you do a big weave over the root like I did here or would you do 2 straight passes?  The weld looks huge, like I might have gotten carried away..
Reply:What gas are you using?Definitely spray transfer.Cleaning the base metal before welding, remove surface scale by grinding/sanding, will help with weld appearance and quality.In general, the welds look very hot and fluid on the surface, like the arc voltage (arc length) was excessive.  A lower voltage (shorter arc length) will give better, more direct control of the arc, more defined ripples on the weld surface, but slightly more spatter. You say 20 volts, this should be low enough, but maybe it's not an accurate setting or meter reading.  Try judging the correct voltage just based on the arc length you see, and the arc sound you hear.  A clean clear hiss sound is pure spray transfer and may be too long of an arc length.  Some slight crackle in the hiss sound starts to indicated a tighter arc.The lap weld on the back side is the best looking weld, probably just about right.  Maybe a little long on the arc length?The bottom weld in the first photo looks way too wide and too hot.Big hot welds can be a problem because they create a large heat affected zone (HAZ) in the base metal, adjacent to the weld.  Depending on the base metal, the material strength and toughness can be damaged in the HAZ.  Also, the big weld produces large thermal stresses and is more susceptable to centerline cracking.  It is generally more desireable to run multiple narrower weld passes to fill a joint rather than one big one.
Reply:Pulser,Thanks for the tip on cover passes.  Hmm.  I will give it another try at say 19.5 volts and see how it comes out.  Your right!  I didnt clean up the steel at all, just whacked the pieces off and welded.  The biggest problem I had was with the full penetration pass.  Wasted alot of coupons with that one.  I set a gap of 1/8" and away I go,  Have trouble contorting around to see the edge of the puddle and staying smooth.What I wish you could do with a mig is change the voltage on the fly so you can get that perfect transfer going.  Maybe Ill move the machine up close and see what I can come up with.  I wasnt hissing so dont think I was spraying (aluminum did that for me when I was goofing around with it).  I am using C25.Various GrindersVictor Journeyman torch200cf Acet. 250cf oxygenLincoln 175 plus/alpha2 gunLincoln v205t tigLincoln 350mpEsab 650 plasmaWhen you can get up in the morning, Its a good day.Live each day like its your last.
Reply:you didn't say which machine you were using, but my mm251 says with c25, at 20volts, your wired feed should be 220. that is for 1/8" material. with c25, 1/4 should be run at 21.5v 290 ipm. thats just my machine mind you"Retreat hell, were just fighting in the other direction"Miller Trailblazer 302, Extreme 12 VS, Dimension 400, Spectrum 375, HF 251D-1, Milermatic 251 w/ spoolgun  Hypertherm 1000Lincoln sp 1702000 F-450 to haul it
Reply:What kind of gas are you using?I read in a textbook that you need 98% Argon \ 2 % Oxygen to obtain spray transfer.  Is this true?MetalBob
Reply:c25 (at least thats what they told me, thats another story).  I may have been at the globular threshold with the setting I was running.  I havent done much with that flat horizontal stuff lately.  Been working on overhead and verticals.  I found that with 3/16 material, approx: 205wfs and 18.5 volts works wonderfully on square groove passes.  I just leave it there for the fillets.  Its a little slower, but less splatter and looks great.  After the chores get done, maybe Ill run one up.Various GrindersVictor Journeyman torch200cf Acet. 250cf oxygenLincoln 175 plus/alpha2 gunLincoln v205t tigLincoln 350mpEsab 650 plasmaWhen you can get up in the morning, Its a good day.Live each day like its your last.
Reply:BTW, thanks for posting your pics....After more reading, I see you can also use 90% Argon & 10% CO2 or 95% Argon & 5% CO2....Anyway thanks for your posts...MetalBob
Reply:I can't really tell from last two the pics, but is that galvanized you're welding?If so then I'd be mighty careful. Actually I wouldn't weld it at all without a proper respirator.welds look good though --
Reply:Nope, plain old hot rolled bar.  Metal bob, 95% argon 5 % O2 (oxygen)  theres a few combinations that you can use like argon and less than 10% co2, argon and anything less than 5% o2.Various GrindersVictor Journeyman torch200cf Acet. 250cf oxygenLincoln 175 plus/alpha2 gunLincoln v205t tigLincoln 350mpEsab 650 plasmaWhen you can get up in the morning, Its a good day.Live each day like its your last.
Reply:I get about 240 ips for your 20 volts which should be around 150 amps give or take.My lincoln sez on the chart 16 volts 160 ipm, 17 volts 200 ipm, 18.5 v, 240 ipm...... these seem to work well for me, but you always have to fine tune.  you would be surprised what 1/2 volt will do to change your bead.  Going back to the .001" needs one amp, your 1/4" or .250 COULD use 250 amps for ONE pass welding.  .045 wire = 1 amp for 1 ipm.  SO 250 Ipm of .045 wire would be around 250 amps.  OR 250 Ipm * 1.6 = 400 Ipm of .035 wire.  This is freekin hot, but that is what the book sez.   You really have to whip it to use that much heat in those small cupons.  My wirematic chart does not go up to 1/4" acording to the chart.  I would hang around the 18.5v 240 ipm and make 2 passes.   I have some 3/8 fillet that look like a machine did it.  I will post some pics and settings tomorrow.Nice looking weldsDavidLast edited by David R; 03-18-2007 at 07:02 PM.Real world weldin.  When I grow up I want to be a tig weldor.
Reply:Great info DavidR.  I was wondering how to figure my amps from just wire speed.  I know its ballpark, but hey, at least its ball park Various GrindersVictor Journeyman torch200cf Acet. 250cf oxygenLincoln 175 plus/alpha2 gunLincoln v205t tigLincoln 350mpEsab 650 plasmaWhen you can get up in the morning, Its a good day.Live each day like its your last.
Reply:OK, I WAS WRONG! Today my new Invertec 350 showed up.  I was playing all day with it.  I ran .035 wire at 400 ipm at 20.5 to 21 volts and had great reslults getting full penatration on 5/16 plate butt welds with no prep.  C25 gas.  I even managed to stick it to the work bench.  The invertec said I was running in the 190 amp range.  Whattamachine!My Wirematic 250 sez 360 and 20 volts for max output with C25.I also found my notes of the spray welding I did.  98/2 argon/02, 350 ipm, 24 volts.  450 ipm, 26 volts.   The invertec goes to 45!DavidReal world weldin.  When I grow up I want to be a tig weldor.
Reply:Cool!Various GrindersVictor Journeyman torch200cf Acet. 250cf oxygenLincoln 175 plus/alpha2 gunLincoln v205t tigLincoln 350mpEsab 650 plasmaWhen you can get up in the morning, Its a good day.Live each day like its your last.