First time to run flux core!

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Like the tittle says I have never ran dual shield before only little .030 solid in the baby HH140. I love learning new things and yesterday I learned about .045 dual shield. Went to help the lead man and he asked if I had ever run big wire, said  no, he asked where's my hood and get it on if I wanted to learn. Here is the wire.Here is the power source, the feeder was a Thermal Arc Hefty 2 with 75/25 shield gas.Here is my chicken poop weld, about 3.5"-4" long. When the boss says clean the paint off and don't touch the flat bar just weld it, that's what you do. I would prefer to clean the rust and mill scale off to but hey they pay me good and its nice to get a break from the normal stuff and do some wellin Here is what the weld was going on. total of 72 welds per big object Conclusion, this stuff is fast and hot and I liked it. The gun was a Profax 400amp 15' one that got heavy, weld height was at my chest. I kept wanting to wrap the gun around my arm like I would with a regular stinger, I wound up pinching the rest of it between my legs to get some of weight off my shoulders.Ranger 250 thick stuffHobart Handler 140 not thick stuffthe pane and oxy setup
Reply:I'd have it set at 25v, 325-350ipm.How thick is the metal?Looks good tho!Just a couple welders, big hammers, grinders, and torches.Work will free you.Men in dirty jeans built this country, while men in clean suits have destroyed it. Trump/Carson 2016-2024
Reply:That wire runs very very well.  Especially with that v350 Lincoln machine!  How did you like running it?
Reply:AKweldshop. Base metal was over .5" (blue thing) and the flat bar was .375" I have no clue on the ipm the was no read out and the voltage was where it was passed to me and told to run with it. I would have liked to tweak on the setting just didn't have time for it.Murphy'sLaw. I really liked it, like the speed of and how easy it ran, it was very forgiving if I lost my trigger squeeze or wiggled you could could barely see it in the weld.Ranger 250 thick stuffHobart Handler 140 not thick stuffthe pane and oxy setup
Reply:That's pretty cool - I don't really have anything that will run that hot for very long - unless I put the "new" Super s-32p on my Airco or the SA-200. Of course, I don't have anything to weld that needs it that hot either unfortunately.Just small welding for small money. Welds look great Dave J.Beware of false knowledge; it is more dangerous than ignorance. ~George Bernard Shaw~ Syncro 350Invertec v250-sThermal Arc 161 and 300MM210DialarcTried being normal once, didn't take....I think it was a Tuesday.
Reply:Nice ...i like dual shield ...Hot thoughBacked my CATMA over your CARMA oops clusmy me  What would SATAN do ?? Miller Trailblazer 302 AirPakMiller Digital Elite  Optrel Welding HatArcair K4000Suitcase 12RC / 12 VSHypertherm PM-45Rage 3 sawRusty old Truck
Reply:I run it at school.  Nice welds and lays down fast.
Reply:Kinetic,Couple of tips / suggestions....Trying to hold that gun up at chest height all day will wear you right out.   Get yourself some thing to stand on (like a milk crate) so that your upper arm hangs more straight down.   I've got a number of different things at work of various heights I use so that I'm usually welding around belt buckle to belly button height.You can always drape the gun lead over your off shoulder to take most of the weight off your gun arm.   Better yet just learn to do it one handed.   It's not as hard as you might think.   Hold the run cable 3 or so foot back in your off hand to take the weight and tuck your gun elbow in close to your side.   Then just relax and make it happen.   Hold the gun with as gentle a grip as possible and don't try and fight to hold it rock steady.   A lot of time you can lightly rest your fore arm or elbow on the piece and slide it along as you progress.   Short welds like you're making probably won't require that though.   You should be able to easily get 6 inches of smooth travel out of your wrist if your fore arm (back by your elbow) is lightly braced against the work.   Another big thing that will really help you is "trigger lock" (or hold).   If you've got that feature learn and get use to using it.   Having to hold that trigger down constantly causes you to have to keep the muscles in your fore arm tense and that just adds to the strain on your arm and causes you to shake more.   That and a days worth of doing that really wears out your arm.   It's that whole work smarter not harder thing.Oh yeah, one more good habit to get into is giving it one final little extra squirt (after waiting 2 or 3 seconds) to make sure you've got good crater fill.   .045 Dual Shield isn't to bad about leaving an under cut crater but the bigger metal cored wires usually leave an unaceptably deep cut crater.   I've been running .052 and 1/16 metal core (FabCo 86R) all week and ever weld stop got at least one (but a lot of times 2 or 3) extra bumps at the end to make sure the crater was filled good and there was no undercut into the horizontal member.Last edited by HT2-4956; 01-30-2015 at 09:16 PM.
Reply:More wire would fill in that undercut. On flat you can go about 30 or more wire over your volts. So 30 volts, 330 wire. You could go on up to 360 without getting too much spatter. On vertical I usually set it 10 to 30 over. If I was doing that vertical I'd put it on 27 or 28 volts and 300 to 310 wire.Of course, there could be some variance depending on the wire brand.Been running Dualshield on pipe for about 15 years now, and ran tons of it. On rollout pipe I run it up to 32 or 33 volts. I learned how when I was in Alaska, they like it up there.
Reply:get a pic or two in before CEP! Last edited by TimmyTIG; 01-30-2015 at 09:29 PM.
Reply:There's a one pass cap weld in this picture some where (Ithink it's the second bead from the right).    I just ran a couple extra beads around this practice piece playing with setting on the machine and the positioner speed.  It's got a hard wire root in it and then one fill, one cap with .045 dual Shield.Now if you really want to get after it and make them look slick then how about some pulsed .045 metal core.
Reply:Thanks fellas for the kind words and the advise on the wire feed speed, voltage and other tricks of the big wire world. This unnamable place that pays mortgage has some decent stuff to weld with, I don't have a big boy feeder so it's really nice to get paid to learn something. Better yet is to have a friend that knows more than me and is willing to share it, I have really picked his brain and asked him to critique some other welding and it has helped me a bunch.That is some slick looking pipe welds, the cored wire runs hot and deposits a lot but what threw me off the most was how flat and slick it all laid down. This coming from pretty much a stick only back ground were if you wiggle or pause when you should be stepping or step when you should be pausing you will have the proverbial unhide able bird poo weld. I would like to attempt to run this wire out of position next go around. This really makes me want to scrounge a up feeder for bigger projects for me, maybe it wouldn't bring smoke out of the lawn mower motored Lincoln lol.Yall feel free to post up your cored wire pics, I am glad there is a place for us weldaholics to talk about this stuff, the wife just looks crazy at me when go to bablin to her about itRanger 250 thick stuffHobart Handler 140 not thick stuffthe pane and oxy setup
Reply:Dual-Shield has a pretty wide range where it will run. There is nothing at all wrong with your welds, especially for the first time using it. I give it a big thumbs up!
Reply:As I understood any Flux Core welding must be done using a full breathing apparatus. As Flux Core is extremely carcinogenic. Not that the welding companies that sell Flux Cored wire would tell you that, lol. Any thoughts?
Reply:Originally Posted by TimmyTIGget a pic or two in before CEP!
Reply:Some more dual shield welding pictures......This is a "Kelly" for a construction hole drilling rig made up of a solid square billet of 4130 and T1 plate.  Some tank supports for the local refinery made out of small I-beam.   Didn't weld the base plates on because they want to save that for a field weld in case adjustments were needed to the heights.   Some vertical and overhead replacing the center support bolsters up under a 300 Ton haul truck bed repair.
Reply:All these AR floor liner plates got squirted in using 1/16 dual shield.  .045 dual shield used to change this bucket over for a quick attach system.   In fact almost all the bucket rebuild / repair pictures I've posted in the past have been done with a combination of .045 and 1/16 dual shield.
Reply:Originally Posted by CEPWOW! Those are some beautiful welds Tim! I've never been around any metal core welding. Welder Dave talks about it sometimes. Those welds look fantastic!
Reply:Originally Posted by HT2-4956CEP,If your machine will run dual shield it will also run the same size metal core wire.
Reply:Originally Posted by CEPYes my welder will run dual shield. I don't think I've run dual shield on the job since the 1970s. But I've played with it here at home.First picture is .045” vertical up hill.Second picture is a flat fillet.
Reply:Originally Posted by HT2-4956CEP, I'll see if I can't contact him and get him to re-instate that offer and transfer it to you.   I'm thinking it might be time we get a "Metal Core" thread going.
Reply:This underground loader came to the shop with a burnt up air cooled Deutsch engine.   Customer wanted to upgrade to a water cooled Mercedes Benz.   I had to cut the frame and add in a section so there'd be room for the bigger engine and the radiator.   IIRC I was using 1/16 dual shield on it.   Sorry I don't have a closer up picture of that vertical up weld because I had it running pretty sweet.   Basically what you see in these pictures is a bunch of mechanics standing around (scratch'n their nuts) trying to figure out how they want me to make the motor mounts.
Reply:It sure is nice to get to see other fields of work and all the dual shield holding things together.Ranger 250 thick stuffHobart Handler 140 not thick stuffthe pane and oxy setup
Reply:Originally Posted by CEPWOW! Those are some beautiful welds Tim!
Reply:Metal cored is a total waste as is tri mixed gas,not needed a way to sell more wire at more money.Dual shield is Esab ,I cannot believe you all run that brand ? ?
Reply:Originally Posted by PavinsteelmanDual shield is Esab ,I cannot believe you all run that brand ? ?
Reply:Metal-core has it's place and is replacing gas shielded flux-core(aka Dual-Shield) in a lot of structural fabrication. It is basically a cross between solid wire MIG and Dual-Shield in that it welds like solid wire but is a tubular wire. Instead of flux inside that turns to slag, it mostly has an iron powder (Metal-Core) type of flux that gives high deposition rates like Dual-Shield with no slag to clean up and less smoke. Saves a lot of time, especially on multi-pass welds.
Reply:Originally Posted by HT2-4956CEP, Back in March of last year when I was first getting into running metal core wire I had some good phone and email communications with a factory rep from a company that makes it.   At one point in there he offered to send me some small sample spools.   I never did avail myself of the offer because the company I was working for at the time just went ahead and bought a spool at the LWS I could run test samples with.    I'll see if I can't contact him and get him to re-instate that offer and transfer it to you.   I'm thinking it might be time we get a "Metal Core" thread going.
Reply:Originally Posted by Welder DaveMetal-core has it's place and is replacing gas shielded flux-core(aka Dual-Shield) in a lot of structural fabrication. It is basically a cross between solid wire MIG and Dual-Shield in that it welds like solid wire but is a tubular wire. Instead of flux inside that turns to slag, it mostly has an iron powder (Metal-Core) type of flux that gives high deposition rates like Dual-Shield with no slag to clean up and less smoke. Saves a lot of time, especially on multi-pass welds.
Reply:Originally Posted by jcwelderLooks like you are having no problems with rust and being out in the elements. I ran a fair bit of .045 dual shield, we called it "flux core" at the yard, and we all really struggled when trying to weld less than clean steel or if out in the wind at all. It is super fast and hot when it is running good but if you had any contamination or shielding gas being blown away you got some really ugly (and hard to grind out!) welds. Nice work!!
Reply:Originally Posted by TimmyTIGNo bueno! Way too hard on the old knees.
Reply:Originally Posted by PavinsteelmanMetal cored is a total waste as is tri mixed gas,not needed a way to sell more wire at more money.
Reply:Never heard of this wire before that HT2-4956 uses, so I had to look it up! If you click on the data sheet, wow this stuff takes some horse power to run!http://www.hobartbrothers.com/produc...R%26reg%3B+86RDon’t pay any attention to meI’m just a hobbyist!CarlDynasty 300V350-Pro w/pulseSG Spool gun1937 IdealArc-300PowerArc 200ST3 SA-200sVantage 400
Reply:Another interesting thing I fabed up using .045 dual shield....This is the final concentrate collection tank for the Golden Sunlight, gold mine in Whitehall, MT.   It's a cyanide gold processing mill that is a fairly toxic and corrosive environment.   The one it replaced probably only survived 2 to 3 years of service before it was corroded beyond use and got buried in a toxic waste dump on site.   As I understood it when it left the shop it was going for sand blasting and a good industrial epoxy coating before getting lined with PVC sheet in hopes that it would last longer than the previous one.   The sludge that's drawn off the bottom of this tank is smelted into Dore bars.
Reply:tagFCAW flux core dual shield"Where's Stick man????????" - 7A749"SHHHHHH!! I sent him over to snag that MIC-4 while tbone wasn't looking!" - duaneb55"I have bought a few of Tbone's things unlike Stick-Man who helps himself" - TozziWelding"Stick-man"
Reply:Originally Posted by CEPNever heard of this wire before that HT2-4956 uses, so I had to look it up! If you click on the data sheet, wow this stuff takes some horse power to run!http://www.hobartbrothers.com/produc...R%26reg%3B+86R
Reply:You know Dave, you smart guys are handy to have around! Don’t pay any attention to meI’m just a hobbyist!CarlDynasty 300V350-Pro w/pulseSG Spool gun1937 IdealArc-300PowerArc 200ST3 SA-200sVantage 400
Reply:Originally Posted by CEPNever heard of this wire before that HT2-4956 uses, so I had to look it up! If you click on the data sheet, wow this stuff takes some horse power to run!http://www.hobartbrothers.com/produc...R%26reg%3B+86R
Reply:Originally Posted by HT2-4956We have to use 3/8 backing bar on our CP joints because it will easily go thru a 1/4" backing bar.
Reply:Fabcor 86 is getting quite popular.
Reply:Originally Posted by TimmyTIGget a pic or two in before CEP! Attachment 988211Attachment 988201Attachment 988221Attachment 988231
Reply:Originally Posted by CEPWOW!It's a shame those 110-volt Mig welder can't run this stuff.
Reply:HT2-4956, Thanks again for the info, I learn something every day on the forum. The prep time and weather definitely limited my use of the FCAW-G I will check with the guys and see exactly what wire we ran but I think it was an ESAB product, an all position wire. Very limited in our options because of process certs. "this is the way we do it."www.facebook.com/gstreetworksLincoln Power Mig 210 Miller Maxstar 150Lincoln Idealarc 250/250 G Street Works LLC
Reply:We ran over 100 tons of Lincoln Outershield 71 M 1/16 on the Trade Center with straight CO 2 and LA-75 5/64 subarc mostly at 900 amps tiny twin. Read Ed Craigs remarks on metal core on Weld Reality.No mixed gas on D1.8/D 1.5 FCM work.
Reply:Originally Posted by HT2-4956I've noticed over the years that a lot of you pipe welders that think every other kind of welding and fabrication is some how beneath them are kind of delicate creatures.
Reply:One of yall correct me if I am thinking wrong here but the wire I put my paws on,  was that stuff run in spray mode? It did not have the typical short circuit transfer sound that my baby HH140 has when squirting thin stuff. I have only read about pray transfer in books and when I was welding it was quitter than normal and had a steady hiss/hum sound. The arc was clearly visible and kinda bell/trumpet shaped the wire was not touching the puddle at all and was well looked like it was spraying into the puddle....Ranger 250 thick stuffHobart Handler 140 not thick stuffthe pane and oxy setup
Reply:Originally Posted by TimmyTIGI've welded floors on modules in Alaska. Just making a comment that floors are hard on the knees. No need to be a dick.
Reply:Originally Posted by KineticWeldingServicOne of yall correct me if I am thinking wrong here but the wire I put my paws on,  was that stuff run in spray mode? It did not have the typical short circuit transfer sound that my baby HH140 has when squirting thin stuff. I have only read about pray transfer in books and when I was welding it was quitter than normal and had a steady hiss/hum sound. The arc was clearly visible and kinda bell/trumpet shaped the wire was not touching the puddle at all and was well looked like it was spraying into the puddle....
Reply:Originally Posted by PavinsteelmanWe ran over 100 tons of Lincoln Outershield 71 M 1/16 on the Trade Center with straight CO 2 and LA-75 5/64 subarc mostly at 900 amps tiny twin. Read Ed Craigs remarks on metal core on Weld Reality.No mixed gas on D1.8/D 1.5 FCM work.