something floating in mig puddle

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hi guys just got a new to me old xmt304 with 22a feeder I am using super-arc l-56 45 wire c25 gas. the problem is I can see a ball of silicon, moisture ,or something that follows the puddle from start to finish . when I quit it stops at the end and leaves a crater .20cfm on flow gauge.if welding vert down it will follow from top to bottom. did notice that the regulator was frosting up. anyone seen this. thankyou rick
Reply:Hello bigboy, much of what you are seeing can be the result of the type of wire that you are using or some of the content of the steel that you are welding on. Silica is a carbon distribution component of wire and also associated with the even distribution of carbon in the manufacture of steel. Really more of an annoyance than a detractor from welding performance. The "S" numbers on solid wire designations generally list the amount of silica that is manufactured into the wire. Wires with higher S numbers are typically rated for use on steels that are "dirtier", the cleaner steels are often welded with the lower S numbers. The higher silica aides with carrying contaminants from under and in the weld puddle to the surface before bead solidification can occur. Thus allowing for a better mechanical/metallurgical result from the welding. Hope this helps a bit with what you are seeing. As to the crater depressions at the end of your beads, when you come to the point where you are going to terminate the bead, if you are not going to restart and continue, back-up ever so slightly before letting off of the trigger and also experiment with re-triggering quickly again before stopping. This may help with your cratering. Good luck and best regards, AllanLast edited by aevald; 06-09-2014 at 12:51 PM.aevald
Reply:thanks allan
Reply:I get the bubble that follows the puddle too. What aevald said.old Miller spectrum 625 Lincoln SP-135 T, CO2+0.025 wireMiller model 250 and WP-18V torchCraftsman 100amp AC/DC and WP-17V torchCentury 115-004 HF arc stabilizerHome made 4 transformer spot welderHome made alternator welder
Reply:Hello mad welder 4, that "bubble" that you are referring to is often due to welding over heavy rust or other surface contaminants, ie, paint, machining fluids, grease/oils, and any number of other surface elements that haven't been properly cleaned away prior to welding. Anything that is vaporized in the welding arc/puddle and that cannot escape the weld pool before it solidifies can bring about the "bubble", porosity, or other surface discontinuities that are seen on the finished weld bead. Good lead-in for expansion of the topic. Best regards, Allanaevald
Reply:so allan i have ground my steel where it looked clean still get the bubble that follows and where it stops forms a crater. I can weld same piece with my 252 35 wire and is fine but different brand of wire, which leads me to think you are correct in first post. different brand of gun tried different angles to no avail.
Reply:A lot of regulators was frost over when using c02. AND stop working.Haven't seen  a bottle of C25 frost a regulator. Is the bottle real old?And gases separated? The only other thing could be a incorrect mix.Go ask you gas supplier why you regulator is frosting.One more thought, your flow meter may be reading wrong and you are using way more than what is showing.
Reply:Hello again bigboy, if I am understanding this post correctly: when you weld with your new set-up you see the "dancing ruby" in the weld pool as you are welding along and when you quit welding you see the molten bubble where you stop? Yet when you weld on the same piece with your 252 you don't have any adverse issues? If the labels are readable on the spool that is currently on the S22a and your 252 compare them for S numbers, keeping in mind the higher numbers would indicate better cleaning action in the wire with the higher S number.If that is the case, I might ask if you have any idea how old the wire is that is on the S22a feeder with your XMT? Does it show any discoloration or rust on the surface of the wire. Are there any indications of chemical or liquid spills on the spool? Rusted or contaminated wire spools make welding proper beads nearly impossible depending upon the amount of contamination. The contamination and level of it can also make the problems intermittent which adds tenfold to trying to figure out the problems. Before you do anything much more I might suggest a thorough inspection and cleaning of the entire wire track on your new feeder. Start with a known good spool of wire, put it on. Check the infeed wire guide on the feeder to be sure that it isn't gummed up or worn-out(this is between the spool of wire and the drive rolls). Check the drive rolls for size,wear, and proper alignment. If you have the ability, remove the liner from the welding gun on the feeder and thoroughly clean it or replace it. Check the diffuser and nozzle on the welding whip to be sure that all of the O-rings are in good shape and not cut or deteriorated. Also check the o-rings on the power block of the gun(this is the assembly that "plugs" into the feeder and where the gas and current are introduced into the gun assembly). Make sure that all of the connections of the whip are tight and properly seated to avoid leakage of shielding gases. Also be sure that your flow meter/regulator is actually providing the amount of gas that you think it is. If this is off, you may have excessive gas flow and cause turbulence issues with the shielding gas that could affect proper bead shielding. These are just a few more checks that you could perform to try to nail down what is going on. Good luck and best regards, AllanLast edited by aevald; 06-09-2014 at 03:53 PM.aevald
Reply:het allan, you are right switched the wire works now. thank you one more question when I start the weld the wire will pop burn back and then start welding fine . am I holding gun to far away?had a miller 35 welded sweet just can get use to the new 252
Reply:Sounds like the wire speed is to slow or too far away.Since it smooths out after a second I am thinking ESD is too much.If wire speed were too slow I would think it would be more likely to burn back after stabilizing for a second or 2, then burning back again, over and over.
Reply:Others have mentioned the stick-out, etc., that is certainly a concern. Along with that you should consider how you prepare the end of the wire before starting up. "Optimum",not required, set-up before starting up would be to snip the end of the wire on the end at an angle. It is suggested and I have experienced to a degree, better, cleaner starts by prepping the wire this way. In addition to that, carefully inspect the condition of your nozzle, contact tip, and it's orientation to the outside of the nozzle(is it beyond, flush with, or recessed from the outer edge of the nozzle?, if recessed how much?). Depending upon the welding application that a person is working with they will often vary this dimension. The main thing is not to have too excessive of an extension of the contact tip beyond the outer edge of the nozzle nor too much recess. With too much extension you can introduce atmospheric contamination through turbulence, with too much recess you can introduce excessive movement of the wire as it is feeding due to the cast of the wire.The hesitation that you describe could be improper wire preparation(lack of snipping it off and presenting a fresh end to ensure good contact), excessive stick-out(either visual, electrical, or both). If there is a "ball" on the end of the wire when you try to start again this can often prevent a good electrical contact and cause the arc to stutter and push the gun back, physically. The difference between these has to do with where stick-out is measured. Electrical stick-out is the distance from the end of the contact tip to where the wire end is, visual stick-out is the distance from the outer edge of the gas nozzle to where the wire end is. Others have mentioned this. With what you have shared the stick-out should be roughly between 1/2" to 5/8", with no more than an 1/8" of contact tip recess. There is another possibility here, however this is generally not the issue. The feeder has an internal pot that adjusts burn-back, if this is terribly out of whack you could have issues of stopping the weld(releasing the trigger) and having the wire extend out excessively before stopping. This generally always requires the welder to snip their wire prior to continuing to weld after a stop and can be a real pain when you are triggering the weld to fill an end crater or using the trigger to make a vertical weld in the uphill progression by triggering. This can also go the other way and the wire can stop advancing pre-maturely and the arc will cause it to burn-back excessively when the trigger is released. As I said though, this is not generally an issue with feeders unless someone has had them opened up and messed with the internals.The XMT has an inductance/arc force control that might be an issue here. In the MIG mode this adjustment controls inductance, in the STICK mode this is an arc force adjustment. Low inductance generally yields a "stiff" arc with a lot of agitation of the weld puddle often accompanied by higher levels of spatter, higher inductance yields a "softer" arc and normally a bit less agitation and spatter. This adjustment is mainly aimed at "short circuiting" with solid wire. I normally set this adjustment to between 30 and 50 when I am welding GMAW(solid wire). A little bit more for you to consider. Good luck and best regards, AllanLast edited by aevald; 06-10-2014 at 12:46 PM.aevald
Reply:Hello tackit, the logic goes something like this: by cutting on an angle there is a sharp point that makes the initial contact between the wire and the work piece, it requires less energy to make the connection with the point and start the initial current flow. There are a lot of other variables that could come into play as well, surface condition of work piece(is it clean, ground, rusty, covered with thick mill scale, etc.?) all of these to varying degrees will have a much greater effect than the cutting of the wire end. It is also a splitting hairs type of statement, square end, angled end, in the real scheme of things a pretty minuscule detail, mainly cutting off the end of the wire is a good habit to get into whether angled or square. I have also used the method that you described many, many times. Best regards, Allanaevald
Reply:aevald - in your posts you've been referring to "S" numbers.Are you referring to the "S" in 70s-2 or 70s-6?If so, that "S" stands for "solid" as in solid wire, not tubular.If that's not what you are referring to, then kindly disregard 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:Since you are running solid wire, with short circuit transfer on an XM304 (I have only used XM304 for smaw) try increasing inductance.  Inductance becomes more important with the more power you run through solid wire especially in short circuit mode.I have been reading up on adding inductance and it looks like I would be well served by more inductance on my machine, where I usually always run pure CO2 and 0.025 lincoln wire.old Miller spectrum 625 Lincoln SP-135 T, CO2+0.025 wireMiller model 250 and WP-18V torchCraftsman 100amp AC/DC and WP-17V torchCentury 115-004 HF arc stabilizerHome made 4 transformer spot welderHome made alternator welder
Reply:Hello Dave, actually that S in conjunction with the number refers to silica levels in the wire. The higher the S number, the more silica that is present in the wire alloy. If you listen to some of the folks who use the different S number fillers they will most likely say that the S-6 is "runnier"(this allows for better escape of volatilized contaminants in the weld pool without entrapping them) than the S-2, you may also notice that comments about the S-6 include it's ability to weld through "dirtier/rustier" materials with less issues than the S-2 designated wires. For folks who do high-end GTAW work they will generally use the S-2 designated rods in conjunction with fully machined bevels on pipe, for instance, due to lesser levels of silica and a lesser need for puddle cleaning and better out-of-position puddle control. I was hoping to find a good resource to include here to support this information, can't find it right now, I'll keep looking around for it and include it later. Best regards, AllanEdit: Dave you were correct, forgive me, Lincoln does include information that refers to the "S" as indication of a solid wire, the number designation generally included after the S lists the level of additives included in that particular formula of wire. I have an excerpt from Lincoln that I found that describes this very well, I will try to post it on here. Types of Carbon and Low Alloy Steel ElectrodesKeywords:AWS A5.18 AWS A5.28DeoxidizersGMAW solid carbon steel wire electrodes are also known as finewires or microwires because they tend to be smaller in diameterwhen compared to electrodes used in other arc weldingprocesses. GMAW wire is defined as a solid or compositemetal-cored electrode ranging in wire diameter from 0.023” -1/16” (0.6 - 1.6 mm). They are also defined according to theirAWS (American Welding Society) classification, AWS A5.18,Specification for Carbon Steel Filler Metals for Gas Shielded ArcWelding, and AWS A5.28, Specification for Low Alloy Steel FillerMetals for Gas Shielded Arc Welding. The general requirementsapplied to GMAW consumables are:• Chemical composition• Mechanical properties• Solid wire diameters• Packaging requirementsThe first classifications discussed pertain to solid carbon steelelectrode wires with differing deoxidizing alloy levels. Theremaining classifications pertain to composite metal-coredelectrodes classified under the GMAW process. The American Welding Society uses an alphanumerical systemfor GMAW wire classification. For example, a solid wire electrodemay have the AWS classification ER70S-3, sometimes referredto as an S-3 wire. Each letter and number represents a specificdefining characteristic. The "E" stands for electrode, the currentcarrying device. The "R" stands for rod, meaning that theelectrode can also be used as a filler rod for GTAW applications.The number "70" indicates the minimum as-welded tensilestrength measure in thousands of pounds per square inch (ksi).The "S" refers to a solid electrode wire. The "3" refers to thelevel of specific alloy, deoxidizer(s) that makes up the carbonsteel electrodes chemical composition. A deoxidizer is an element in the wire that helps to removeoxygen and nitrogen from the weld, thus reducing the occurrenceof weld metal porosity. Typically for carbon steel, the deoxidizersinclude manganese and silicon. Other deoxidizers, althoughrare, may include aluminum, zirconium, and titanium. Generally,the higher the silicon deoxidizer level the more fluid the moltenpuddle becomes – this enhances toe wetting and finished weldbead appearance. Tables 5 and 6 on page 37 show the AWS chemicalcomposition requirements for solid electrodes per AWS A5.18and A5.28.GMAW Carbon Steel Solid Wire ClassificationsAWS A5.18 GMAW Carbon Steel ElectrodesER70S-2The ER70S-2 carbon steel electrode is a triple deoxidizedproduct. It contains high silicon and manganese levels, but alsocontains deoxidizers such as aluminum, titanium and zirconium.This GMAW electrode is used for both single and multiple passwelding, and historically, for root pass welds on carbon steelpipe. Due to the deoxidizers, the ER70S-2 is indicated for useon steels with moderate levels of mill scale. The use of thiselectrode has decreased in recent years, and it is replaced,typically, by either ER70S-3 or ER70S-6 carbon steel electrode.ER70S-3 (SuperArc® L-50)The ER70S-3 GMAW electrode contains medium levels of siliconand manganese. It is popularly employed in both single andmultiple pass welding applications. It is the most popularGMAW electrode. Lincoln Electric’s premium GMAW wireelectrodes conforming to this classification include SuperArc™L-50, a copper coated wire, and SuperGlide™ S3, anon-copper coated wire. ER70S-4 (SuperArc® L-54)The ER70S-4 GMAW electrode has higher levels of silicon andmanganese than an ER70S-3. Its intended use is for thoseapplications requiring higher deoxidizer levels than an ER70S-3.It is used for both single and multiple pass welding. The ER70S-4classification does not require Charpy impact conformancetesting. Lincoln Electric’s premium GMAW wire electrodeconforming to this classification is SuperArc L-54.ER70S-6 (SuperArc® L-56)The ER70S-6 carbon steel GMAW electrode contains high levelsof silicon and manganese deoxidizers, and is best suited forwelding on base materials with moderate to high levels of millscale. It can be used in both single and multiple pass weldingapplications. Also, due to the higher silicon level, the puddlefluidity increases and results in a flat weld bead with excellentweld toe wetting. Lincoln Electric’s premium GMAW wireelectrodes conforming to this classification include SuperArcL-56, a copper coated wire, and SuperGlide S6, a non-coppercoated wire electrode. ER70S-7The ER70S-7 GMAW electrode has higher levels of manganesethan an ER70S-6 electrode, but it has lower levels of silicon.The silicon levels, however, are higher than an ER70S-3electrode. It can be used with argon/CO2 binary gas mixturesas well. Due to chemical composition, this electrode also hasintermediate hardness levels between an ER70S-3 and anER70S-6 electrode. ER70S-GThe ER70S-G AWS classification for solid wire electrodes havinga "G" indicates it is of a general classification. This classificationdoes not have AWS chemical composition, testing, or mechanicalproperty requirements. This is not to say, however, that theseelectrodes do not meet nor exceed the properties of otherwiseAWS classified electrodes. Weld chemistries or testing resultsfor application of the ER70S-G electrode should be obtained bythe manufacturer prior to use.AWS A5.18 GMAW-C Carbon Steel Composite ElectrodesE70C-6M (Metalshield® MC-6 and Metalshield MC-706)The E70C-6M electrode has high levels of deoxidizers in siliconand manganese and is an excellent choice for welding on basematerials with high levels of mill scale.Last edited by aevald; 06-10-2014 at 02:48 PM.aevald
Reply:Pretty good description post aevald I've noticed that it's common for people to mistake the s for silicon since many abbreviate the wire down to the last few digits - which causes some to forget it stands for solid.I've taken to calling them "dash 2" and "dash 6" when talking about them verbally.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:Dave,thank you for the brain jog, I often read and hopefully retain any number of different bits of information. Too often though, I tend to forget what I read in short order. At some point I probably did see the information about the actual meaning of the "S", obviously I didn't retain it to include it here. Best regards, Allanaevald