Excessive Spatter on Stainless?!?!

admin

I'm welding 304 stainless pipe. Machine is a Lincoln 255. Gas is 90/8/2 Argon,Carbon D,o2. Wire is Harris 308. 17 on the heat and 240 on the wire speed and getting spatter..and lots of it. And I don't want it and nor do want to tig weld 20 of these contraptions. Attached Images
Reply:.035 wire size. I knew I would forget something
Reply:They have a spray for that.Or you could just TIG them so they don't look ***-like.Buy American, or don't whine when you end up on the bread line.
Reply:Dont need to TIG them to make it look good.I know personally I run 19.5v 240IPM with a He-Trimix and .035 wire.  I dont know how that transfers to a 90/8/2 mix but I would suggest running around 18.5-19 volts and seeing if that doesn't get better.  If you have an adjustable inducatance you could try turning that up as well.Anti-spatter spray helps as well but only to a certain point.  If its running like crap to begin with, nothing is going to help.Have we all gone mad?
Reply:I may delete my picture. Beautiful welds you got there!! Is that exhaust pipe? If so...that's a rather high setting for thin material....maybe the difference is the gas mixture also?? I normally dont mig stainless, especially in this particular quantity. Regardless though..I'm ashamed of my welds. My machine doesn't over such adjustments. I will however try your suggestion and up my heat. Appreciate your reply
Reply:Dont need to TIG them to make it look good.
Reply:I tried the suggestions you offered snOborder88 and it decreased my spatter, but not enough to my liking. Next job I have of this magnatude I will look into the He-Trimix. I am now tig welding these fixtures. Attached Images
Reply:Yes, the tri-mix will deffinitely help on the splatter. Also, the anti-splatter spray helps some. 75/25 works fine for stainless on root beads for pipe, but on much else its not so great. Tri-mix helps a lot, try it out next time.  When i run .035 stainless mig i run about 17 volts and 230ish on the wire speed. I like to pull the trigger on a piece of scrap and adjust my wirespeed until it runs/sounds good. Snoborder88: that weld looks very good!Last edited by freshintulsa; 12-29-2011 at 09:08 AM.