Welding Woes, welders please chime in!

Can anyone tell me whats going on with this, It will weld pretty good(right) then like shit(left). Is it me? Am I hitting the duty cycle and causing it go whack? Whatsup with it?

Also I am left with a pretty tall profile, anyway to flatten it out?

Its 10 Guage steel, Hobart ER70S-6 wire, Hobart Handler 140 Welder, Amperage set on 4, Wire speed set at 42ish (Hobart's reccomendations) and running about 15 psi on my regulator with 75/25.

 

i would guess not hot enough

 

The bigger the glob, the better the job.
Both of those are better than my best. I dont weld on my cars.

 

Are you pulling on one, then pushing the other way?

 

I'm no pro but i weld alot at work, looks like wire speed too fast and not enough heat

 

are you just dragging it? or are you going in circular motions?

 

Dirty work? Dirty Cup? Gun angle?

 

Are You welding inside out of the wind, it sure looks like your loosing your gas somehow.

 

It looks like something is going on with the gas. That is your cleaning agent much like a flux. How long do you have to wait before it welds ok again? What is the duty cycle rate?

 

I agree with skyrodder.

 

It's clean, new tip, clean cup, I have changed the angle to no resolve.....

If i slow the wire it tends to get worse

I am welding inside, no wind HOWEVER THAT IS EXACTLY HOW IT ACTS, like I am welding with no gas, but if i stop and hold my gun to my ear i hear the pshhh so the gas is there, unless i need more.......

I am running long beads several feet at a time, it will weld good for 6 inches, then like crap then good then like crap, without changing anything I am doing...........

 

With flux core wire you pull and back away while angling the gun toward the puddle
With gas shield you push forward while angling the gun away from the puddle

It looks like you pushed one way and pulled the other way.

 

Duty Cycle!

 

What brand of wire are you using?

 

i have found with old metal,welding towards the clamp or away from the clamp makes a difference,another thing is check the cable at the clamp,it may be loose,causing higher resistance,screwing with the amperage.keep the ground clamp close to the welding zone.also if polarity is reversible,you might want to check that its correct,or try it the other way and that the cable connections are tight.

i see you are using quality wire,so it shouldnt be an issue.
there are felt wicks and clamps that snap on the wire ahead of the pinch roller,helps keep the liner clean.
it wouldnt hurt to pull wire out and blow through liner also.
i have an issue with welding gas petering out after a few or 6 seconds of welding,i open the gas bottle wide open,this seems to help.

 

After getting out the manual.............

I think I have been overloading it and hitting the "Duty Cycle" , wellds good, hit overload welds like crap (fan runs and cools it off) then welds good again......

So tommorrow I will listen for the fan to kick in and stop, let it shut off and try again........

 

Looks like the wire speed is a little high, or the temp too low.

As far as the slag, I wonder if you have a breeze in your shop, or a fan. It seems like something is blowing away your shielding gas.

Edit...

Whoops, too late!

...That's what I get for HAMBing at work!!!

 

Turn the heat up a little and move a little faster along and you won't be overheating the machine as often. Also turn the gas up a little shoudn't have to hold it up to your ear to hear it.

 

Maybe the mig wire "liner" is worn out of shape. The wire runs through a metal liner that looks sort of like a throttle cable. This is inside the rubber hose. It runs from the machine to the mig gun. Over time the wire wears an oval shape in the liner allowing the wire to bounce around as it travels toward the contact tip. The bouncing around isn't good. To replace the liner is a tedius job and it costs money.

I would first try out different gas pressures. And make sure the mig wire isn't kinking as it travels up the hose. Straighten the mig gun hose straight out and weld with it in various positions. You say sometimes it works then not. See if you can make it malfunction. Also, be sure you have the right size contact tip matched to mig wire size, such as .030. Good Luck

 

Slow the wire and a little more heat.

 

I can't imagine you're exceeding the duty cycle welding 10 gauge. The amperage needed is so low you should be able to weld all day. Besides, every welder I've ever used shuts off if you exceed the duty cycle. The power woud shut off, and the fan would keep running to cool it off. A little spatter around the weld isn't all bad. So long as it's penetrating all the way through, I wouldn't worry about it. A pretty weld isn't always the strongest.

 

That is using the hottest amperage setting on the welder, so I can't go any faster......could possible be that i was kinking the wand as I was working in some awekward places...

 

check the wire wheel see if its sliping i have the same welder and it does the same thing good then bad. mine definetly slips. i shut it off when im not welding and it seems to help.

 

I'd also push the pressure up to 25 psi

 

ACTUALLY..........that might be it i was just looking my welder over and noticed when I switched from .023 to .030 I didn't switch the drive wheel groove to correspond to the wire size. I'll try it tommorrow I hope that was the problem!

 

Bring the gas up to 20-21psi and maybe some nozzle(anti spatter)dip? Just an idea. Something to try anyway. Good luck.

 

With a 140 welder you are fortunate to have gotten 6" welds before it overloads.

 

Like stickwelder said make sure you have the right sized tip for the wire. It makes a diffence. Ask me how I know. And turn the gas up to 25psi. 15 is not enough.

 

I have always run mine at about 22 psi. that is on regulator gauge when trigger is pulled. Ive never had a prob. When outside or any breeze crank it up from there.

 

Slow the wire speed heat up a bit, check the little shielding gas ports for restrictions and clean the gas tip ...make sure you are keeping the tip close to the work.....sometimes folks tend to let the tip back away from the work as they go. Happens to my students all the time....one more thing shielding gas to 30