Welder questions.

[Chris]

I've never run flux wire with gas. Once you get gas most all your splatter will stop. What tip are you running now? Is it the flux core tip or gas tip?

When I ran flux wire I did .035 and with gas I run .030 wire.

You can also get wire to do stainless steel welding but you are also supposed to get different gas to.

 

[bud16415]

What's all that white stuff on the driveway Bud?

Haha that's just a sprinkle. There is 60 more inches there now than when i took the pic. We didn't get the full 60 here but we got enough even with the snowplow to question the swing out doors.

 

[bud16415]

I've never run flux wire with gas. Once you get gas most all your splatter will stop. What tip are you running now? Is it the flux core tip or gas tip?

When I ran flux wire I did .035 and with gas I run .030 wire.

You can also get wire to do stainless steel welding but you are also supposed to get different gas to.

I haven’t tried it yet myself. Just been to cold and to many Christmas cookies to eat inside. I have the flux core in there now so I will give it a try and then switch back to solid. The cheap used welder seems to have the gas flow messed up. When I hooked it up I read tank pressure ok but the regulator side wants to stay about max. I took it apart and there was some crud under the bonnet I cleaned it out but I think the diaphragm is bad. It looks like a part you should be able to replace but I’m reading on the welding forums no one fixes them any more. Its reading high so I guess that wouldn’t hurt but I will use up my gas quicker. It reads out in cubic feet per hour so that’s a pretty small flow rate. I have seen people on line also using a restriction flow valve or a fitting with a needle valve to slow the flow way back. Not sure what that’s all about. If I have to buy a new gage setup I will.

For now I’m sticking to mild steel only maybe if I get halfway proficient and buy a new better machine I might look for a spool gun for aluminum setup also.

Right now I have solid and flux core all .035 and only .035 tips. As for gas I see there are two types one is tapered on the end the other straight. All the gas nozzles I have are the tapered ones and the one that came with it is all curded with spatter from flux core. I assume the straight one is for flux as it doesn’t do anything except protect the tip.

How about the tip dip jelly stuff in a can? Do you use that?

 

[Gary]

How about the tip dip jelly stuff in a can? Do you use that?

I use a TIG welder almost all the time now, but I used jell all the time when welding with a MIG. I used to be certified with a MIG back in the day, doing assembly line welding and every welder had a tub of jell handy. When the slag builds up, a light tap breaks it loose if you dip the nozzle once in awhile.

 

[Chris]

I haven’t tried it yet myself. Just been to cold and to many Christmas cookies to eat inside. I have the flux core in there now so I will give it a try and then switch back to solid. The cheap used welder seems to have the gas flow messed up. When I hooked it up I read tank pressure ok but the regulator side wants to stay about max. I took it apart and there was some crud under the bonnet I cleaned it out but I think the diaphragm is bad. It looks like a part you should be able to replace but I’m reading on the welding forums no one fixes them any more. Its reading high so I guess that wouldn’t hurt but I will use up my gas quicker. It reads out in cubic feet per hour so that’s a pretty small flow rate. I have seen people on line also using a restriction flow valve or a fitting with a needle valve to slow the flow way back. Not sure what that’s all about. If I have to buy a new gage setup I will.

For now I’m sticking to mild steel only maybe if I get halfway proficient and buy a new better machine I might look for a spool gun for aluminum setup also.

Right now I have solid and flux core all .035 and only .035 tips. As for gas I see there are two types one is tapered on the end the other straight. All the gas nozzles I have are the tapered ones and the one that came with it is all curded with spatter from flux core. I assume the straight one is for flux as it doesn’t do anything except protect the tip.

How about the tip dip jelly stuff in a can? Do you use that?

As for the regulator, they can be pretty chesp, I bought a Hobart one at tractor supply on clearance for 15 bucks, much cheaper than fixing. I've never tried too much gas so I don't know how it would Do?

As for the tips, a flux core tip is usually a black plastic looking cone that comes down to the copper .035 tip. And the gas tip will be copper with a gap around the .035 tip for the gas to flow.

I wouldn't bother with a spool gun for aluminum, I have never heard any good reviews and you can run that wire through your mig if your line is clean and in good shape, my buddy just has a second gun and hose that he only uses for aluminum.

Everything with just take practice until you get it right. Winter is my favorite for welding because I don't mind being covered up and making heat.

 

[bud16415]

Here is the weld cart I rigged up. It was one of those Harbor Freight $35 wagons they always have on sale with 20% off. I made a box out of some 3x4’s that fit inside the top and painted red. I screwed them to the wagon and then screwed the welder to them to bring it up high enough to allow the door to open. That then left 4 pockets to keep tools and tips and rolls of weld wire in. the bottom two shelves are nice for C clamps and other tools.

I found an old table top from a table saw about 2’x2’ and rigged a place to attach my ground strap. I think I can toss that on my table for doing small stuff where I need a table ground.

As to the regulator the ones like the one I have seem to run around 90 bucks and I thought seeing as I was holding and working at 30 CF/H and just wouldn’t adjust lower I would try a little inline flow control to cut the flow back. So I cut the line and installed it and it worked pretty well just adjusting the flow by ear. Then I shut it off and turned it on a couple times and dang if the regulator didn’t start working perfect. It sat so long maybe it was just stuck. So I left my makeshift one in there and wide open and have been using the main one. If it stops working again I could always use the other one.

Gas is defiantly the way to go. First day it gets above 30f I want to work on my skill level.

 

[oldognewtrick]

Your workshop looks way to clean...just say in...

 

[bud16415]

Your workshop looks way to clean...just say in...

Lol I should have taken before and after pics. It was a real mess and she went to work today and I fired up the heat and started putting stuff away. I bought a mini table top band saw on CL yesterday for cheap and I wanted to start playing around with it also. So it was some motivation to clean it up. I figured as it was the first time it was picked up in the last 3 years I better take some pics.

One thing I’m finding is when you have a small 12x14 work shop you have to keep it picked up or you end up killing yourself.

 

[bud16415]

Ok yesterday it got above freezing and I had a few hours to go back to Bud’s DIY weld school 101. I had the flux wire in and tried flux with gas with both negative and positive ground and it welded about the same as without gas on the proper polarity and made a really tall weld on the wrong polarity. IMO no advantage using gas with fluxcore wire. I switched over to solid wire with gas and the proper polarity.

I can see the biggest trick is getting wire feed and power dialed in for the material being welded. With time I’m sure I will be able to hit it pretty close on the first try but now I’m still taking a couple passes and tweaking till I get that bacon sizzle right. No question gas is the way to go for all but welding in a wind and then I might wait for a calm day or block the wind.

I didn’t seem like I welded all that much but I can see a little drop in the tank pressure. Trying to get a feel for how much gas I will go thru. I’m hoping it is starting off with a full bottle you get a little drop right off and then it will slow the rate. Trying to get my pressure low but not too low.

Here is what my welds are looking like with the $50 welder no official training and less than an hour practice.

Having lots of fun in the process.

 

[Chris]

Not bad, try a pinch more heat. My 4 foot tall tank will last me months or more.

 

[bud16415]

Thanks guys. I have 4 power settings is all high, low and 1, 2 this thin metal I have been using for practice is about .06 and I’m running it on low/2 and wire speed on 5 from 1-10.

I can defiantly tell when it is welding correctly as it becomes real easy and sounds correct. I find the distance from the tip to the part plays a big role also. Keeping it pretty close is key. Almost too close to see good around the tip. When I start seeing the end of the wire look like a ball I know I’m drifting to far away. When you get it all correct it feels like the wire is spraying on rather than melting. Looking at the back side and the heat affected area kind of also tells me if I’m hot enough. I have tested a few and they are good and strong with the hammer test. I just came in tried a few vertical up passes. That went pretty good. Not ready to try overhead quite yet.

With the cold weather I noticed I get some good condensation inside the hood. Another thing I never thought about.

Giving me a lot of respect for the welders I worked with over the years that make it look pretty simple.

 

[oldognewtrick]

All it takes is time in the saddle cowboy....

 

[bud16415]

During the winter back in post 19 I made a zero dollar quickie weld table as I saw my wood table wanting to burn. It worked ok on the saw horses and the .06 top seemed to be good enough for splatter. I have a 24x24 old table saw top I use on top of it for my flat work surface also zero cost.


Well yesterday my charm glow grill bought the farm and the outside still looks like new but the inside went back to nature. For a short time I thought about welding up a whole new inside and then replacing all the burners etc as it was all toast. Then I got the idea of buying a new cheap grill and putting the works inside the old one. For some reason a long time ago I thought I needed the ability to cook 40 burgers at a time. In grill shopping I found a nice little $99 grill that can do a dozen burgers and bought it.


So now to scrap the old grill. I figured I would take it apart and use the steel for projects. So I stared taking it apart and my cheep side light came on. The base with wheels being like new and the table top needing a better place to sit than the saw horses I married the two.


Still at zero cost here is the end result. It is actually pretty sturdy and once I get it where I want it in the shop I will put a layer or two of concrete pavers I have inside the base for weight and to cover the hole where the tank was. Storage below and a roll out table, and weatherproof if I leave it out.

 

[oldognewtrick]

Nice job Bud!

 

[pjones]

I want to add one more safety tip even though this post is pretty old now. Safety never hurts to heat.

Keep the cigarette lighter out of your pocket and away from your work. It takes only one spark to melt through one of those cheep things before the explosion hits.

 

[albert]

And cotton coveralls.