Splatter and MIG

[xj4life]

I'm a novice welder and I feel like i'm getting more splatter while using MIG than i should be. I clean the metal with a sanding disk to a shiny finish and i'm using an 80/20 gas. Any ideas?

 

[rockwerks]

I'm a novice welder and I feel like i'm getting more splatter while using MIG than i should be. I clean the metal with a sanding disk to a shiny finish and i'm using an 80/20 gas. Any ideas?

you could be running a bit hot.......or letting the pool get too big........kinda hard tosayyy without being there to watch

 

[AJPulley]

I'm a novice welder and I feel like i'm getting more splatter while using MIG than i should be. I clean the metal with a sanding disk to a shiny finish and i'm using an 80/20 gas. Any ideas?

I'm no expert, but I do have arc experiance. I did some flux core welding yesterday for the first time on my MIG with some .30 on 1/8 to 3/16 material. I actually had very little splatter and was real happy with it. When I hookup the C-25 mix, I expect none.

I don't want to ask every question there is, so can you tell us more about the welder, polorization, wire thickness, material thickness, etc? And, are you using enough heat? Hobart has a good web forum to read.

 

[xj4life]

i kind of think its to much heat because i'm also getting a "burned" look around the welds.

its a lincoln 175, 0.35 wire. today i was welding mostly 3/16 to 1/4 with the voltage at 4/5 and wire speed at 4/10.

 

[Weasel]

could be welding to far away and the gas isn't able to shield the weld?

 

[tealcherokee]

wire is probably a little thick for what your welding, what type of joints are you doing, the thicker filler material would be better for filling gaps, but my buddys mig at his shop has .035" wire and most of the stuff we do is around 3/8". i would actually try turning the heat up a hair, or if it will maintain an arc, turn the wire speed down

 

[ChicksDigWagons]

And make sure the polarity is correct for the type of wire you're using. Makes a huge difference. And make sure you're flowing enough gas, too little gas will make for a silly weld.

 

[8Mud]

I'd also guess too hot, you can cotrol heat by the amp setting and also by the wire speed (fine adjustments). Also got to remember that the tip should be as close as possible to 90 deg from the work, so you have a good shield gas bubble. You have to look around the tip, not move the tip so you can see. I'm also partial to the cone tips, for most anything under 3/16" and use them all the way up to 3/8" though they do foul a little quicker.
I have trouble with the inside of the noozle getting coated with splatter or dust on occasion and causing problems. A good silicon tip spray really helps, as does a set of tip cleaning brushes.
I don't feel the need to run long contiious beads, I run a couple of inches take a look and let things cool down a bit and then continue. The heat in the material also messes with your AMP settings and affects the nature of the bead.

 

[xj4life]

thanks a lot guys. i turned down the heat and it helped a lot. also turned up the gas flow rate.

 

[Midnight Krawler]

Process of elimination. Try the following to see what happens.
Step 1. Turn up the wire feed. Leave the voltage alone.
Step 2. Turn down the voltage. Leave wire speed alone.
Step 3. Turn up the gas flow.
C25 gas should flow around 20-30 on a flow meter.
It sounds like not enough gas flow to me. Go to the Miller web site and look at their welding calulators, they have a lot of good info there That might help to balance out your voltage to wire speed.

 

[streetpirate]

imo always have gas at 30, and for gmaw i usually start at 18v and around 280 wire feed. (dont listen to me ive only been welding for 3 months.)