I am doing a little welding and have some trouble.
TIG, straight Argon, ER70S-6 rod. I have looked on several sites and ER70S-6 is on the list of rods but usually down the list a ways.
At first I thought it might be the Argon gas. The tank was getting low on pressure so I changed it. Improvement was marginal, at best, but maybe just wishful thinking … or indigestion!
Here is the problem. I can fuse, that is melt the two base metal parts together (4130, 1010, 1020 etc.) not the best but they puddle. As soon as I add rod to get a decent fill lots of weird stuff happens. Lots of spatter/ flying sparks. The puddle looks like it is boiling and when it cools it looks like foamed steel with a nice skin on top and sometimes not even the nice skin. The crater at the end of the weld is either deep, and hard to fill, or it turns into a small volcano in the early stages of eruption. When it does the eruption trick I can grind the skin and it is hollow!
‘Nuff to make an old coot beg for a good Victor torch.
I have lots of time on OXY/ACY, about 55 years. Somewhat less on MIG. Also lots of time on stick welding. Don’t tell me about the new nomenclature with GMAW, ZPXW and all the junk I can’t keep track of. Point is I know what a puddle of steel looks like. While I have not got as much time on a TIG my previous experience with it has not been adequate to prepare me. So ……HELP!!!
I’ve jacked the gas flow all around. Same results. Preheat? Maybe slightly better or wishful thinking. Sharpen the points? All the time! Check for leaks? … Early on in the process, and again today. Dirty gas? Well, all the tanks are from the same supplier and I did change that one. Not a lot of point if they are filled at the same supplier.
Just to get crazy and change the conditions I tried running the Argon on the MIG. I could get a bead but basically the same thing happened, boiling foamy steel. It looked like slag that parts that looked like a bead were foamed steel when it cooled. I would have thought Argon would do a fair job as a shield gas for a MIG. Oh well, silly experiment over!
The only thing I seem to be able to get working is a fusion weld on mild steel and that not very well. How does one test for contaminated Argon?
At the risk of repeating myself, HELP!!!
Cabover
TIG, straight Argon, ER70S-6 rod. I have looked on several sites and ER70S-6 is on the list of rods but usually down the list a ways.
At first I thought it might be the Argon gas. The tank was getting low on pressure so I changed it. Improvement was marginal, at best, but maybe just wishful thinking … or indigestion!
Here is the problem. I can fuse, that is melt the two base metal parts together (4130, 1010, 1020 etc.) not the best but they puddle. As soon as I add rod to get a decent fill lots of weird stuff happens. Lots of spatter/ flying sparks. The puddle looks like it is boiling and when it cools it looks like foamed steel with a nice skin on top and sometimes not even the nice skin. The crater at the end of the weld is either deep, and hard to fill, or it turns into a small volcano in the early stages of eruption. When it does the eruption trick I can grind the skin and it is hollow!
‘Nuff to make an old coot beg for a good Victor torch.
I have lots of time on OXY/ACY, about 55 years. Somewhat less on MIG. Also lots of time on stick welding. Don’t tell me about the new nomenclature with GMAW, ZPXW and all the junk I can’t keep track of. Point is I know what a puddle of steel looks like. While I have not got as much time on a TIG my previous experience with it has not been adequate to prepare me. So ……HELP!!!
I’ve jacked the gas flow all around. Same results. Preheat? Maybe slightly better or wishful thinking. Sharpen the points? All the time! Check for leaks? … Early on in the process, and again today. Dirty gas? Well, all the tanks are from the same supplier and I did change that one. Not a lot of point if they are filled at the same supplier.
Just to get crazy and change the conditions I tried running the Argon on the MIG. I could get a bead but basically the same thing happened, boiling foamy steel. It looked like slag that parts that looked like a bead were foamed steel when it cooled. I would have thought Argon would do a fair job as a shield gas for a MIG. Oh well, silly experiment over!
The only thing I seem to be able to get working is a fusion weld on mild steel and that not very well. How does one test for contaminated Argon?
At the risk of repeating myself, HELP!!!
Cabover
