How do I get rid of " the worm"?

[TraderMark]

Workweek is over for me. I got my hands on a 10lb spool of. 030 L56 wire but I need to pick up some tips/contacts since all I have are. 035 on hand. I'm going to try the new wire, better prep and a lighter shade lens so I can better see the puddle. My eyes aren't what they used to be.

 

[TraderMark]

Workweek is over for me. I got my hands on a 10lb spool of. 030 L56 wire but I need to pick up some tips/contacts since all I have are. 035 on hand. I'm going to try the new wire, better prep and a lighter shade lens so I can better see the puddle. My eyes aren't what they used to be. Of course I'll check all the other things you guys have mentioned regarding gas flow too before I try and swap out a nearly full tank of gas.

 

[Mark @ Everlast]

Nozzle dip or anti spatter will leave porosity if used in excess. Gun angle or a draft will create this as well.

 

[TraderMark]

I haven't had much time to do any welding lately but I did change to the .030 L56 wire, used better prep techniques and got much better results on the few beads I did get to weld.

Many thanks to all who posted.

 

[tinman565]

One point I didnt see anyone mention....pay attention to when the bubble, or porosity happens, and see if you were "pulling" or "pushing" the nozzle at the time (direction you were welding). It may be happening alot more when your going in one direction versus the other.

 

[crazyal]

Thanks again guys.

Sheildarc: I've done exactly what you mentioned about listening for the gas flow. I can definitely hear the "whoosh" when I first pull the trigger but my hearing isn't that great after 25 years of being a heavy equipment mechanic. It's difficult for me to hear much after the initial whoosh. I did seal a one gallon Ziploc bag around the nozzle as best I could and then pulled the trigger. The bag filled, but I have no idea how quickly it should have filled.

The things I've tried that HAVE helped are:
1) welding hotter than recommended. Chart says to weld .125 @ high range #2 with 48 wire speed. I went to high range #3 and 45 wire speed and that helped.
2) running gas reg @ 35 cfh instead of recommended 20 cfh.

The last pic I posted that shows a lot of soot... I can't figure out where the soot came from. I used extra care to remove rust and paint with 4-1/2 grinder and flap disc. The gusset was actually new steel though I've had it for several years. I watched closely as I prepped that piece to make certain that I got even the old mill scale off.

I'm going to.go back to square one and follow all the advice here and see what happens next weekend.

Stay tuned! !!

It looks like all the bases have been touched but when I read soot it sends up red flags to me. Soot is never good to see when mig welding. That's usually a sign that something is burning, like paint or a chemical like grease, and forming a gas that's interfering with the Ar/CO2 mix. How often are you seeing it? It doesn't always mean that it's coming from the metal your welding, it could be contaminated wire or something that contacts the wire like rollers inside the machine or the liner in the stinger, etc. It could even be something on a wire wheel you're using to clean the metal.

When I read "the worm" I thought this was going to be a Tequila thread. :drink:

 

[kentuckydiesel]

A couple of my employees came to me a while back with a similar issue on our Miller Dimension 400/52-D Mig. After trying a few things, we discovered that the threads in the nozzle had been damaged so it wasn't screwing all the way on, causing the nozzle to be too far out in relation to the contact tip (and allowing the CO2 to mix with outside air). We grabbed another nozzle, threw it on, and found that the welds were better...but still not the level of quality that I prefer to see.

Since all the nozzles we had on hand were the same length, I went ahead and cut one down a bit so that the end of the contact tip was just barely in from the end of the nozzle. That did it. No more problems since.

All that said, I only let my guys use the Mig for light gauge parts (12ga and thinner) and filling gaps/holes. Stick just makes a far superior weld on everything else considering it's so easy to choose different electrodes, amperage, and reverse/straight polarity in order to fit the particular job. Not nearly as easy to change gas, wire, and contact tip sizes on a Mig.

-Phillip

You can buy different length nozzles for the industrial size welders like this...would assume you could do the same on your welder, or maybe just modify the nozzle you have. That may take care of the problem.

 

[kentuckydiesel]

A couple of my employees came to me a while back with a similar issue on our Miller Dimension 400/52-D Mig. After trying a few things, we discovered that the threads in the nozzle had been damaged so it wasn't screwing all the way on, causing the nozzle to be too far out in relation to the contact tip (and allowing the CO2 to mix with outside air). We grabbed another nozzle, threw it on, and found that the welds were better...but still not the level of quality that I prefer to see.

Since all the nozzles we had on hand were the same length, I went ahead and cut one down a bit so that the end of the contact tip was just barely in from the end of the nozzle. That did it. No more problems since.

All that said, I only let my guys use the Mig for light gauge parts (12ga and thinner) and filling gaps/holes. Stick just makes a far superior weld on everything else considering it's so easy to choose different electrodes, amperage, and reverse/straight polarity in order to fit the particular job. Not nearly as easy to change gas, wire, and contact tip sizes on a Mig.

You can buy different length nozzles for the industrial size welders like this...would assume you could do the same on your welder, or maybe just modify the nozzle you have. That may take care of the problem.

-Phillip

 

[Jesse masterson]

Don't ever use brake cleaner to clean, when it's heated it turns to phosgene gas, I did it once and didn't know, next day I was coughing blood! It can kill ya.

 

[TraderMark]

I know what you mean Jesse! I used brake kleen to clean some parts in a torpedo heater once. When I fired the heater up I thought I was going to go to the ER before I got my breath back and the burning sensation out of my throat.