Rock Crawler
Veteran Member
- Joined
- Aug 15, 2017
- Messages
- 2,210
- Location
- Pittsburgh, Pa.
- Tractor
- 2021 Kubota L3560 HSTC, 2011 Craftsman Excellerator GT (680hrs), 2018 Husqvarna TS354XD, 2017 Husqvarna HU800AWD, 2019 Kawasaki Mule Pro DX (Yanmar)
Last night a buddy drops a grapple off that he tore the grapple up-stops off of the frame. So I take the stop brackets and take a 7" grinder and clean the old weld material off as well as the paint. Then I take the grinder and a 4" flapper and clean the mounting point of the grapple frame of old weld and paint. I have my gas on and start welding and all is good for a couple inches and then I see it.... boiling bubbles in the weld as I keep going. So I assume some paint is boiling below, I'll grind out the 5" weld to the base material, then try again. Same **** thing! I placed 8 welds, each one about 5" long. 6 of them were text book beautiful, 2 of them are half full of blow holes. Even after grinding down and trying again, they blew back out in the same areas.
I was down to shiny steel, flapped it all smooth, paint was off about 1/2" from any weld areas. What the heck am I missing? I've had these battles before, and I wonder if it is my lack of formal weld training. One thing that I am thinking is that this is 5/8" steel plate and I push my gas/heat forward with the MIG torch. Is the thicker metal still fluid and I have moved the shield ahead before it cooled causing atmosphere to attack before it goes solid?
I am starting to think that instead of pushing the gas for the mindset of pre-heating by pushing the kernel forward, maybe I am screwed up and I should be dragging the gas over the weld area behind me to keep blowing shield gas over it?
I am running a Thermal Arc (Thermal Dynamics) Fabricator 210 mig with 75/25 shielding gas. Gas tank was just refilled, it still has plenty of pressure.
I forgot to take pictures of the porosity, but I'm sure you've seen it. It looks like fast boiling water that was frozen instantly.... Swiss cheese. I attached a photo of a weld I placed last night that did not screw up. Frustration!
I was down to shiny steel, flapped it all smooth, paint was off about 1/2" from any weld areas. What the heck am I missing? I've had these battles before, and I wonder if it is my lack of formal weld training. One thing that I am thinking is that this is 5/8" steel plate and I push my gas/heat forward with the MIG torch. Is the thicker metal still fluid and I have moved the shield ahead before it cooled causing atmosphere to attack before it goes solid?
I am starting to think that instead of pushing the gas for the mindset of pre-heating by pushing the kernel forward, maybe I am screwed up and I should be dragging the gas over the weld area behind me to keep blowing shield gas over it?
I am running a Thermal Arc (Thermal Dynamics) Fabricator 210 mig with 75/25 shielding gas. Gas tank was just refilled, it still has plenty of pressure.
I forgot to take pictures of the porosity, but I'm sure you've seen it. It looks like fast boiling water that was frozen instantly.... Swiss cheese. I attached a photo of a weld I placed last night that did not screw up. Frustration!