teaching myself to glue metal together

[GeneV]

When it comes to spatter, think about it like you are dumping a 5 gallon bucket of water on a flat rock.

If you pour too fast, the water splatters everywhere right, but if you slow it down some, it does not splatter as much. So it is the same thing with wire feed welding. You slow the wire speed down so that "too much water"...that is, too much wire...does not make the weld splatter everywhere.

Of course you cannot slow it down too much, because then you are "spraying" the steel on, and not getting any penetration needed. What you want is something called "globular transfer" and when you get your voltage and your amperage set just right, you will know it. It will look like droplets in very fast succession are being dropped off the wire as it is burning up in your puddle.

Pay attention to SOUND: I weld as much with my ears as I do my eyes. I can just hear a good weld going in.

But I suspect what really might be happening is, the original poster is DRAGGING their gun.

Stick rod is called "drag rod" for a reason, but everything else gets PUSHED! If you drag your wire feeder, you get a lot of splatter. Hard wire, flux core,...you want to PUSH it.

This one change will really change the look of your welds (and increase penetration).

That's a great analogy with the water droplets, thanks! I could definitely retain that.

From what I understand of fcaw, like stick, if your pool is in front of the wire, you're introducing slag into the weld, no? Or do you mean push the torch, but angle it forward, so that you're dragging the bead behind it?

 

[BrokenTrack]

I do not know any welder that drags flux-core, or any wire-feed.

You push anything but stick rod.

You cannot do curly-cues because that will introduce slag into your weld, and you cannot have that. Neither can you go down hill with flux-core or you will introduce slag, but you can push it. Like GeneV mentions, you angle your gun forward by 15 degrees and push. The weld puddle forms, and the slag forms on the end of the weld.

I wish I had a wire-feeder at home so that I could show you, then you would see how much better it is.

But there is no slag inclusion, there is no way any of us would have passed x-ray had there been.

"If it has slag, you drag", is indeed a catchy slogan, but it is flat out wrong.

 

[GeneV]

I do not know any welder that drags flux-core, or any wire-feed.

You push anything but stick rod.

You cannot do curly-cues because that will introduce slag into your weld, and you cannot have that. Neither can you go down hill with flux-core or you will introduce slag, but you can push it. Like GeneV mentions, you angle your gun forward by 15 degrees and push. The weld puddle forms, and the slag forms on the end of the weld.

I wish I had a wire-feeder at home so that I could show you, then you would see how much better it is.

But there is no slag inclusion, there is no way any of us would have passed x-ray had there been.

"If it has slag, you drag", is indeed a catchy slogan, but it is flat out wrong.

Ahh, just semantics then, I think everybody is on the same page here. Although you're pushing forward with the torch as you say, it's angled so that the wire is trailing behind the torch, forming the molten pool, with the slag trailing behind it. That's what you're saying, right?

 

[yomax4]

Technically you could do Curlicues if you have a mind to. Certainly not what you want to do. I've sold cored wire as large as 3/32 for fabrication of Excavators, Tractors, Train Engines and at Bob Cat. Everyone drags the cored wire. Lincoln specifically states this. While it seems wrong, that's how it's formulated. Part of it is to force some of the puddle under the already cooling flux. Vertical up really is pushing the flux core wire though. While it's more of a 90 degree weld you do pretty much push it as you go up. So can you push cored wire? Sure. Does Lincoln, Hobart and ESAB want you to? No. Can you drag solid wire, Sure. Does Lincoln, Hobart and ESAB want you to? No. The nice thing about having your own stuff is being able to do it how ever you want to. But if the boss at Vermeer saw you pushing the 71T-1 Dual Shield you would likely be reassigned to fork lift. Select Arc has a good Youtube vid that tests push vs pull.

 

[GeneV]

I was watching a weld.com youtube vid, they were testing push vs drag for mig welding, using a robot welder to rule out any human error. To me, it looked like both were pushing. But then I noted that's just the camera angle, the second pass had the torch angled forward, so it was actually a dragging movement.

 

[sd455dan]

I do not know any welder that drags flux-core, or any wire-feed.

You push anything but stick rod.

You cannot do curly-cues because that will introduce slag into your weld, and you cannot have that. Neither can you go down hill with flux-core or you will introduce slag, but you can push it. Like GeneV mentions, you angle your gun forward by 15 degrees and push. The weld puddle forms, and the slag forms on the end of the weld.

I wish I had a wire-feeder at home so that I could show you, then you would see how much better it is.

But there is no slag inclusion, there is no way any of us would have passed x-ray had there been.

"If it has slag, you drag", is indeed a catchy slogan, but it is flat out wrong.

Yomax beat me to it,



this From Lincoln's Innershield PDF


Travel angle is the angle between the electrode and a line
perpendicular to the surface of work piece, as measured from the
weld side view.

Depending on the welding process, use either a
“drag” travel angle or a “push” travel angle.

The general rule is “drag
slag and push gas”.

Therefore, always use a drag travel angle of
typically 20º to 30º with flux cored electrodes.

Do not use a push
travel angle, as this greatly increases the chance of rolling slag
ahead of the puddle and trapping it underneath. Pushing can also
cause the arc to ride on top of puddle instead of in front of it,
resulting in less penetration.

page 41

https://www.lincolnelectric.com/ass...lded-Innershield-InnershieldNR-207/c32400.pdf

each their own - and whatever works for each person, but this is what Lincoln puts in their pdf