Topic: What's wrong with this weld?

[kneedownnate]

Not the fact that it's ugly, but there's that one random hole in it.  I changed nothing, did nothing different, just carried on with my bead and saw that when I was done.  I do have some anti-spatter spray, which does work well, but I was just screwing around testing my welder so I didn't use it this time.

I've had issues with my welder not working in my carport, took it to work and it worked fine, brought it home and hooked it up to an outlet off my house and it works.  Now I guess I just need to fork out the cash for a big extension cord and run it off the house   

Edit:  made it a little more obvious what I'm talking about 

[kneedownnate [OP]]

Oh, and I think I need a new hood too.  Mine has a crack all the way up the front, and even with it turned up to 13 I was still seeing stars after I welded 

[Steve_925]

its proble just from a quick contamination. maybe little wind, or somthing was on the base metal and it caused the pudle to bubble

[kneedownnate [OP]]

Forgot to mention it's flux core, so the wind shouldn't have anything to do with it really, plus it wasn't windy tonight.  Both pieces were pretty clean, but I didn't clean either piece before I started so that's a possibility. 

[junya92toy]

Beads are too far apart. Booger at the end possible cold lap



http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f131/jerry92toy/Grooveweld.jpg

[4RunnerChevy]

I think what your talking about, is the hole in the bead, my guess is a stutter in the wire feed.  Since there is some consistancy in the weld, my guess is the flux core arc'd in the tip and stalled.  I have a pointer, use .005 tip larger than the wire size, when using flux core.

Also your welder will act different when you move it from place to place, with different wiring.

Oh yeah! Clean that booger before you weld it.

[kneedownnate [OP]]

Beads are too far apart. Booger at the end possible cold lap



http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f131/jerry92toy/Grooveweld.jpg

You're never gonna see consistency like that from me, I shake like a crack sleeper 

Oh yeah! Clean that booger before you weld it.

If I were welding for a project or something I totally would, just didn't really worry about it since I was trying to isolate an outlet that I coulda actually run the welder off!

[halfxspaid]

What kind of welder is it?

I have a lincoln 100 and I put the gas conversion on it...night and day.  Its worth the money for clean welds.

[kneedownnate [OP]]

   I shoulda mentioned that in the first place!  Hobart handler 135.  I do have the gas kit and at least a half full bottle, but rather than waste the gas and solid core wire trying to figure it out, I bought the spool of flux when I was trying to figure out if it was the welder.  Bummer is, I may have to switch back and forth since I'll be welding outside and it's usually a little windy. 

[halfxspaid]

Nice welder.. Have you ran it with gas?  Once you do that, you dont go back 

What are you working on?

[junya92toy]

If it gets alttle windy just turn the gas up alittle you want to run about 20cfh

[kneedownnate [OP]]

Yup, ran it on gas when I first started trying to figure out if it worked, but didn't want to waste the gas trying to diagnose, plus I wasn't sure if it was an issue with the gas so I bought the flux. 

Bumpers, sliders, pretty much whatever would need to be done to the trucks, maybe some motorbike stuff along the way.

[junya92toy]

I built my truck with a 135 lincoln using 030 solid wire and co2, but of course i tig welded the aluminum rack

[emsvitil]

Gas welding and flux core welding use opposite polarity....

You get crappy welds if it's backwards (found that out after switching to gas from flux, bet it happens the other way around too....)

[Hyena]

it won't do that if the polarity is backwards though, it will weld like complete .  i would try pushing the wire feed up a little bit.

[Trunkz]

probably an inclusion in the weld... piece of slace got cooked under the metal and popped out... or it was windy enough to blow the shielding away from the weld for a second

[kneedownnate [OP]]

piece of slace got cooked under the metal and popped out...

 
That's actually what I was leaning most toward, just wanted to see what the concensus was.  I did switch the wires around when I went from solid to flux core.  I probably won't get a chance do much of anything this weekend, but I may take this to work and hack it into smaller pieces so I can do some more practice welding on it later on.

[94MtnYote]

 if welding w gas outdoors, tarps or whatever material you have can be used to protect the weld pool from drafts and loss of shielding gas.
 of course wire feed is picky when it comes to cleanliness with stick it wouldn't matter as much.

[kneedownnate [OP]]

Good thought.  My landlord replaced the canvas covered carport thing over his tractor but kept the metal framework.  I grabbed some of that the other day and started laying it around the truck to see if it'd work, and I have a 10x20 tarp I picked up to haul a mattress when it was raining, so I could set it up and lay the tarp over it, then I have a few smaller tarps I could use to block off most the sides to keep the wind out.