Dirty MIG Wire

[whatter]

Hi,

I purchased a MM-251 last year and haven't done much with it for the past 6 to 8 months. The reason is I have been taking Tig at the local Junior College. Now my Tig course is over, I have been firing up my MM-251, to begin building a Deer Feeder for next hunting season. I am having trouble with spatter. At school all you did to stop the spatter is turn down the wire speed. This doesn't seem to work in this case. I have been practing on 1/8 and using .035 ER70S wire. The suggested settings are 17 volts and 245 IPM. I have backed off to 16.4 Volts and 200 IPM and still have some spatter. I noticed that there is a light coat of brown on my Drive rolls that will wipe off on my fingers. Here is the question, how clean does the wire have to be? If you wipe it with a white rag and you get a brown line is it too dirty? I stored the wire inside my house, inside a plastic bag when it was not being used. I hate to pitch a whole spool of wire on a hunch.

thanks,
W. Hatter

[moe1942]

Dirty wire

On a previous welder, Century, there was a felt wiper that went on the wire just ahead of the rollers. It is about 2" long by 1" wide and slit half way through. When installed on the wire a "c" clip keeps it in place.

I was so impressed with the Century that I gave it away. Wouldn't take any money for it. I did keep the wiper and now have it on my MM175. That was the best part of the welder LOL..

I think it would be more beneficial if it was saturated with a cleaner. I think I saw some at BRWelder. A chemical cleaner that would remove oxidation would be a definite plus. Here in Louisiana, we need all the help we can get.

If someone has used this setup and found a good cleaner, please let me know.

Hope this idea will help.

moe1942

[paulrbrown]

You may need to increase your voltage to 17.5 or 18, I have found that 17V and 160 IPM will give 100 amps, we used this in school for doing H,V,&OH welds with open groove. Are you using 75 argon 25 CO2?The rule of thumb is divide wire speed by 2 for .030 wire,1.6 for .035 and 1 for .045 to get your amps. The rust will cause problems with feeding being erratic, try spooling off some wire to get to clean stuff, I have found that once the wire starts rusting, it seems to go all the way thru the spool. Hopes this helps, Paul

[ASKANDY]

W,
Dirty wire will definitely be a problem. Even the wipers will not get rid of rust. Also the type of metal you are using could cause some spatter if it has any mill scale on it. Try to grind or sand the base metal before welding.

Good luck

a-

[whatter]

Dirty Mig wire

The coupons I have been practicing on are clean enough to Tig. I have tried adjusting the voltage + or - 1 volt around the recommended 17 volts and the wire speed between 245 and 190. I am running 75% Argon 25% CO2. I have also tried changing the gas flow + or - 5 cfh centered around the recommended 25 cfh. I guess the next thing to do is get another spool of wire. Maybe I'll try using small spools and changing them more often. I don't think we had this problem at school because all the welders ran all the time and spools didn't last that long. Also in Houston the humidity is really high and that can't help but corrode the wire. I post my results when I get a new spool of wire.

Thanks for the help,
W. Hatter

[Danny]

Unless there is an obvious coat of rust on the wire i wouldn t chuck it yet. If it is just dust, you could discard the first few layers of the roll and get into wire that hasn t been exposed. Also, those machine setting seem pretty cold. I d try somewhere in the 17.5 to 18.5 volt range and around the 260 to 280 IPM range on the wirespeed.

[klsm54]

Often, even if it is rust, peeling off a couple layers of wire will get you down to clean and rust free wire. Worth a try anyway.

Here is a link to Weld-Aid products Wire Lube and Cleaner and pads for each. Well worth the money in saved down time. It will contribute to much better liner life and a whole lot less feeding problems. Won't take rust off of wire though, that would be asking a lot of a felt pad.....Weld-Aid

As always, if your local welding distributor doesn't know about Weld-Aid Products, find another distributor.