weld contamination

[df5152]

Anyone have any ideas what caused the weld to be contaminated? the argon works fine on my mig machine with aluminum?

[dyn88]

zinc plated nut? huh.

[Alex]

Have you checked the condition of your wire? How much stickout are you running?

[Bulldog]

Looks like you were welding a galvanized fitting...
Bulldog

[GIJOE]

You say the argon works fine on your mig machine with aluminum. That doesn't look like aluminum. If your trying to weld steel, you need co2 or c25.

[df5152]

some kind of plating like grade 8 hardware... even if i wire wheel it off it still does it. tried all different stick outs and recomendations?

[df5152]

You say the argon works fine on your mig machine with aluminum. That doesn't look like aluminum. If your trying to weld steel, you need co2 or c25.

that was welded with a tig machine...

[HAWK]

It appears to be some sort of galvanized or zinc coated fastener. Burn a 7014 rod on AC or DCSP and don't expend a lot of effort on MIG or TIG.

[paulrbrown]

For galvanized,zinc,cadmium plated surfaces, even wire brushing or grinding has a hard time removing all plating...use a 'muriatic acid' dip or paint on...it will completely remove the plating usually in 15 seconds or so. You will need to rinse in water and give a rinse in baking soda/water, one pound per gallon. I use plastic 5 gal buckets for this, the acid is reusable, the water and baking soda will 'wearout' pretty quick, so make sure they are fresh. This will neutralize any acid left after the water dip, I have left such treated steel out doors for several months with out oxidation. If you don't rinse, rust will be forming as the acid dries. This is also a very effective way to remove rust, the acid is available thru most hardware,home depot type stores, about $3.50 per gallon, it is used to clean concrete and adjust ph in swimming pools, :Caution, it will eat concrete pretty fast, so try to keep it away, if you need to neutralize, use the baking soda....hope this helps, Paul