Hardfacing?

[batwing]

Well once again my son has thrown a loop on me and gotme all confused again. Anybody know anything about hardfacing with the mig process? Sure sounds a lot faster than sticking it and probably a lot less hassle. Obviously I dont keep up with any technology or I would know this and my 10 year old son wouldnt keep making me look like an idiot in front of my buddies LOL. Any help would be greatly appreciated

[Paul Seaman]

I've read about it but never done any. Airgas does sell the materials but may have to order it. Yes it will be faster and easier but as I remember the materials are a bit more expensive than the stick electrode, but it can be made up by the time saving. Balancing cost of materials vs. cost of labor is a trick sometimes.

Good luck,

[batwing]

Yah pj,
doing just a bit of research now I have discoverd yet another unfound world for me and I even found a cool website with a little more info on what I was looking for. The wire is a bit more spendy and everything I have found that will do what I want to do( track rebuild on a d11 cat) looks like a cobalt based flux cored wire. Hmmmmmm who would have thunk it? Any application tips or techniques from some of you pro's out there would be gladly welcomed LOL

[Paul Seaman]

Double check if you get into this material but I think you have to switch the polarity on your mig machine to run flux cored material. Not 100% certain but it rings a bell, not sure why!
Good luck,

[J hall]

Batwing,
Are you going to build up the grousers, or just apply hardfacing?
jh

[92 mustang]

I am in an apprentice program working for a road construction company and I worked with the welders for about a month. I got to do some hardsurfacing on an excavator bucket with a mig and it is a fluxcore wire so no shielding gas is required. Also we remove the nozzle on the gun so you dont have to worry about cleaning the tip out. Just so you know the welders say that you cannot weld overtop of hardsurface. I hope this will help you out
.

[ATCOEnt]

FCAW Hardfacing

Batwing,

Typically, if the track grousers are significantly worn they are rebuilt by welding on new grousers—rebuild “kits”. Hardfacing is usually applied after the grousers are rebuilt to increase their life.

The polarity needed for hardfacing flux core wire depends on the type of wire you are using. http://www.thermadyne.com/stdy/liter...c.asp?div=stdy
Use what ever the manufacture recommends.

FCAW uses both direct current, electrode negative (DCEN), or direct current electrode positive (DCEP). GMAW (mig) uses direct current, electrode positive (DCEP). DCEP is best for penetration. You do not want penetration when hardfacing because the more penetration the more the base material and hardfacing material mix thereby diluting the hardfacing material making it less effective.

Most hardfacing material is limited to two (2) layers. The second layer provides the best wear surface as it is the least diluted (with base metal). Because hardfacing material is typically very hard (for abrasion resistance) it has no structural strength—it is too brittle. When you apply more than two layers of hardfacing the chance of it breaking off increases dramatically. Hardfacing material is expensive—you don’t want it to fall off.

There are a lot of different hardfacing manufactures out there. Stoody and Postle are two of the better known companies. I use both.

Larry

[J hall]

Polarity will depend on the wire you are using, Lincore33 and lincore60-0, both want dcep, while most flux core fab wires want dcen

[MACH4]

Well once again my son has thrown a loop on me and gotme all confused again. Anybody know anything about hardfacing with the mig process? Sure sounds a lot faster than sticking it and probably a lot less hassle. Obviously I dont keep up with any technology or I would know this and my 10 year old son wouldnt keep making me look like an idiot in front of my buddies LOL. Any help would be greatly appreciated

batwing,
I do hardfacing on plow sweeps for the local farmers and in the past used an ESAB 12 IP stick electrode and had good success. The problem I ran into was the wasted time I spent changing rods. Switched this year to a dual shield wire ,Lincore 60, and loved it. No waste and much cleaner. Although this wire was more costly per pound than the rod I made up for it in time saved and no wasted rod stubs.
Mike
MACH4

[Bulldog]

Hi Batwing,
I don't know how but I missed this whole thread. I hard face Concrete Block Molds and in plant 80cu.ft. mixers that are lined with maginees(?) I use a duel shield wire made by Custolin Eutectic #DO33 .045. The stuff runs good and it's hard with only one pass.(66HCR) I have put two passes but it isn't considered a build up wire. It's designed to be highly abrasive, resistant and can handle some pretty good impacts. The down side is that it's smokey and it's big money.
Good Luck,
Bulldog

[batwing]

Batwing,
Are you going to build up the grousers, or just apply hardfacing?
jh

Hey jh,
well originally I had planned to just hard face them. After seeing the grousers it needed to be rebuilt. The gentlemen priced a new set of tracks and now he wants to build them up. I did however get in touch with the local cat dealer and ordered a complete set of grouser rods and just have to weld them on and awayhe goes. The cat dealer said low hy was more than acceptable for this and I said I would rather mig it and he said perfect even better. I shouldnt have to go to a hard facing wire for this should I? Any input guys?

Good penetration and wire speed to you
Batty

[Stick rod]

Batwing,
You may want to try contacting 4N Corp.They make and distibute grouser bar material.(4ncorp.com).If I`m not mistaken they supply Cat with there grouser bar kits. Just another place to check.I`ve seen welders use L-H and gas sheilded flux-core wire such as Lincoln Elite. Good luck and let us know what method you use and how it turns out.

[J hall]

We used to use NR-232 for welding build up bars.
jh