Flux Core Welds

[kiwi]

Hey Guys,
I thought I would be foolish and post a few of the welds that I just did with my small Lincoln MIG using flux core .035 wire. The welds are strong, but I wanted to know if I could improve them. The guys at my LWS said that welds done with my small MIG and flux core won't compare to my MM 210 using gas. Remember I purchased a 210 with a spool gun recently. What I neglected to tell you is that the girls and my wife got it as a Christmas present so the only thing that I have done with it is look at it and wax it (kinda sucks). Anyway let me know what you think. As an aside when you weld with flux core do you have a harder time seeing the weld puddle due to the large amount of smoke produced? I make mistakes when I loose sight of the puddle because of the smoke.
Thanks,
Nick

[fun4now]

your LWS guys have it right the MM210 is going to produce much nicer welds then you can hope for with the flux.
flux inside is a real pain, its smoke gets light up by the arc and it dose make it realy hard to see, try running a fan at th work.
with one exception when i ran out of gas i only use flux outside for just that reason. i always kep some on hand for using when i need to do a lil outside fix up, but inside its strictly C-25 and solid core.
you need to talk to thouse girls about sharing, dont they teach that in kindergarden still. although if they are stingy with sharing you might not want to try out the MM210, that way you wont know what you are missing. well that or be prepaired to get another one.

[harcosparky]

Hey Guys,
What I neglected to tell you is that the girls and my wife got it as a Christmas present so the only thing that I have done with it is look at it and wax it (kinda sucks).

heheheh ... oh my THAT does suck

What ya need to do is make a non-working mock-up - put it in place of the real MM210 and run off and use the real one!


As to the weld puddle and flux core , I found it hard to see and depended a tad on 'knowing' where the joint was. I posted the first two welds I made with flux core on here and they were pretty good I was told. Never mentioned I was partially flying blind.


QUESTION - could ya run a little air in the gas line to help blow away the smoke, or will that adversely affect the weld ????

[Pile Buck]

I’ve run tons of flux core, can’t say I’ve ever run .035 tho. Mostly 5/64th. Try to get in the habit of looking up at the weld, so your head is just below the weld when you can. Or off to one side. Remember flux core was designed to run outside. I’ve run it in a trench welding precast concrete panels outside on docks, and still needed the fan trick to blow the smoke out of the way. Don’t listen to these guys, any little girl can weld with mig , now flux core that’s what high rises, and bridges are built with . For 6-weeks straight, 12-hours a day, 7-days a week I ran 5/64 Hobart 21-B in Alaska, couple days in 90-MPH wind, never had a problem with flux core in the wind, excess amount of water yes, wind nope.

[Sundown]

Yep, a fan works good. I have a small personal battery powered fan with a magnetic base that I use if the wind is not blowing enough.

[kiwi]

Thanks

The fan sounds like a great idea. Sometimes when I am welding with flux core I am "running Blind"!! Do the welds look OK?
Thanks,
Nick

[fun4now]

the fan will not efect the weld at all just get the smoke out of your face. i also took off the tip cone and cut it way back on one for flux core, as it dose not need to keep the gas on the weld it dose not need to be in your way so you can just take it off but then you could get crud into the gas holes so i just cut it back to get it out of the way and still have it there to keep the gas holes coverd as most of the time i use gas i dont want that seldome used flux to plug up the holes. that just leaves the tip way out there all alown where the fan can wisk away the smoke .

[MAC702]

Let them know your warranty is already clicking away and you should make sure the unit works properly before it's officially yours.

[fun4now]

that would be a good excuse to fire it up and make shore its working.
although that may just make the wait till X-MAS that much harder .

[kiwi]

Thanks

I appreciate the advice Pile Buck. I will keep my head to the side or below. As for the warranty thing I already tried that and my wife's response with a grin was "don't Millers have a three year Warranty?" Busted!!

Do my welds look awful??

Thanks,
Nick

[chris2626]

fun4now I agree that flux core sure does create alot of smoke and man it stinks so bad. I can feel the cancer growing inside me lol. I am really regretting it when I have to learn how to weld with it. I'd rather use the solid wire mig welder. Kiwi I personally can't tell how your welds are they look good to me. Everytime I welded with the fluxcore just playing around with it, it looked like sh*t LOL

Chris

[fun4now]

well if the warentee thing didnt work, you could always try "but hunny i had a realy neat project i want to make you for X-MAS" i'm shore we can come up with something for you to make her if it works.

[Pile Buck]

Well Nick you’ve asked a couple times how your welds look, and nobody has answered you. What wire are you using? Far as appearance I don’t think you’ll find a flux core wire that will ever be real appealing to the eye, like a mig weld. Hobart’s 21-B can be made to look very close to a 7018 weld, but will still have that gray tone to it.

Far as your actual welding, how do I say this and still be politically correct? Welp I’ve never been accused of being PC . You need to work on your starts for one thing. Now with flux core I always break / cut the wire off before every starting. Mig not so much! You also need to wrap your corners better, need to make sure the corners are just as full as the rest of the weld (or real close). I personally think you should get in the habit of stopping in the middle of the box tube, as we all know the crater is the weak point of the weld, so why not put it in the middle? Protect it if you will.

[Sundown]

I agree starts and stops are the hardest to get right, but the problems are in the details. Starting and stopping in the middle of a tube face sounds like a good idea, I will have to try it sometime. The middle of your last posted weld looks fine to me, I normally try to use just a very small side-to-side wiggle motion to make sure the toes are wetted good. As Buck stated, forming the start and filling the end crater are very important also, remember at the start/stop to keep your gun at the right angle then as you get to the flat plane swing it around and go. I normally use Hobart fabshield 23 or Lincoln 211-NP wire, I havn't had much luck with any other kind. When you get the MM210 going (right after christmas I guess) try some .035 or .045 (you will need a linner & drive roller for the .045) on it, I think you will like the way it runs.

[kiwi]

Hey Pile Buck and Sundown I appreciate your honesty. I don't care if you are PC as long as I know that your comments are constructive. I am using Innershield NR-211MP .035 wire by Lincoln. You are correct I did not wrap the corners. I actually did them in four separate welds which I gathered is incorrect . I am having some difficulties:
1. Losing sight of the puddle (which you told me how to fix).
2.On the 90 degree I feel that my welds are reasonable but in the flat sides I have burned through even on the lowest tap on my Weld Pac 100. So I did each on separately being ever so careful. There is a slight gap where the cut piece of box tubing meets the other piece of 16 GA box. Does this contribute to the burn through. It only happens on the cut piece and not where it meets the box tubing.
3.If I stop in the middle of the 90 do I have to grind the weld down before starting again or will it be OK to have it appear as two beads?
The guys at my local welding supply made me feel better when I asked about my welds. They laughed took me out back and showed me some of their flux core welding...it made mine look reasonable. I REALLY APPRECIATE ALL OF YOUR HELP! I KNOW YOU GUYS ARE BUSY.
Thanks again,
Nick