Flux Core Welds

[fun4now]

sorry i missed the uncut part of the but joint,like Coalsmoke said direct the heat at the uncut part and let the weld pudle wash onto the cut part as it builds up. the solid corner will take the heat no problem and even alow a little extra time to build up the weld to close the gap if needed.
see pic.

[Coalsmoke]

I'm OK with all of the advice. What about the burn through I was experiencing on some of the "flat" side (not 90 degree) joints. Do you think it was due to the small gap or that I should have directed more heat onto the uncut tube.
Thanks again,
Nick

Yes gaps are not a big deal, how you work with them can be.

[kiwi]

Thanks

Again I can't tell all of you how much I appreciate your help. I feel lucky to have such a great deal of experience to access. You guys make this message board great!
See Ya,
Nick

[fun4now]

ant time you have a gap you are more likely to burn threw try increasing the stick out to help cool the weld.and try not to run too long a bead as the weld will continue to gain heat as your going.

[Sundown]

I'm OK with all of the advice. What about the burn through I was experiencing on some of the "flat" side (not 90 degree) joints. Do you think it was due to the small gap or that I should have directed more heat onto the uncut tube.
Thanks again,
Nick

I don't know much about that Lincoln 100, but I feel sure that switching to .030 wire might help with the burning through some, also if you have random gaps and try to use the same speed and stickout you stand a good chance of burning thru at the gap. About the busy part, I am mostly busy trying to dodge work ...

[kiwi]

I'm OK with all of the advice. What about the burn through I was experiencing on some of the "flat" side (not 90 degree) joints. Do you think it was due to the small gap or that I should have directed more heat onto the uncut tube.
Thanks again,
Nick

[Pile Buck]

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

Ah who’s busy? Not me!

FYI in the future if you ever have to run flux core on anything important, and over 1/2-inch thick material. Forget about NR-211, buy NR-212. Or even better yet the Hobart 21-B. Couple times I’ve taken 1-inch structural bend tests with 21-B and just butchered the test, and still passed. 21-B is almost as forgiving as 7018.

I can’t help you with the settings of those little machines; I’ve yet to figure out what a tap is.

Far as grinding your starts and stops, at your level right now don’t worry too much about that, just for appearance sake if that. Say you start off, and take to long to get going for some reason, and leave a high spot, go ahead grind that down before running back into to it from the other direction. Now later if you get into x-ray work, or DT on pipe, or high-pressure pipe, tanks and so on, yes grind all your starts and stops, but right now not necessary.

[Coalsmoke]

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.

That is good advice. When building tanks or box structural members, the corners are always welded through. You don't want all of the welds to come and meet at the corner.

as for grinding before restarting, don't. Just make sure you cleaned the slag off first. Here's a picture of some 18ga with .030 flux core, outside corner welds to show that it can be done, and that I'm not just an online yabber

[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

[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.

[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.

[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.

[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

[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

[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 .