Nismo280zEd Posted December 20, 2008 Share Posted December 20, 2008 Ok, so I'm by no means an expert at welding but I would say i'm seasoned. I've welded up a couple exhausts I made, sheet metal patches on the Z, bird feeder, random things, etc. So I've welded different gauge metal and thickness and shapes. I started welding up my girls 3" exhaust the other night. Ran out of wire. Went down to lowes, tired of running out of wire I picked up a 10lb roll of Innershield NR-211-MP http://www.mylincolnelectric.com/Catalog/consumabledatasheet.aspx?P=5853 Then I got home an realized I didn't have the right size tip. Back to lowes to get a .9 or .030 tip for the wire. Ok... got it mounted up in the gun right tip feeding... ready to rock and roll. I try tacking not really working so great, metal is getting hot but really shitty penetration. Recomended settings are on "B" with 2 wire speed for the metal i'm working on... I'm having to go to "C" with wire speed 3 and still getting poor penetration. I'm welding.. I can see the bead.. I'm pulling it along... looking good then I stop open my helmet... and I have pigeon poo everywhere, it's like the metal has wax and the weld is water just beading up on top not going in. So i slow down and hold it there... metal gets red hot molten still poor penetration. I've never had this problem before. Not my first time welding pipe (I actually love welding pipe) I'm capable of welding some really nice beads. Using this new wire has made me feel like a complete newb and not exactly impressing my girl either on her new exhaust (Christmas present for her 350z) After 2 days I eventually got this done, extremley frustrated, pissed off and wanting to redo the entire exhaust because of how poor it looks. So I'm reading up on all the welding tips, then it dawns on me, The inner shield is DC- I didn't switch the leads from previous wire I was using (non flux core) So is this the problem? If so... did I just destroy my welding machine? Also... when I weld pipe... I take the pipe and hit it with my grinder or bench grinder to get some clean metal. This has always been sufficient in the past, just making sure I'm not cleaning the metal wrong. I was told when welding aluminized pipe you have to grind off the coating first to get good welds. Please help! As it is now I have hours and hours of grinding to do and probably rewelding if I did have the polarity wrong! -Ed Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eva Posted December 20, 2008 Share Posted December 20, 2008 You might have grab the wrong type of wire. You're probably using fluxless wire, and without the Argon/Co2 gas shield, it cause poor penatration. Go back and try to find some fluxcore wire or get a tank of Argon/Co2 gas. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nismo280zEd Posted December 20, 2008 Author Share Posted December 20, 2008 You might have grab the wrong type of wire. You're probably using fluxless wire, and without the Argon/Co2 gas shield, it cause poor penatration. Go back and try to find some fluxcore wire or get a tank of Argon/Co2 gas. The innershield is a flux core no shielding gas required wire. It says good for multi use from 20 gauge up to 5/16" so it should be great for what I'm doing. I would love to have an argon bottle but the local welding shop wants 189 for the bottle. I'm trying to find some used bottles in the area with not much luck. -Ed Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
280ztracked Posted December 20, 2008 Share Posted December 20, 2008 Ok what size welder do you have? If it is a small Linclon 135 or something similar thye really do not like the 10lb spools. The splatter may be coming from the the lack of wire feeding to the weld. I use the 5Lb wire with my small machines because it feeds and doesn't drag. Also are you using Argon/CO2 sheilding gas? The wire size and type should weld very well with the sheilding gas, if no gas your not going to get a smooth bead. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grumpyvette Posted December 20, 2008 Share Posted December 20, 2008 heres some decent sources of welding info http://www.hobartwelders.com/weldtalk/ http://www.millerwelds.com/resources/communities/mboard/forumdisplay.php?f=4 http://metals.about.com/gi/dynamic/offsite.htm?site=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.aws.org%2Fcgi-bin%2Fmwf%2Fforum_show.pl%3FmarkRead%3D1 DO YOURSELF and your projects a HUGE FAVOR, anytime you run into a problem while welding , STOP, ASK QUESTIONS, CORRECT THE PROBLEM, before PROCEEDING and yes changing the polarity , the wire type or dia., the shield gas,the pressure, the weld rods, ETC,ETC. from what you know currently works,WILL almost always require other matched changes or youll have problems Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
280ztracked Posted December 20, 2008 Share Posted December 20, 2008 Rent a bottle if you have too instead of buying one. Once you use gas you'll never go back. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
proxlamus© Posted December 20, 2008 Share Posted December 20, 2008 I'm sorry to hear about your problems.. I am using an innershield flux core wire on my lincoln welder... you have to switch the polarity on the power cables. I made to same mistake when I first bought my welder and didn't pay any attention. NO you didn't damage the welder. flip the connections around and you should be fine. Flux core wire is perfectly fine for any welding.. obviously thicker metals require gas but you can still get great penetration with flux core. I think its a complete waste of money to buy or rent a bottle and fill it up with gas to weld up an exhaust. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nismo280zEd Posted December 20, 2008 Author Share Posted December 20, 2008 I'm sorry to hear about your problems.. I am using an innershield flux core wire on my lincoln welder... you have to switch the polarity on the power cables. I made to same mistake when I first bought my welder and didn't pay any attention. NO you didn't damage the welder. flip the connections around and you should be fine. Flux core wire is perfectly fine for any welding.. obviously thicker metals require gas but you can still get great penetration with flux core. I think its a complete waste of money to buy or rent a bottle and fill it up with gas to weld up an exhaust. Yeah I feel like an idiot... I was in such a hurry to get it done that I did not switch the polarity. I went over and checked it this morning... I have the motor line on the positive and working line on the neg... got em backwards. This should solve all problems, going to do some test welds Sunday to make sure the machine is ok. BTW... it's a lincoln 135T most amperage I could get for regular house hold voltage. Grumpyvette... I found those links in the sticky before posting. The miller videos were extremley helpful, thats what got me thinking about the polarity. Thanks again! Post some pics when I get it done right lol. -Ed EDIT.. On a side note, we ordered some Durafix welding rods today also to try out. I'll let you guys know how they work! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gregkring Posted December 21, 2008 Share Posted December 21, 2008 So, you previously was using non flux core wire with no shielding gas? That will create some poor welds as well. It would be a waste to setup gas shielding on top of using flux core wire. Flux core is best for welding outside in windy conditions, or quick and easy welds were the best looking welds are not necessary. If you start and stop alot with flux core you will have to spend time cleaning the slag back before you start the bead again. It took me awhile to adjust to gas shielded welding after using the flux core stuff, but I would not go back. Much easier to weld thin sheetmetal with regular wire and gas shielding. To answer your questions: You did not damage your machine. You should always sand or gind to fresh metal before welding for the best welds. However on nonstructural type welding, such as exhaust I would not worry about it too much. On roll cages, suspension pieces, etc you need the best welds possible. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nismo280zEd Posted December 22, 2008 Author Share Posted December 22, 2008 So, you previously was using non flux core wire with no shielding gas? That will create some poor welds as well. It would be a waste to setup gas shielding on top of using flux core wire. Flux core is best for welding outside in windy conditions, or quick and easy welds were the best looking welds are not necessary. If you start and stop alot with flux core you will have to spend time cleaning the slag back before you start the bead again. It took me awhile to adjust to gas shielded welding after using the flux core stuff, but I would not go back. Much easier to weld thin sheetmetal with regular wire and gas shielding. To answer your questions: You did not damage your machine. You should always sand or gind to fresh metal before welding for the best welds. However on nonstructural type welding, such as exhaust I would not worry about it too much. On roll cages, suspension pieces, etc you need the best welds possible. Yeah... evidently I was lol. Llike I said... i'm no welding expert lol. No Harm no Foul. I want the shielding gas for when I do the frame rails and rear end swap, but I'm not sure if that is going to happen on my budget currently. I may just use the flux core and spend a little more time cleaning up the welds. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zmech Posted December 25, 2008 Share Posted December 25, 2008 Shield gas is the way to go unless you are outside in the wind. Otherwise the gas and solid wire are the way to go. You should be able to find a bottle and reg cheap and the fill is cheap. My fill here in SD is about $40 for a 125cf. I also use a 125cf of argon on the TIG that is cheap to fill. Moving them is what I hate... That welder should do just about anything you want on a vehicle. I use a Hobart Handler 140 for MIG duty and a Lincoln Squarewave 175 for TIG duty. They have done anything I ask so far. Only problems I have is small duty cycle on the MIG. Yeah... evidently I was lol. Llike I said... i'm no welding expert lol. No Harm no Foul. I want the shielding gas for when I do the frame rails and rear end swap, but I'm not sure if that is going to happen on my budget currently. I may just use the flux core and spend a little more time cleaning up the welds. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike C Posted December 28, 2008 Share Posted December 28, 2008 Switching polarity helps a ton. Once you try the gas, you won't do it without. Save your nickels for the bottle and switch to .023/.024 solid wire. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nismo280zEd Posted December 30, 2008 Author Share Posted December 30, 2008 Switching polarity helps a ton. Once you try the gas, you won't do it without. Save your nickels for the bottle and switch to .023/.024 solid wire. Yeah I found a company that sells brand new bottles for 52 dollars. Very reasonable, then I can take it local and have it filled. I think it's only a 12cf bottle, but should be fine for what I do. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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