I watched someone use a MIG welder with a flux-core wire. There was a
lot of spatter.

1) Is this usual? How can it be minimized?
2) Is there significantly less spatter when using the same welder with
shielding gas?
3) If so, what is the place of flux-core wire welding? Is it just
something to get weekend users to buy MIG welders?
4) Do you get the same amount of spatter with stick welding?

Thanks,

Michael Koblic,
Campbell River, BC

wrote in message
...
I watched someone use a MIG welder with a flux-core wire. There was a
lot of spatter.

1) Is this usual? How can it be minimized?
2) Is there significantly less spatter when using the same welder with
shielding gas?
3) If so, what is the place of flux-core wire welding? Is it just
something to get weekend users to buy MIG welders?
4) Do you get the same amount of spatter with stick welding?

Thanks,

Michael Koblic,
Campbell River, BC

Welding "splatter" may be indicative of several things. One, too high a
heat. Secondly, long arc. Thirdly, dirty metal. Fourthly, contaminants.

Gas Metal Arc Welding (GMAW), or MIG (Metal Inert Gas) usually produces
little spatter. Or splatter as you call it. FCAW (flux core) will produce
more spatter because it is run at higher heats and melts more metal. It is
also different polarity than most MIG welding. Spatter can be controlled by
adjusting settings, or using spray so that it does not stick. Spatter can
be tenacious, but buffing, or knocking loose with a chisel works. If it is
fused on there, it is an indication of running it too hot. Generally, a
molten blob will not fuse to a much colder metal, and there will be a cold
lap layer there.

I have used .072" FCAW wire WITH argon shielding gas, so you might want to
try it WITH a shielding gas. A mix would be better than CO2, as CO2 is cold
and may affect fusion and penetration.

HTH

Steve, welding since 1974.

On Sun, 03 Jul 2011 17:52:52 -0700, wrote:

I watched someone use a MIG welder with a flux-core wire. There was a
lot of spatter.

1) Is this usual? How can it be minimized?
2) Is there significantly less spatter when using the same welder with
shielding gas?
3) If so, what is the place of flux-core wire welding? Is it just
something to get weekend users to buy MIG welders?
4) Do you get the same amount of spatter with stick welding?

Thanks,

Michael Koblic,
Campbell River, BC


1- Yes. You can get a spray that if used before welding prevents a
lot of the splatter sticking, also helps prevent crud buildup in the
nozzle.

2- Yes, hardly any with shielding gas.

3- Flux core works better outside where breezes tend to interfer with
the shield gas doing it's job

4- Yup.

H. (Call me "Booger")

wrote:
I watched someone use a MIG welder with a flux-core wire. There was a
lot of spatter.

1) Is this usual?

Yes, if the heat settings are off you get a lot more splatter though.

How can it be minimized?

proper adjustment and/or spray on spatter shield


2) Is there significantly less spatter when using the same welder with
shielding gas?

Maybe, depends on what you're welding, how you have things set up and
what gas you are running.

3) If so, what is the place of flux-core wire welding?

Locations where you cannot run a shield gas very well. Such as outside
one a breezy day or when you need to weld with a very long piece of wire
running out (like inside a hole or between two panels)

Is it just
something to get weekend users to buy MIG welders?

Nope, I have seen it used in a lot of shops as well. It is great for
welding heavier metals with fewer passes.

4) Do you get the same amount of spatter with stick welding?

Depends on the electrode and what you're welding. In general you get
much more with stick.


Thanks,

Michael Koblic,
Campbell River, BC


--
Steve W.

On Sun, 03 Jul 2011 17:52:52 -0700, wrote:

I watched someone use a MIG welder with a flux-core wire. There was a
lot of spatter.

1) Is this usual? How can it be minimized?
2) Is there significantly less spatter when using the same welder with
shielding gas?
3) If so, what is the place of flux-core wire welding? Is it just
something to get weekend users to buy MIG welders?
4) Do you get the same amount of spatter with stick welding?

Thanks,

Michael Koblic,
Campbell River, BC

Spatter is the name of the game with flux core. Pure and simple.

Now..the welder may..may have been set up with the wrong polarity. Its
reversed with flux core..and that will indeed spatter. I did that once
and it drove me nuts until I sat down and read the manual..and the big
Light Bulb came on over my head.

Now if the polarity is correct...there are some tricks you can use to
keep spatter down...closer distance to work, shorter arc, lower the
amps..etc etc..but..flux core spatters.

CO2 spatters..but not anywhere as bad
C25 spatters..but even less if the machine is setup and used properly.

Gunner

--
Maxim 12: A soft answer turneth away wrath.
Once wrath is looking the other way, shoot it in the head.

On Sun, 3 Jul 2011 18:17:54 -0700, "Steve B"
wrote:

I have used .072" FCAW wire WITH argon shielding gas, so you might want to
try it WITH a shielding gas. A mix would be better than CO2, as CO2 is cold
and may affect fusion and penetration.

HTH

Steve, welding since 1974.

Ah..Steve....Co2 is hotter.

Gunner

--
Maxim 12: A soft answer turneth away wrath.
Once wrath is looking the other way, shoot it in the head.

On Jul 3, 10:45*pm, Howard Eisenhauer
wrote:


1- Yes. *You can get a spray that if used before welding prevents a
lot of the splatter sticking, also helps prevent crud buildup in the
nozzle.


You can buy the spray in welding supply houses, or you can buy PAM or
similar vegetable oil sprays at the grocery store.

Dan

lid wrote:
On Sun, 03 Jul 2011 17:52:52 -0700, wrote:

I watched someone use a MIG welder with a flux-core wire. There was a
lot of spatter.

1) Is this usual? How can it be minimized?
2) Is there significantly less spatter when using the same welder with
shielding gas?
3) If so, what is the place of flux-core wire welding? Is it just
something to get weekend users to buy MIG welders?
4) Do you get the same amount of spatter with stick welding?

If you get alot of spatter when using flux cored MIG wire, you have
something wrong. Flux core welds as smooth as "buttah". It should
produce the smoothest arc you have ever seen.

The very first time in my life that I had a torch in my hand it
was fluxcore (FCAW), and I can vouch for this. It took me about ten
minutes to learn puddle control and get decent penetration; spatter
didn't even come up as a topic of conversation.

But my trainer set the heat, and I dragged the cup against the work
(yeah - fluxcore with a cup!) so I really can't claim to have any
talent. ;-)

Cheers!
Rich

wrote in message
...
I watched someone use a MIG welder with a flux-core wire. There was a
lot of spatter.

1) Is this usual? How can it be minimized?
2) Is there significantly less spatter when using the same welder with
shielding gas?
3) If so, what is the place of flux-core wire welding? Is it just
something to get weekend users to buy MIG welders?
4) Do you get the same amount of spatter with stick welding?

Thanks,

Michael Koblic,
Campbell River, BC

You've gotten this answer from a couple of others, but one more time: It's
much more resistant to breezes. Commercially, it's used out-of-doors where
MIG (GMAW) would be difficult because the breeze is blowing the shielding
gas away.

It also works with somewhat dirtier metal -- it's somewhere between MIG and
stick in that regard. You'll see it used outdoors in structural welding.

And, yes, it's also used by a lot of weekend welders for other reasons.

--
Ed Huntress

"Gunner Asch" wrote in message
...
On Sun, 3 Jul 2011 18:17:54 -0700, "Steve B"
wrote:

I have used .072" FCAW wire WITH argon shielding gas, so you might want to
try it WITH a shielding gas. A mix would be better than CO2, as CO2 is
cold
and may affect fusion and penetration.

HTH

Steve, welding since 1974.

Ah..Steve....Co2 is hotter.

Gunner

Explain. CO2 will freeze skin coming out of a bottle. Mix might be cold,
but not that cold.

Steve

Steve B wrote:
Explain. CO2 will freeze skin coming out of a bottle. Mix might be cold,
but not that cold.

It's chemistry, not thermodynamics. Something along the lines of the
CO2 being decomposed by the arc into C & O2, then the O2 reacting in the
weld zone to create more heat. Or maybe the C & O2 recombining. But
definitely chemistry. Note: no claim for more energy - the
decomposition & recomposition balance. It's how the energy is used.

Bob

On Mon, 4 Jul 2011 14:50:23 -0700, "Steve B"
wrote:


"Gunner Asch" wrote in message
.. .
On Sun, 3 Jul 2011 18:17:54 -0700, "Steve B"
wrote:

I have used .072" FCAW wire WITH argon shielding gas, so you might want to
try it WITH a shielding gas. A mix would be better than CO2, as CO2 is
cold
and may affect fusion and penetration.

HTH

Steve, welding since 1974.

Ah..Steve....Co2 is hotter.

Gunner

Explain. CO2 will freeze skin coming out of a bottle. Mix might be cold,
but not that cold.

Steve

True..but it allows a hotter arc to form. Helium makes an even hotter
arc.

The minute quantities of gas, really dont have any "cooling" due to the
properties of the gas when coming out of the bottle..



Gunner

--
Maxim 12: A soft answer turneth away wrath.
Once wrath is looking the other way, shoot it in the head.

On Sun, 3 Jul 2011 18:17:54 -0700, "Steve B"
wrote:


wrote in message
.. .
I watched someone use a MIG welder with a flux-core wire. There was a
lot of spatter.

1) Is this usual? How can it be minimized?
2) Is there significantly less spatter when using the same welder with
shielding gas?
3) If so, what is the place of flux-core wire welding? Is it just
something to get weekend users to buy MIG welders?
4) Do you get the same amount of spatter with stick welding?

Thanks,

Michael Koblic,
Campbell River, BC

Welding "splatter" may be indicative of several things. One, too high a
heat. Secondly, long arc. Thirdly, dirty metal. Fourthly, contaminants.

Thanks.

Gas Metal Arc Welding (GMAW), or MIG (Metal Inert Gas) usually produces
little spatter. Or splatter as you call it.

Do I?

FCAW (flux core) will produce
more spatter because it is run at higher heats and melts more metal. It is
also different polarity than most MIG welding. Spatter can be controlled by
adjusting settings, or using spray so that it does not stick.

His machine is an old Millermatic 90. As far as I could see it had two
controls: One labeled with different material thicknesses which had
four positions. The other was a continuously variable control of the
wire speed. He had never used it with anything else but a flux-core
wire. I have to assume that the polarity switch is internal and set
correctly.

Spatter can
be tenacious, but buffing, or knocking loose with a chisel works. If it is
fused on there, it is an indication of running it too hot. Generally, a
molten blob will not fuse to a much colder metal, and there will be a cold
lap layer there.

I was interested in the process. I do not weld myself, I
braze/solder/silver solder everything. I was impressed that although
the speed of the actual welding was much faster, the clean up
afterwards took much longer. The prep was about the same.

I have used .072" FCAW wire WITH argon shielding gas, so you might want to
try it WITH a shielding gas. A mix would be better than CO2, as CO2 is cold
and may affect fusion and penetration.

His wire was 0.035" AFAIK. I wonder what the economics of the whole
process is once the gas is included.

Have there been any developments in small welders over the last 20
years? Would one be able to buy a "better" welding machine today than
20 years ago?

Michael Koblic,
Campbell River, BC

One simply slams a larger atom or molecule into the target metal.
Martin

On 7/4/2011 5:03 PM, Bob Engelhardt wrote:
Steve B wrote:
Explain. CO2 will freeze skin coming out of a bottle. Mix might be
cold, but not that cold.

It's chemistry, not thermodynamics. Something along the lines of the CO2
being decomposed by the arc into C & O2, then the O2 reacting in the
weld zone to create more heat. Or maybe the C & O2 recombining. But
definitely chemistry. Note: no claim for more energy - the decomposition
& recomposition balance. It's how the energy is used.

Bob

On Mon, 04 Jul 2011 17:49:58 -0700, wrote:

[...]

Gas Metal Arc Welding (GMAW), or MIG (Metal Inert Gas) usually produces
little spatter. Or splatter as you call it.

Do I?

[...]

Blast the checker! Changed everything but the title.

In addition to the other methods/practices, using shielding material can
dramatically reduce the amount of clean-up.
I've often used pieces of thin aluminum roof flashing near the weld zone,
loosely clamped in place or held with magnets.

Clearing away the spatter is quickly accomplished with a thick square-edged
scraper.. meaning not a thin-edged scraping tool.
The square edge will knock the little balls off, not try to get under them
to lift them off.
For small areas, the end of a wide file will work, or a section of square
HSS brazed to a backup plate (to prevent breakage) with a suitable handle
can sweep a wider path.

Grinding generally isn't cost effective on most projects unless fast, high
volume productivity is the goal.

--
WB
..........


wrote in message
...
I watched someone use a MIG welder with a flux-core wire. There was a
lot of spatter.

1) Is this usual? How can it be minimized?
2) Is there significantly less spatter when using the same welder with
shielding gas?
3) If so, what is the place of flux-core wire welding? Is it just
something to get weekend users to buy MIG welders?
4) Do you get the same amount of spatter with stick welding?

Thanks,

Michael Koblic,
Campbell River, BC

wrote in message
...
On Mon, 04 Jul 2011 17:49:58 -0700, wrote:

[...]

Gas Metal Arc Welding (GMAW), or MIG (Metal Inert Gas) usually produces
little spatter. Or splatter as you call it.

Do I?

[...]

Blast the checker! Changed everything but the title.

Spatter is when you get just a little. Splatter is when you get a lot.
Both are listed words in spelchekr.

Steve

On 2011-07-05, wrote:
On Mon, 04 Jul 2011 17:49:58 -0700, wrote:

[...]

Gas Metal Arc Welding (GMAW), or MIG (Metal Inert Gas) usually produces
little spatter. Or splatter as you call it.

Do I?

[...]

Blast the checker! Changed everything but the title.

Normally, the checkers only look at the body.

In my system, where the checker is called from the editor of my
choice, and it includes the headers, I get some hits from there too.

But at least some spelling checkers (including mine) will accept
the spelling in the "Subject: " header, too. Searching on only that
word gives about 17,500,000 hits in Google.

And spelling checkers don't care whether it is the *right* word,
just that it is in their dictionary. :-)

Enjoy,
DoN.

--
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