weld popping problem. What causes?

[cgarr]

We just got our new miller 252? or something like that in our shop, Im new to mig, its been all tig and gas welding for me til now: I was having popping problems, watched the vid, set it all up and still had the problem, ended up being the tension on the wire feed, it looked fine but when you go to weld the slight pressure of the wire going into the work paused, or slipped a bit so the wire was stopping and starting, increased the tension and works perfect!

[1990C4S]

What voltage and wire feed speed are you running? What size wire?

[rattlsnak]

Popping is usually caused by low heat. What is your setting on now?

[rusnak]

Low heat also causes bad weld penetration. I like to start at higher heat and adjust wire speed till you get the frying bacon sound and stack of dimes flat welds.

[rnln]

I still have not tried it after the last response. My Lincohn 100 has 3 settings for heat: B, C, and D I think. And wire speed from 1 to 10 (or 9). I tried all heat settings. On wire speed, I tried between 4 to 7. On welding thin metal, maybe 1/16", I felt that the wire was moving faster than my hands. I usually use flux wire 0.035.
When I pull the trigger without welding (without touching the metal), I see/feel that the wire coming smooth.
Sometimes I got good bacon frying sound and laying dimes nicely, but rare.

[1990C4S]

Make sure the wire can feed smoothly directly from the gun without welding. That's step one.

And make sure your tip is not worn out.

[T77911S]

polarity is reversed if using flux core vs wire with gas.

not an expert at welding by any means but even rusty or dirty metal wont cause it to pop, I have tested welding rusty crap like rebar.

someone said it earlier. too much heat with too slow a wire feed.

here is what I have done when I first started.
while welding, take your other hand and adjust the wire feed up and down. listen to how it sounds when the wire feed is too fast and too slow.
listen for when it sounds like bacon cooking.

change the heat setting and then repeat and notice how the weld changes.

I practiced a lot with flux core just because it was cheaper.
if the polarity is reversed you will get a lot of little balls that will stick to the metal that are a pain to remove.
it seemed like the flux core welded cheap soft metal better.

I also spent a lot of time trying to weld thin metal. I figured that was harder than thicker.

my welder will also do stick welding. my stick welding is worse than my mig so I work on that more.

I cant believe I went as long as I did with out a welder.
Saturday I welded an allen wrench to the small screw that holds a brake rotor on.
then welded a bar to large nut that holds the shock inside a front strut.

[rnln]

Does anyone know if I can weld iron to aluminum?

[Staubsauger!]

Originally Posted by rnln

Does anyone know if I can weld iron to aluminum?

Hahahhhah du bist blöde...

[1990C4S]

Originally Posted by rnln

Does anyone know if I can weld iron to aluminum?

Crazy glue.

[john70t]

Originally Posted by rnln

Does anyone know if I can weld iron to aluminum?

Not possible.
Aluminum is very tough to weld. Because it conducts heat so well it just burns through in a giant blob. There is no color change or indication of when it is hot and about to melt. It just suddenly melts and usually burns through.

For a MIG setup:
Aluminum wire is too soft for any welder to push through a line.
You need a special powered spool gun at the end and different gas.
Even then results will be very substandard without a ton of experience.

Practice make perfect, so get a bunch of scrap and practice.

[cgarr]

I love our spool gun, getting better at it




Sent from me

[rnln]

will try. thanks

Originally Posted by 1990C4S

Crazy glue.

[rnln]

Thanks John,
I know it's impossible when seeing 1990C4S response.

Originally Posted by john70t

Not possible.
Aluminum is very tough to weld. Because it conducts heat so well it just burns through in a giant blob. There is no color change or indication of when it is hot and about to melt. It just suddenly melts and usually burns through.

For a MIG setup:
Aluminum wire is too soft for any welder to push through a line.
You need a special powered spool gun at the end and different gas.
Even then results will be very substandard without a ton of experience.

Practice make perfect, so get a bunch of scrap and practice.

[rnln]

I tried this again today, after cleaning up everything, include ground cable and clamp. This is a great method to find the hot spot, thanks.
I used to adjust the wire feed knob with 1 increasement, then weld then increase again then weld. This was hard to find the hot spot. And I used to hold the gun with both hands tight, to the point my hands get tired. Today, I can relax holding it with one hand and adjust the wire feed with the other hand. I could easily find a good spot, but still feel that it is not good enough. I was welding a clean rebar to a clean galvanized pole. I tried both of the higher temp settings. At the spot where it sounded like frying bacon, then I feel wire comes out too slow (weld mark looks too thin. It's called cold weld?). If I increase the wire speed just a little, then it start popping a little, then I back down. Maybe that is the best my Lincoln 100 can do?

Originally Posted by T77911S

polarity is reversed if using flux core vs wire with gas.

not an expert at welding by any means but even rusty or dirty metal wont cause it to pop, I have tested welding rusty crap like rebar.

someone said it earlier. too much heat with too slow a wire feed.

here is what I have done when I first started.
while welding, take your other hand and adjust the wire feed up and down. listen to how it sounds when the wire feed is too fast and too slow.
listen for when it sounds like bacon cooking.

change the heat setting and then repeat and notice how the weld changes.

I practiced a lot with flux core just because it was cheaper.
if the polarity is reversed you will get a lot of little balls that will stick to the metal that are a pain to remove.
it seemed like the flux core welded cheap soft metal better.

I also spent a lot of time trying to weld thin metal. I figured that was harder than thicker.

my welder will also do stick welding. my stick welding is worse than my mig so I work on that more.

I cant believe I went as long as I did with out a welder.
Saturday I welded an allen wrench to the small screw that holds a brake rotor on.
then welded a bar to large nut that holds the shock inside a front strut.

[1990C4S]

I suspect your machine is the limitation.

I am a decent welder. I can rarely make a good weld with the basic 'garage welders'.

Hold the gun in mid-air and pull the trigger. Try to stop the wire from feeding by squeezing it between your fingers. If it is feeding well it will be very hard to stall the wire feeder. If it stall easily your wire feed is part of your problem.

[johnco]

"I was welding a clean rebar to a clean galvanized pole"
you're never going to get a clean weld with no popping welding on galv. I was a welder for many years and welded on lots of galv. grating. inhale a bunch of the galv. smoke and the fun starts later that night when you start puking your guts out

[cgarr]

Originally Posted by 1990C4S

I suspect your machine is the limitation.

I am a decent welder. I can rarely make a good weld with the basic 'garage welders'.

Hold the gun in mid-air and pull the trigger. Try to stop the wire from feeding by squeezing it between your fingers. If it is feeding well it will be very hard to stall the wire feeder. If it stall easily your wire feed is part of your problem.

This is the problem I had, the wire fed out fine until it hit the work, fought that problem for awhile until I if figured to increase the tension on the feed, what a difference when its setup right.

And please don't breath the green gas when doing galvanized metal, put me out of commission for a week!

[Bob Kontak]

Originally Posted by 1990C4S

Try to stop the wire from feeding by squeezing

This is great info. There is a dial inside the box to increase the tension on this new MIG 180 Lincoln I have. Can you go too far the other way? Too much tension?

I am such a noob.

[johnco]

if you tighten the tension too much and happen to short the tip and block/weld the wire in it, you have a nice bird's nest of wire inside the machine past the tensioner/drive wheel