Welding Tips and Tricks

I'm having a hard time welding carbon steels without getting alot of porosity and pittiing in my welds. No problems w/mild steel. Using 2% thorated tungston. Same problem with or without filler rod. Does anyone have any tips to remedy my problems?

I would guess you're having a gas coverage problem. Your regulator might be stuck and your running really low or you might have a loose fitting somewhere. If those things check out to be okay then it could be oil on the parts, pinched collet, contaminated tungsten. Also, have you tried grinding off the mill scale to bare metal? Sometimes that stuff pops, spits, and is just a nightmare.

RedIron881 wrote: Also, have you tried grinding off the mill scale to bare metal? Sometimes that stuff pops, spits, and is just a nightmare.

That was my guess......try welding some stainless and see how that works!!!

I"m starting with clean steel without any scale and have even tried cleaning very well with acatone and a clean stainless brush before welding. I don't seem to have any problems with any other types of steel ie: stainless or mild steel. The only time I run into a perosity issues is when I'm trying to weld high carbon type steels. I have checked my shielding gas and tried to cover all the basics on what might cause the problem but can't seem to figure it out.

Do you have a fresh bottle of argon to try? It's just a guess, but since carbon will combine with more elements in more ways than anything else, impurities in your gas may be showing themselves in high-carbon alloys. The bottle may have been used for an active mix before you got it, or filled from a manifold that wasn't properly purged. If, for example, the supplier filled a run of 75/25, then switched to a run of argon, the first bottle of 100% argon may have some CO2 in it.

When you find the solution, please share. Sooner or later, someone will have the same problem.

Steve

What are you running your gas at?

Hey there,

I sometimes have porosity troubles on M/S if the gas flow is too high. Also if your electrode stick out is to long. Limit it to 3mm or 1/8. Anther thing to try is swapping to a straight cup. Ie one with the hole the same size as the body, no step down.

Mick.