Welding help needed.

[73c20jim]

I am a newbe welder. Trying to weld in floor panels with HF beginner welder. Using .030 wire with internal flux. New panel is thicker than OEM floor. (Go figure!) Using low setting MIN with 1.5 speed. Both surfaces clean and even.

Lots of splatter. OEM floor burns thru.

Tried new clean piece of weldable sheet metal from Lowe's. Just trying to lay a bead. Nothing but splatter and holes.

Help a newbe welder, please.

 

[donnieray]

Try to weld a spot every inch or so then start over until you connect all the spots. It will be as strong as a bead. You cant mig a continuous bead on steel that thin. Well most cant.

 

[Frankenchevy]

Ive replaced a few vw pans when I had a smaller Lincoln mig running gas. I’d keep practicing before moving on. I’d bet you may have to adjust the speed and heat more than a few times to get it just right. Adjust one variable at a time.

One question: are you sure you’ve cut back far enough in the vehicle’s existing pan to be into healthy metal? I’ve learned to cut out the rust before I start with the wire wheel, etc. sometimes you can mask bad/compromised metal by cleaning it up.

If you are in fact sure that you are into good metal on the existing floor, I’d measure it and get some sheetmetal scraps that match both thicknesses. Dial in your settings practicing on that. Even then, you might need to adjust for the actual pan, as steel composition will vary. As Donnie mentioned, start with stitching the perimeter. Although, I space the stitches a little further apart initially. All depends on how hot everything is getting.

Flux is known to be somewhat messy. Running a bottle, out of the wind is ideal. If I remember the machine you’re talking about, I’m not sure if it’ll run gas as is.

 

[theblindchicken]

I'm definitely still a novice/hobbyist welder and the majority of my recent experience is repairs on .06 mild steel tubing for go kart chassis at work, but that's mainly just welding up the bent/broken chassis back together and sending it back out. The welder I use is a Lincoln 140 with .035" Fluxcore. Just some questions and advice that I can think of from spending forever researching the webs a good while back.


Are you doing a butt or lap joint?

--- A butt joint will be a little harder to weld with the thinner metal than a lap joint would be, but a lap joint won't look as nice with a patched in floor pan.

As you weld, do you feel it pulsing or the tip getting pushed away from the metal?

--- Your wire feed speed may be too high and isn't melting quick enough for the heat setting you have. Either turn down the WFS or turn up the amps.
--- Make sure you have a nice shiny grounding location that isn't at the other end of the truck or through 35 different parts.
--- Also, make sure you keep the wire in the puddle. Fluxcore works well when you pull/drag the puddle versus pushing it along (think angle of 45-60 deg vs 135 deg when moving towards the right.)

How are you maneuvering the puddle?
--- I personally do repetitive circles the length of the bead. It helps me with a more consistent width and height of the weld.

What wire are you using?

--- If it's the wire that came with the HF welder, you may wanna go grab yourself a spool of Lincoln Electric or Hobart wire.

 

[yevgenievich]

might not look like it, but sometimes higher wire speed is needed. Mine is set around 5 to 8 for most things I am doing. Assuming you have the 10 or 12 speed scale. There will be a lot of splatter being flux core. And good point above, lincoln brand wire works better than the HB wire.

 

[Westislander]

Gas off or not high enough pressure

 

[73c20jim]

Thanks guys.

A little more information.

Using fluxcore .030
NO GAS
Intermittent sparking

Two settings available. HI or LOW Temp
0-10 wire speed.

Using lo temp 1.5 speed as suggested by welder

Tried higher speed, melted hole in metal

Welded something heaver no splatter continuous sparking

 

[73c20jim]

Gas off or not high enough pressure

NO gas involved. Just Fluxcore wire.

 

[climb-101]

gas workes better than flux core wire. you can also use a copper block on the back side, it helps a ton to keep from burning through and it dosnt stick to the steel. it all so helps keep distortion down cause it keeps the heat out of the steel. you can prob get some at harbor freight. I got mine from eastwood.

 

[K201979]

X2 on trying different wire. Ive had wire labeled flux core before that wasnt or at least acted like it wasnt. Spattered and wouldnt stick. Just bounced off. Got a different spool and it was back to welding fine.

 

[73c20jim]

New roll of wire purchased. Will try again tomorrow.

 

[shiftpro]

It's not the wire...
you have to reverse polarity with inner shield. Look were the leads attach to the machine. You need to reverse them.
Excessive spatter ..... inner shield.... !!! ... polarity is wrong.

 

[73c20jim]

This is basic HF welder. Leads cannot be reversed at machine.

 

[shiftpro]

This is basic HF welder. Leads cannot be reversed at machine.

Oh?
Well sorry I'm stumped then.

 

[Jppr26]

Your probably trying tocwekd too much at once. Try just tacking it all down then just triggering it and basically just weld it one tack at a time