Bright Flares

Are you using any kind of back-side purge on your stainless welding?

BobH

Not for laying beads on the surface of a plate. At this point that's all I'm trying to do .

Did you change tungstens? And cup? pdk

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All brand new except for the back cap . Virgin 3/32 electrode , sharpened it just for a test per your suggestion , new gas lens and #8 cup . Hit the SS with a flap wheel then straight to the stool with aluminum plate on top I'm using as a welding "bench" . Same thing , flares and a nasty looking surface on the bead . Tried increasing gas flow , decreasing gas flow , went back to 15SCFH where I usually have it . Same thing , flares . I even tried AC , no flares but a nasty popping sound and another ugly bead . I'm beginning to wonder about this material , like most of my little stock pile it has spent a year or five outside in the weather . -- Snag

"Snag" <

Next thing to check then would be the entire length of the shield gas circuit for leaks, just to clear that item.... then electrical connections, then machine settings, then ? , the machine itself.... can't help there.

You are using Pure Argon right? And its worked like this with every bottle?

And what is the hoods delay set at?

Gunner

"The socialist movement takes great pains to circulate frequently new labels for its ideally constructed state. Each worn-out label is replaced by another which raises hopes of an ultimate solution of the insoluble basic problem of Socialism, until it becomes obvious that nothing has been changed but the name. The most recent slogan is "State Capitalism."[Fascism] It is not commonly realized that this covers nothing more than what used to be called Planned Economy and State Socialism, and that State Capitalism, Planned Economy, and State Socialism diverge only in non-essentials from the "classic" ideal of egalitarian Socialism. - Ludwig von Mises (1922)

AC or DC..and which polarity are you using?

"The socialist movement takes great pains to circulate frequently new labels for its ideally constructed state. Each worn-out label is replaced by another which raises hopes of an ultimate solution of the insoluble basic problem of Socialism, until it becomes obvious that nothing has been changed but the name. The most recent slogan is "State Capitalism."[Fascism] It is not commonly realized that this covers nothing more than what used to be called Planned Economy and State Socialism, and that State Capitalism, Planned Economy, and State Socialism diverge only in non-essentials from the "classic" ideal of egalitarian Socialism. - Ludwig von Mises (1922)

I grabbed a short piece of new round stock , did a pass across the end . No/minimal flares , it looks like the problem is that my material has contaminants in/on it . I thought sanding the surface would get rid of whatever might be on it , guess I'm wrong . I'll be getting something that hasn't been laying out in the weather for further practice .

DC electrode negative

As far as I know it's pure argon , I got the bottle second-hand and full . Welds aluminum just swell . I have the machine set for about 3 seconds pre and 3 post flow . Or are you talking about my welding hood - it's set on shade 9 and minimum delay . Even on shade 12/13 these flares are bright enough to pretty much blind me . -- Snag

Perhaps that stock was cadmium or zinc plated? Even though the weld zone is cleaned that plating will migrate to the hot area and react with it. But you said it was SS? hhmmmph...now what.. :>(} I'm out...

Try switching back to a normal cup. I once had a gas lens get clogged (I guess) and acted about the same way.

Stainless doesn't usually require a lot of surface preparation. I weld stainless tube - the 1" shiny tubes - with no prep at all.

Someone else mentioned backing gas but I've welded a bunch of stainless with no backing and never had a problem with black welds and flaring.

You might also try turning off the gas and striking an arc. If you get the same black marks and flaring you've got a handle on the problem..... but you'll need to re-sharpen the tungsten :-(

On Sunday, September 1, 2013 3:16:16 PM UTC-4, Snag wrote: . Seems no matter how much or how little surface

Since it only is bad on Stainless and is non existent on aluminium, it look s like that rules out anything to do with the welder or the shielding gas.

Bright yellow is the color of sodium. So sounds like you might have salt c ontamination. So here are a couple of ideas. Could be the stainless rod. You might run a bead across the plate without adding any welding rod. If that is good , then try holding a piece of sandpaper and pulling the rod th ru that. That free rod came from a scrap yard and could be the problem. R unning a puddle across the plate without adding any rod will tell you somet hing. You have several kinds of stainless rod. Do you get yellow flar es with all of them?

Could it be the plate? Cleaning the plate with water should get rid of any salt, but you might want to try scrubbing with scotch bright or fine sand p aper. Maybe it is the flap wheel that is causing the problem. The same app lies to the rod.

And there is still the possibility that the plate is some odd alloy. Titan ium ought to give white , not yellow flares.

Anyway a few tests ought to nail it down to the rod, the plate , or the fla p disc. Let us know what you find.

You might check your plate with a magnet. 300 series stainless ought to be nearly non magnetic. It is non magnetic except if work hardened. 400 ser ies is magnetic. Neither ought to be giving flares, but it is another data point.

Dan

Wipe your suspect stock with acetone and let it evaporate and try it again. Thats a normal tactic for many TIG operations btw.

Gunner

"The socialist movement takes great pains to circulate frequently new labels for its ideally constructed state. Each worn-out label is replaced by another which raises hopes of an ultimate solution of the insoluble basic problem of Socialism, until it becomes obvious that nothing has been changed but the name. The most recent slogan is "State Capitalism."[Fascism] It is not commonly realized that this covers nothing more than what used to be called Planned Economy and State Socialism, and that State Capitalism, Planned Economy, and State Socialism diverge only in non-essentials from the "classic" ideal of egalitarian Socialism. - Ludwig von Mises (1922)

Fair enough. Try an acetone wipe of the material and see if that cleans it up. If not..you got some flakey stock based on your last post.

"The socialist movement takes great pains to circulate frequently new labels for its ideally constructed state. Each worn-out label is replaced by another which raises hopes of an ultimate solution of the insoluble basic problem of Socialism, until it becomes obvious that nothing has been changed but the name. The most recent slogan is "State Capitalism."[Fascism] It is not commonly realized that this covers nothing more than what used to be called Planned Economy and State Socialism, and that State Capitalism, Planned Economy, and State Socialism diverge only in non-essentials from the "classic" ideal of egalitarian Socialism. - Ludwig von Mises (1922)

Set the hood on sensitive and long delay. Sounds like you got the right gas..assuming its not a mismark

Guy was telling me last week he got a bottle of nitrogen in a shipment of argon that they used in a gas envelope heat treater. Fucked up about $15,000.00 worth of parts. The lawyers are going to have fun with this one...it was nitrogen in a bottle marked argon.

Gunner

"The socialist movement takes great pains to circulate frequently new labels for its ideally constructed state. Each worn-out label is replaced by another which raises hopes of an ultimate solution of the insoluble basic problem of Socialism, until it becomes obvious that nothing has been changed but the name. The most recent slogan is "State Capitalism."[Fascism] It is not commonly realized that this covers nothing more than what used to be called Planned Economy and State Socialism, and that State Capitalism, Planned Economy, and State Socialism diverge only in non-essentials from the "classic" ideal of egalitarian Socialism. - Ludwig von Mises (1922)

I'll have to pick up some acetone , don't have any right now . The stock I'm using came free from a cabinet shop where I worked , piece about 8' long

7-8" wide bent into a sort of z shape . It's been out on my scrap/stock pile behind one of the sheds vfor a fewv years now . It's not magnetic , probably a 300 series . I did try out some other pieces I have , much better - it's new material left from a job . -- Snag

Heh , the bottle is marked C25 ... but when I tried it out on my MIG welder , it sure don't act like C25 . As I said , it welds vwell with aluminum . That acetone trick will work with aluminum too , I bet . -- Snag

The gas lens set I'm using is brand new , I doubt it's clogged - looking at the flowmeter there's definitely gas coming out .

The guy that let me try out his TIG setup does basically no prep , but his stock is brand new and gets rotated frequently .

I laid the torch on the bench so that when I hit the pedal it'd strike an arc on a piece of this SS , then while it was running set the gas flow . It seems to do best with about 15 SCFH . While setting it , I turned flow down enough that I could hear the difference in the arc .

Gunner suggested an acetone wipedown , I'll try that on my stock and the rod . New stock was much nicer to weld on ... with and without filler . -- Snag