Thread: weld splatter

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What can I do to prevent weld splatter? I have a cheapie flux core mig. It does a decent job sticking stuff together, but makes one hell of a splatter mess.

either cover your area with a moist towel or flame retardent tarp. or buy a can of ultra messy anti splatter that you have to wipe off when done.

I have a borrowed Lincoln using flux core, an I am a beginning welder. But I have found that if the material to be welded is totally clean, like wire wheeled to a shine, it produces much less splatter. Welds penetrate better also!

All that will help, but that is a characteristic of flux core. If you can hook up a bottle it will eliminate it almost 100 percent.

Don

Flux core is splattery darn stuff to use--as Don says, going to a gas bottle and solid wire will make a tremendous difference. You can also buy an aerosol can of "anti-spatter" at the welding shop to spray on the area where you are working.Thats what a lot of robotic weld starions use to spray on the dies and torch tips. It doesn't prevent the spatter, but does help prevent it from sticking to whatever it lands on.---Brian

I have been using my flux core welder now for sometime and was wondering where to go get the "bottle" and what I should look for. What type of gas? Can I get a small bottle? What should I expect to pay? Thanks

I use what is called C-25, it's 75% Argon 25% CO2. Any welding supply house will have it...
Not all of the small MIG welders are setup for a bottle, so make sure you can use one before you buy it....

Most people who manufacture those small welders will supply what you need to run a gas bottle and solid core wire, and call it a "kit" The kit consists of a gas regulator, a different set of drive spools because the wire used with a gas bottle is smaller than a flux core wire, and an electric solenoid that turns the gas on when you hit the weld trigger. Some of the real cheapy welders don't even offer a kit to convert to gas, so as Ceh383 sais, check this first. If you can get the kit (or if your welder already has the right stuff, then don't screw around with your local hardware store or Wal-Mart---Go to a registered welding gas supply house and tell them what you want to weld, and let them recomend the correct gas. You can buy the gas bottle outright and just pay when you have it refilled, or you can rent a gas bottle on a 6 month or 1 year contract..

Like the rest said , get a bottle or switch to tig.Most of the cambell hausfeild units are flux core only, so check the papers that came with your unit.

the quickest and cheapest is the can of anti-spatter , i have a very good mig machine, Millermatic 200 and it will still spatter on some of the surrounding area . I run it with the gas at around 40 psi. for things that I want to keep clean. I use the 25 -75 mix, I may start using 100% argon. The spray works well and I also spray the nozzle inside and out to prevent any problems with spatter in my gun. It works well with my stick welder too and we all know how that is. The stuff i buy is in a red can , I do not know the brand but it is good stuff. Some of this stuff has a very bad odor. This does not at all. Good stuff ........ Red Can Anti Spatter ....... Good Luck .......

If you use straight argon, you have to change to a wire that will work with it, check the label on the spool, it will tell you what gas too use.

Mig welding and spatter go together like bread and butter. When you are short arcing with a welder where you don't have infinite wire control, you can only come close to a spatter free weld and even with wire control, it takes experence to find that sweet spot. A can of spatter spray will become your best welding buddy. Flux cored wire was meant to be used where weld contamination is a problem. One thing you can do is to be sure your contact tip is even or no more than 1/8" out of your cup. Keeping the wire stick out ( the length of wire between the tip and the puddle arc ) short will give you less spatter. Although cored wire will work without gas, it is a better process with gas. It is going to give you the most trouble, but solid wire will still make some spatter. Raising your gas flow to over 20 PSI should not make a difference. You are just wasting gas.The problem here is that alot of the regulaters don't accurately read gas flow. For that you need a flow meter. If you want to weld without worring about spatter, you need to look at a TIG welder.

Hope this helps, Youngster

Cover immediate surrounding areas with a layer or two of duct tape. If anything, you might need some adhesive remover where the splatter lands. Nothing's 100% splatter free but this works pretty good

Can you Tig weld soft steel? I thought only Aluminum and Titanium.

yes. different tungsten and filler rod, and have to change from ac to dc voltage