Help me figure out this welding issue...PLEASE...PICS

Ok, Im semi new to welding. I say semi new because Ive messed around with other peoples welders, but I just bought my own. Ive welded up exhaust and little things here and there. My first big job, and the reason I bought the welder, was fixing my floor boards in my 94. Im going to post pics of how I did it later...but for now I wanted to see if anyone could figure this out. While welding, everything can be going smooth. Smooth feed, smooth sound, smooth bead. Then out of no where it will start popping and crackling and the weld puddle will almost deflate. It goes from the "frying bacon" sound...to a sound similar to a 4th of July sparkler...and sparks shower everywhere. See picture...



Guess I should say Im using a Clark MIG welder... Ive messed with the gas flow settings but doesnt really help much. The only thing I can think of is inpure metal? Maybe something I missed while cleaning up the area??? Any ideas are appreciated!! Sorry if this isnt really "Mod-Tech"...


Justin

how long are you laying the bead before it goes bad?

It could be imputities or a stop in the wire feed the tension on the wire might be too tight ot too light. I have the clarke 135 and its fussy on the wire feeder pressure. It also might be a tad hot is it burning all the way through wher it popped?

it looks like the gas is kicking off, try welding without the gas on at all and see if it behaves similarly

Could be the coating on the underside of the old metal rising and mixing in your weld. Have you tried welding some clean scrap together?

Thanks for the quick replys!

BrettM: Its really random. I can lay a 8" bead and it will look perfect. Or weld 3/4 the way around an exhaust pipe and its fine. Then its like someone flips a switch.

xjnation: I thought about the wire feed tension. It does seem fussy... It works good way more than it does this so I should be close. At one point I thought I was actually leaning on the cable or twisting it causing it to feed bad. It doesnt usually burn through...even when it does the spitting thing. Sometimes, but usually because I spend too long trying to fix that area up. Ide say if I was welding a 2' X 2' square in the floor, it wont burn through for about 98% of it. When it does its usually because I couldnt see good or I just wasnt paying attention. I didnt take any pics of my finished welds, only the tack welds to get things started. But most of them are smooth as silk.

Im starting to lean towards something getting into the weld... maybe some grease or oil from underneath that I missed or something...

Justin

Man you guys replied while I was typing my last reply. Thought about the gas kicking off. At one point I checked and the flow setting was low. I didnt think to turn it off and see what happens...good idea.

I did weld some perfectly clean pieces together, and it didnt seem to do it. But then again I wasnt welding as much as I was while doing the floor.

Justin

what are your settings? wire speed and heat? so those welds are on the floor boards?

My settings I believe are a power setting of 2, a feed speed of 3, and a gas flow of 4.5 (whatever units...cant remember). I welded in A TON of new metal. There was rust almost from the rear seat all the way to the passenger side foot well. Ill post pics in a new thread in alittle showing how I did it. The metal I got was pretty heavy. My dad picked it up at work and the guy who cut it for him said it was 16...but I almost think its 14. Here is a quick pic of the rear most patch panel I made.



Justin

Nice that is the way I did mine... works nice as a spot welder dont it...LOL

I then applied a 2 coat of fiberglass resin and cloth over the patches... its stout now

Haha yeah its good to go now. I think the patches I made are the strongest thing on that Jeep now! Im not sure how I want to go about sealing it up. I want to get everything primed tomrorow..atleast on the underside. I got a couple tubes of seam sealer to spread around... Atleast thats the plan. Unless I come up with something better tonight. Im not going to be running carpet...so Im debating on how much I wanted to clean up my welds, what I want to cover the floor with, etc... Im making a heat sheild out of 1/8" thick aluminum that will go above the exhaust. That SHOULD help with the heat atleast alittle. Its going to be about 1/4" or so away from the floor. Might even try to put some sort of insulation between them...like the stuff under our 97 ZJ. Got pics of how the fiberglass resin came out??

little tip, as a welder, to prevent corrosion, CLEAN YOUR WELDS TO THE MAX POSSIBLE!!!!

any slag will create the ultamate rust promoter as soon as you even think about it getting wet.

about the borosity, could your wire have rust? sealer from under the floor pan ( ie..undercoating ) ? traped water or other liquids between the metals? the gas coloration looks good so the question for that is was it windy as you were welding, small but strong gusts? things to think about.

good luck and remember to grind all the pin holes out and re-weld and if they come back then it is a contaminant in the base metals not the wire or gas.

Troy

Thanks for those tips Troy...I cleaned the welds pretty good, but Im going to go over everything again tomorrow. I think it had something to do with crud on the underside. I didnt clean the underside as well as I should have I think. That could account for the problem being random... Now that I think about it...it happened more often while I was above the crossmember area. I couldnt really clean above the crossmember as well as the rest...

There was some wind. I was welding the Jeep outside with both doors open. I didnt think there was any wind coming through that was significant enough to mess with my gas flow. No gusts or anything. Rust on the wire might have been an issue with the first spool...the original one. But halfway through the job I ran out of wire. So I got a brand new spool today and it still did it from time to time.

I think tomorrow Im going to grind the problem areas really well and re-do them.


Is there any good way to judge how much tension to put on the feed? People have told me just a few turns of the know on the adjuster...and to get a feel for it. But is there anyway to kind of gauge how tigh to make that thing? Thanks again for all the help. That welder was probably one of the best investments Ive made as far as tools. Im trying to get as good with it as possible.

Justin

My welds look like that if I run out of gas. My regulator is set at about 17#. It's a real good all around setting. Good luck. P.S. A good grinding wheel will make even the worst welder look good

turn on the welder with door open and tension off with wire. pull trigger and slowly adjust tension down till it flows out evenly without skip or bind

ahhh, I can't remember gas flow off the top of my head. but that is the first thing to check. as pointed out, a light breeze can kill a weld. but I see something even more critical.
see the white, powdery stuff? what is a common coating to steel to protect it from rust. its not undercoating. its not paint. its usually hot dipped. and when you burn it, the fumes are considered very toxic. Zinc Galvanizing. it makes for a bitch to weld. if you don't get it all cleaned up. the #1 suggestion is to do a better job cleaning the weld area around the face of the weld.

Yeah I think I just have to spend some more time cleaning things up before hand. The method mentioned above for setting the tension is how I have been doing it...but maybe Ill re-do it again and try alittle lighter or alittle tighter to see if it helps.

How much of the weld do you guys suggest I grind down? Im not looking for it to be perfect...because Ill be coating the floor and honestly I dont really care what it looks like. Thanks again for the help. I have a couple more little areas to mess with before the floor is pretty much good to go.

Justin