i have a couple of questions on my welds..

1) Why did the surrounding metal turn orangish browish color after i finished welding?
2) Is that contamination in the weld?
3) Is it going to hurt anything?
4) What can be done to fix this

oh, my welding style is the "C" pattern but usually it ends up just going back and forth....

pics:
http://i179.photobucket.com/albums/w299/bogger1966/HPIM0485.jpg
http://i179.photobucket.com/albums/w299/bogger1966/HPIM0487.jpg
http://i179.photobucket.com/albums/w299/bogger1966/HPIM0488.jpg
http://i179.photobucket.com/albums/w299/bogger1966/HPIM0491.jpg

Can't see your pics cause I am at work and the servers here are gay.
But is the metal itself turning that color? Are you sure its not just the discoloration film that is on the metal from the welding?
Cause that stuff can be brushed off with a wire wheel on your grinder.
If your welding up mild steel, the only colors that your metal should be turning is blue on the area around the weld.

i never even checked it it could be brushed off.....its too late to check now (painted)....when you get home check em out....

is that stuff your talking about normal? or harming anything?

after looking at some of the beautiful welds on here mine look like shit, and none of theirs have this problem...

Surface prep is important to a good weld, next time grind it down to bare metal where you want to weld and around.

The weld is kinda tall and rough to me, I think you need more heat and maybe a little less wire speed.

Had I welded it I would have propped it up so the bead would lay flat.

I think the color is from the paint burning off and from the welding process.

Looking at the last picture you can see that some welds were hotter than others. That comes from welding some parts faster than others.

oh....

it was all clean metal, no weld touched paint

ok, ill turn up the hit some, and turn down the wire...


should i go as slow as possible w/o burning through to much or what?

i think im going to go buy a book

I don't think you'll burn through that thick of metal. The third pic down looks good from what I can see. The brown flaky stuff is normal. Practice on some scrap and post back up.

yeah....im not the best at setting up the welder....i had it set great for my 2"x.25" DOM subframe, so when i welded this i just turned the heat up....

so the color is normal? ive seen some of it on here, but not that much.....ive heard its somthing b/c of the gases not getting burnt and comtaminating the weld.....i guess not?

It looks like oxidation of some sort. I'm guessing, and it's no more than than a guess, that you may have either gun angle or gas flow issues. Play with some scrap and see whether you can a)duplicate the problem and b)increase and/or decrease the "rust" by changing the parameters.

Good luck!

thanks....ill see if i can duplicate the problem and see if i can fix it....

is there any critique of the weld, what techniques can i use to make a better weld.....

Betcha most of that color will clean right up with a wire wheel and is nothing much to worry about.
Work on the end of your weld where you are stopping. Fill in that crater some by pausing/holding at the end of your weld for a moment to fill it in. Try to keep your speed more consistant throughout the weld. Practice, practice, practise.

10-4...thanks..

taking a wild guess, you welded it following the alplabet, correct ?
345251

345252

345253

345254


you have your heat set to low i would say. notice how the first welds are chunky and rough, but the last ones are smoothe and nice ? it would be because the heat from welding has warmed the piece and got it closer to the correct temp.


on the weld metal itself along the edges, the brown patchets that look kinda like glass are just impurities in the weld that solidified on the surface, and the brown dusting around it is just impurities that burned off and the smoke deposited it there. the brown glass will chip off with some work, and the brown dist just wipes right off.

and yes, the weld was still impure, even with cleaning to bare metal. the one piece looks to have been in grease alot, so there is probably some within the metal, plus any impurities left over when the piece was originally made, will still be there. neither of these are factors that you need to worry about with this weld.



only thing i say is turn down wire speed/turn up voltage, and work on your technique. all in all tho your welds look good and there should be no worry.

i would say your right, i dont remember which was which, but it was in the pattern you showed so your problably right....

i messed with it some more and i do think the orangish brown was the impurities and paint in the weld.....when doing my rockwell disc brake caliper mounts today i didn't get any of that color, i left the setting just about the same turned the wire down some more and heat up a little and got some great penetration and not as "choppy" looking welds..

that orangeish color is normal it whould brush off with a wire brush. you need more heat and less wire and to move a little bit slower. thick metal like that your unlikely to burn through so put the heat to it and make yourself a good puddle. practice your motion too consistency is key, if you start making u's do it the whole way through your bead.

jason

The light red/brown film around the weld (the stuff you can wipe off with a bare finger) could be lots of different things. Even on perfectly clean steel some elements will become vaporized and airborne during welding. If that metal "vapor" escapes the shielding gas stream and contacts air while it's still hot, it will oxidize and leave a residue on the metal. Some residue around the weld is completely normal.

The little brown glassy looking spots on the bead are caused by silicon and manganese in the filler alloy offgassing to the surface of the hot molten puddle and forming a deposit. Silicon and manganese are alloyed in filler rod/wire as deoxidants and to improve flow. Brown glassy looking spots on the surface of the cooled bead are perfectly normal, it means those elements did their job by bringing gasses and oxidation out of the bead and to the surface where they won't cause a porosity defect. -S6 wire has more deoxidants than -S2 wire, so in theory you'd see more of those little spots. If the spots bother you, a knotted wire wheel will take them right off.

The colors on the back are caused by heating bare steel to temperature and exposing it to air. Different colors indicate different temperatures. Straw, Brown, Blue, and Purple all indicate different temperatures, but it depends on the exact alloy. The layer of color is only a few thousandths deep. Type "steel tempering color chart" in Google Image search and take a look for yourself. That's why if you grind a hardened steel tool too aggressively and it turns blue it usually won't an edge - you "heated the temper out of it" and it will require heat treating to be functional again.

As far as your technique, *slow down* and try moving at a more *constant travel speed* before you start experimenting with different heat settings. The earliest welds are "clunky and rough" because you weren't watching your puddle. You can see where you moved along before a good puddle had time to form. Basically - your weld couldn't keep up with you. Decide heat by material thickness. Decide wire speed by matching it to heat. The actual weld puddle is what decides how fast you can go. Burn-through and warpage aren't much of a concern on stuff that thick, so machine setting should be easy - The hottest bead you can keep up with. You were starting to "get it" on that last weld :smokin:.

*Welding Thread Disclaimor*
I do not have a university degree in metallurgy, chemistry, or welding processes. If there's any errors in this post they aren't intentional, so don't get ugly - just post a correction.

Above info is good keep your eye on the puddle and move your gun accordinly faster or slower, also try a subtle weeving, or back an forth motion to make the puddle more uniform, do it on on scrap parts till ya get the hang of it. Welding is easy figuring out your settings takes the most time, practice practice

Above info is good keep your eye on the puddle and move your gun accordinly faster or slower, also try a subtle weeving, or back an forth motion to make the puddle more uniform, do it on on scrap parts till ya get the hang of it. Welding is easy figuring out your settings takes the most time, practice practice


proper settings will not require any manipulation, unless doing verticle up. manupilation of the puddle is only used to speed things up or to get a certain look.

if the heat is not enough, useing a manipulation can cause cold lapping on the weld, and if using stick, flux or any other method that leaves a slag, possible slag entrapment.

also running a straight bead will help you to see any inconsistancy in speed and angle. a good bead will be the same width, with a fairly flat profile, and the edges will blend in.

*Welding Thread Disclaimor*
I do not have a university degree in metallurgy, chemistry, or welding processes. If there's any errors in this post they aren't intentional, so don't get ugly - just post a correction.


ya seem to have a good knowledge of welding even without any degree. what kinda background do you have ?:beer::beer::beer:

The light red/brown film around the weld (the stuff you can wipe off with a bare finger) could be lots of different things. Even on perfectly clean steel some elements will become vaporized and airborne during welding. If that metal "vapor" escapes the shielding gas stream and contacts air while it's still hot, it will oxidize and leave a residue on the metal. Some residue around the weld is completely normal.

The little brown glassy looking spots on the bead are caused by silicon and manganese in the filler alloy offgassing to the surface of the hot molten puddle and forming a deposit. Silicon and manganese are alloyed in filler rod/wire as deoxidants and to improve flow. Brown glassy looking spots on the surface of the cooled bead are perfectly normal, it means those elements did their job by bringing gasses and oxidation out of the bead and to the surface where they won't cause a porosity defect. -S6 wire has more deoxidants than -S2 wire, so in theory you'd see more of those little spots. If the spots bother you, a knotted wire wheel will take them right off.

The colors on the back are caused by heating bare steel to temperature and exposing it to air. Different colors indicate different temperatures. Straw, Brown, Blue, and Purple all indicate different temperatures, but it depends on the exact alloy. The layer of color is only a few thousandths deep. Type "steel tempering color chart" in Google Image search and take a look for yourself. That's why if you grind a hardened steel tool too aggressively and it turns blue it usually won't an edge - you "heated the temper out of it" and it will require heat treating to be functional again.

As far as your technique, *slow down* and try moving at a more *constant travel speed* before you start experimenting with different heat settings. The earliest welds are "clunky and rough" because you weren't watching your puddle. You can see where you moved along before a good puddle had time to form. Basically - your weld couldn't keep up with you. Decide heat by material thickness. Decide wire speed by matching it to heat. The actual weld puddle is what decides how fast you can go. Burn-through and warpage aren't much of a concern on stuff that thick, so machine setting should be easy - The hottest bead you can keep up with. You were starting to "get it" on that last weld :smokin:.

*Welding Thread Disclaimor*
I do not have a university degree in metallurgy, chemistry, or welding processes. If there's any errors in this post they aren't intentional, so don't get ugly - just post a correction.


thanks alot, very nice.....