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dirty welds after parts washer solvent/brake cleaner prep?

1K views 9 replies 7 participants last post by  Shadowofjudgment 
#1 ·
i was welding up the spiders in my rockwell axle today, and there seemed to be a lot of spatter and dirty looking (pitted) welds. i cleaned the spider assembly in my parts washer, then brake cleaned them. then compressed air to dry everything off. and when i welded them using a miller autoset with 75/25 gas it welded halfassed in some spots. any ideas? was my prep not appropriate or was it welder setting/skills related? welded the spiders in the wifes jeep, didnt even pull them just brake cleaned the best i could and walla, turned out a ton better than this.

i also pre heated the spiders with the torch. dunno if it matters.
 
#2 ·
Sometimes, even after going through the parts washer, the steel still has oil in the pores, should have burned out when you preheated, though...:confused:

What type of brake cleaner? Chlorinated or non-chlorinated? The Chlorinated brake cleaner releases phosgene (poison gas) when heated...bad ju-ju.
 
#4 ·
Yes, even after its been cleaned there is sometimes a residue that is left behind that will still cause porosity in a weld. Anything that can burn in the area that is welding will emit a gas into the weld puddle and thus cause porosity. However, its also possible that the gears may have had some sort of other metal in a coating form for hardness or wear resistance and that mixture of metal was causing the poor welds.
 
#7 ·
yea i remember reading that thread. i used compressed air to dry the parts off and let them sit for a half hour before welding. hopefully i didnt kill myself.

acetone a good prep material? im thinking of other things to use for areas where sanding/grinding wheels wont fit.
 
#9 ·
And the brake clean doesn't have to be right at the weld area!
We have had it "light off" when something in the neighboring bay had been cleaned with the cholorinated brake clean and we were welding on something else.
That is some ugly shit !!!! No flames or anything, just fumes from hell.
 
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