warping

wow...Paco - thank you very much! - and your work is beautiful

1. two create the two halves, I used magnets - so similar to what you are suggesting - I started at the corners (but on the outsides) - my weld's suck...they are globs, then too little and lots of porosity...working on it

2. the struggle was getting the 2 halves together - i wished i had thought of (or known about) inside dimensional spacers - then i could have clamped and life would have been easier - this is what i ended up doing - first, i noticed that my two halves did warp - they kind of pulled into the center and raised each corner a little - i used magnets to line up just one corner of the 4 - the other were all out of whack, but I ignored that - the one that was lined up was lined up correctly and i put a tack there - from there, I was able to use cross clamps on the corner and tack the seam - i used clamps for the two corners of the other seam

now back on to the internet to figure out why i've got all this porosity

thanks again!
 
What machine and gas are you running? Did you leave the mill scale on the weld joints?
Post up some pictures of the set up, plenty of folks here might have an answer plus it might help the next guy later.
 
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Prep:

i ground off all mill scale on the joints and the inch or 2 going down from each joint

i cleaned the material with mineral spirits to get off any dust, grease, etc.

Equipment:

it is a millermatic 211, running on 230v

.030 steel fire

C25 gas mixture

i am running it on "auto" with material thickness at 1/4" (is that correct? - or do i need to add both pieces?) and .030 wire and it picks the speed and heat

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I just came back in from grinding off all the bad tacks, so no photos

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looking on the internet, apart from a clean weld joint, it seems that gas is the next most important thing

oddly, unless i am missing it, my label does not show gas pressure for each setting on the chart as can be seen here

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i had been running the gas at 20 (psi? cfm?) and then bumped it up to 25...probably made it worse


20170729_152533 (1).jpg 20170729_152533 (1).jpg
 
here are some pictures of the ground tacks - the bubbling not only was in the entire tack, but also shot through into good metal

here are pictures of one of the already complete seems - there were just a couple of porous spots so i left them - as has been pointed out, this project in 1/4" is way over kill for the 75 pound belt sander that will sit on it...

thanks

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Unable to see your weld chart after zooming in, but, .030 wire is a little on the small side for 1/4" material. Your gas (C25) is fine with regular set to 20 cfm . I don't use mineral spirit for cleaning/ prep as it leaves residue. I suggest laqure thinner for cleaning just mind your rags as it's flammable the stuff evaporates without residue. Your welding chart setting are recommendations for the thickness your welding (not combined thickness). Do you have any evidence of penetration on the inside/ underside of weld joint?
 
You are filling a puddle so pen et ration not as important as good flow.

Just hit the metal with a wire wheel in a die grinder and it will be fine.

No familiar with your machine but look up 1/4 material and set it to that and avoid auto anything.

Experiment with lower settings since you are top welding a puddle and not needing pen et ration like a t weld would be.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337Z using Tapatalk
 
thanks guys...problem solved

went back and re-read the manual...at some point i read "for indoor use...do not use where windy" - well a light bulb went off b/c with 105 heat indexes and 100% humidity for four months of the year, i set a whomping big fan right next to me - sure enough, turned it off, weld's came out beautifully

Paco - I get slight penetration on the underside (inside) of the joint...but only here and there and very little

TQ - if problem hadn't resolved itself using manual settings would have been the next step

I'll post some pictures in the morning - odd situation, hopefully it might be a clue to others to check if this ever happens to them

thanks!
 
Glad u figured it out wind will blow shielding gas away from molten metal,makes for bad welds.
 
thanks again guys...finished product (first welding project)

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