The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Paint and Body Shop welding sheet metal

l am looking for help on welding sheet metal l am currently welding some 16 gauge and having some problems sometimes l get a nice bead and sometimes l get a bead that looks like swiss cheese like its full of air holes anyone have any solutions l am using a lincoln mig pak 15 with argon/co2 mix Thanks very much for any suggestions

sounds like your losing your gas shield, Are you Inside or outside?

Just today I was welding on one of My front fenders and after a couple of welds it started to splater a little, than I remembered I just turned the fan on , it was getting hot in the garage, moved the fan away from the welding and all good . Are You keeping the tip clean so You get good gas flow around the weld?

Pete

thx for your replies l am welding inside and around tip is clean my gas pressure is set at about 15 lbs should that be higher

Try bumping your shielding gas flow up to about 20 CFH.
Check your gas line for kinks and make sure the metal being welded is clean.

Play around with gas flow 20 to 25 CF to much and You get cold weld to little and the weld will look bad and splatter and remember all gauges are a little defferent so Your gauge could read 22 CF and weld fine or it might read 26 and weld fine You just got to play around I set mine at 23 CF for sheet metal


Have fun, Pete

My gauge lost its needle a long time ago. I try a bead on some scrap similar to what I am going to weld and adjust it until I get it right. Try different pressures on some scrap. 16 Gauge is thick enough that so its relatively easy to weld. What size wire are you using. I leave .023 in my Hobart 140 and weld from tin up to 1/4" with it. Anything thicker I use a Millermatic 200 with 035 wire.

I had a similar problem with my millermatic 180. I found my problem was when I moved the welder I was pulling the whip slightly out of alignment of the tube where the gas needs to be.
I pushed against the outside of the whip felt a slight nudge ahead. That fixed the problem. Like 57 blevins mentioned I was loosing gas shield. It had been acting the same as if I had been welding in the wind, but I was inside. Maybe you can check all the tubing connections to make sure the gas is getting to the source. Good luck, hope this will help.

I had the same problem as vickraft on my miller when it was new. I determined that I wasn't getting any gas by sticking the end of the nozzle into a cup of water and pulling the trigger. Even though the gage indicated that there was gas flow, there were no bubbles in the water. I pushed the cable in a little harder and it started bubbling. I think there's an o-ring in there that has to be seated firmly.

yep, stinger connection has to be seated properly, happened when I started using my new MIG .... hold it next to your ear, very easy to hear the gas flowing or not, and easier than getting yer nozzle wet

Bill

Not to go off in a different direction, but if you are welding body panels, you shuoldn't be welding a bead. All your welds should be more or less spot welds until the entire seam (about 1/8") is filled. Welding a bead on body panels will cause warping.

My Millermatic was loose where the lead goes into the wire feed mechanism. Drove me nuts for a little while. I thought I had forgot how to weld there for a little bit. If that connection is pulled out slightly, partial or no gas flows. Check that out.

Just another thought, a lot of small welders come with flux wire. You have to reverse the polarity to mig weld.