Problems with gasless mig

[recycleit]

I have had my gasless mig for years and until recently have been able to produce passable welds.
After changing the wire the pic below is the best i can do. I have tried a few different makes of E71T-GS which were supplied in a sealed bag but no joy. I have a grooved roller, new tip and am running negative torch.



It looks like contamination but i have never had this much trouble before even on thin rusty car panels.
I tend to weld in a series of tacks on thin metal as it helps control heat.
Any advice would be appreciated.

 

[tflnemesis]

Is it definitely gasless wire? That looks like normal welding wire used without shielding gas. I see it quite often when removing bearing races from wheel hubs, I don't bother turning the gas on because the part is sacrificial and I just want to pump heat into it.

 

[recycleit]

Yes it is no gas wire but i agree it looks like plain wire without gas.

 

[mike 109444]

This has cropped up a few times and usually starts with someone having run out of gas less wire and the next roll welds crap. Then they start to fiddle with settings etc then it is suggested they try another brand OR supplier of wire and this does seam to sort it many times. I did notice you have put you have tried a few MAKES of wire with same result though. Might be worth trying a small spool of the SIP stuff from Halfords which was what one of the guys on forum did recommend as being ok. (think it was BB). Don't use gas less myself, just going on general comments.

 

[V6BOY]

Yes I recommend the sip wire, the Clarke fluxcore is still giving me nightmares.Sometime I will get round to trying out some Lincoln wire which I hear is the best.

 

[Richard.]

There is without a doubt porosity in that weld.
This is down to contamination of some form or another. The metal looks clean so ruling that out.
Are you absolutely sure this is not a gas shielded wire. Did you get a slag on the bead when it was run. If that is new gasless wire I'd be taking it back.

 

[recycleit]

Thanks for the replies. i have ordered some sip wire and will try and check the transformers and connections tomorrow. fingers crossed.

 

[recycleit]

Getting somewhere now. After remaking earth connections, cleaning the relay on the board and running off two meters of wire
the weld was strong enough to tear the base metal. There was some slag on the weld which came off easily with a wire brush.
This was some old sip wire i had which may have got damp, new stuff has not arrived yet.

 

[norlander]

it looks lile you are sorted. If your machine will take 5kg spools, call in at your local pro welder supplies. Its where I buy my wire now, and I have a roll of ESAB 0.8 and it produces much better results abd was cheaper than the stuff from the DIY sheds.
Another thing to check if you get problems again- if you have changed the polarity on your set, check everything is still tight, one of the connections on my set got loose or maybe I did not tighten it and it was arcing.