Very porous welds

[Snollygoster]

I have a Lincoln 180 mig welder and have decided this week to come to grips with the basics of welding.

Sadly my welds appear very porous as shown in the photo. There also appears to be to much browning (in my totally unqualified opinion ). I am using CO2.

Anyway my research indivates that this is probably a gas issue. I have tried at lower and higher rates with any appreciable improvement so maybe there is no gas arriving at the weld. Can anyone tell me how to tell if the gas is working or is able to shed some light on this ?

I appreciate any advice as I'm a total newbie to this.

Cheers

 

[the snooper]

take the feed roller off the wire so it doesn't feed, then pull the trigger and listen for gas at the shroud.
are you using disposable cylinders ?

 

[Snollygoster]

Thanks for that. I will try what you mentioned latter today. I'm using a gas bottle...not disposable.

 

[Snollygoster]

Okay, I've done as you instructed and ,as expected, there seems to be no gas reaching the gun.

I know there is gas in the bottle and when the trigger is pressed there is a slight dip on the gauge as though the gas is going somewhere. I can't find any leaks and everything appears tight.

I will go through everything tomorrow.

 

[Jan]

Are you sure you're using solid (gas) wire? By the way that little blob of weld doesn't help much. Could you try doing a decent run of weld? Say 4" or more.

 

[jimmyspeed]

if you open up the side flap, you will see at the very front of the machine a 4 armed tightener for the torch, undo this and then push the torch liner towards the back of the machine- then retighten. This seats the o-rings and makes sure the gas isn't just leaking out the wire feed. This happened on mine so could be your problem.

 

[Sean]

have you opened the tap on the bottle fully, you may have a bottle key to operate it (dont be timmid!)? if you just crack it the pressure builds at the regulator showing on the gauge but with a very restricted flow, when you pull the trigger the just open valve cant let enough gas through.

all set up well the torch should really hiss,

 

[Snollygoster]

Thanks guys. I appreciate all your replies.

Spent a while with the machine this morning and, as expected, it was something simple. The torch line wasn't sitting correctly where it joins the machine and gas was escaping. Theres loads of gas coming from the torch and the welds are obviously better after setting it in and retightening.

Thanks again. No doubt there will still be a few stupid questions from me in the future.

 

[the snooper]

often a simple repair especially for gas related problems