Spray or globular transfer?

[Bruce Avison]

Hi all. First I'll start with a little background.

2 years ago, took a community college mig course, absolutely loved it and developed quite a knack for welding. Marginally failed a mock CWB coupon, journeyman instructor was quite impressed with how I had progressed during the course. 1/32" slag inclusion caught me, but I was happy with that since it's mostly farm repair and some fabrication, nothing too fancy.

Been welding on and off for a year after, working on a farm, but haven't picked up a mig in almost a year. Did a few practice strings today before some actual welding. Using some fancy schmancy Miller multi-process at work, running 21.6 V, wire about 2.3ish on the dial, I believe .035 wire, it's Murex-6 (ER70S-6?). Pretty sure it's 75/25, never checked out touched the regulator since they main guys have it set where they like it.

I was welding 3/16" angle on to 3" channel, all flat or horizontal. I was quite happy with my welds, little wash, no undercut, and it sure sounded like spray transfer. Maintenance guy came along, said I was doing it wrong, and turned wire speed up to just under 3, and I felt/heard/saw it change, to what felt like globular transfer. Told me I need to weave more, really drag that bead out (he figures a bead should be wider than the thickness of the material, for welding a horizontal string).

Now, since it's been so long since I regularly welded, should I feel like my judgment is wrong? I know I had good penetration, my puddle was nice and consistent, and my settings felt right. I've seen this same guy make welds that fail in a month, and him being a friend it's hard to know who's right and who's wrong... Just because he's welding regularly doesn't mean he's doing it right.

Sorry for the long winded story, but I'm just wanting to know if there is a right or wrong here... I do know I need more practice, and I do know some of his technique is garbage.

Sorry I don't have pictures. I would weld another piece for example but we ran out of wire, they're stupid enough too not even have a spare...

Bruce

[ironmangq]

Keep doing it your way, Theres no reason to put down a wide puddle and if his welds are failing and yours arent, that tells me yours are probably better anyway. Now with C25 mix you wont be in spray mode, at least not a stable one anyway. Spray transfer is almost silent and does not sizzle and crackle like a normal arc will.

[MoonRise]

http://esabna.com/us/en/education/esab-university.cfm

and go to the "MIG Welding Handbook".

starts at

http://www.esabna.com/EUWeb/MIG_handbook/592mig1_1.htm

Also check out a lot of the info at the Lincoln site. Tons of info there.

But with C25, you were not doing spray transfer. C10 or maybe up to C15, you can get spray transfer going, but not C25.

And not at just 21.6V on 0.035 wire. Transition to spray transfer using 0.035 steel wire is about maybe 23V (C10 or 98-2 Ar-O2) and upwards of 165 amps (98-2) or 180 amps (C10).

Short-circuit transfer sound : frying/sizzling bacon

Spray transfer : a hissing sound and lots of heat going on

Globular transfer : in between and lots of spatter

Of course if you were using some fancy-schmancy Miller you might have been in pulsed-spray mode. Sound there is sometimes described as "angry bees" (not angry birds ).

[Bruce Avison]

Thanks for the input guys. The only other more solid info I can give is in regards to sound, my settings gave more of a hissing sound, and I had to maintain more of a stickout, the other guy's had more of the bacon frying sound and my stickout could shorten a little. Almost no spatter with either setting, somewhat surprised me.

Lots of reading to do, thanks for the links. Looks like I am a but rusty, but that's good, learning is good for the brain.

Bruce

[Joshfromsaltlake]

FYI You can't really get good spray transfer with 75/25 unless you're using .045" wire, or larger. For stable spray with .035 you need to use around 15%CO2. or less.

You were almost certainly using short circuit.

With .035" spray transfer starts at around 420 in/min and 27 volts, best performance will be had at 500-600 in/min and 29-31 volts. (assuming that you have the right gas.)

Spray transfer is typified by a dramatic lack of spatter (few visible sparks for that matter), and a quiet arc. It's a soft hissing sound that's remarkably like

an extremely angry rattlesnake.

an extremely angry rattlesnake.

The sound is distinctive.

The sharp "frying bacon" sound is associated with short-circuit transfer, not spray.