spray arc

[DLN]

What do you guys think of spray ark (transfer) with L-56......045...with Ox2.......?....Thanks DL

[lotechman]

Not sure what you mean by Ox2 The main thing is that you have a large enough machine that can give you adequate voltage and that you use a gas with 20 percent carbon dioxide gas maximum. The tri mixes I have used work well.
The an S6 wire such as L-56 you can get some nice beads and cut down on your time putting down metal.
At work we have gone all the way to metal cored wire (.045) with a tri mix and voltage in the low thirties. If your machine can do it spray transfer is certainly the way to make money. We still use .035 wire ( S6) for our handrailing in spray mode.

Lotechman,
Dan will be the one you will want to hear from on that.

[Planet X]

I would guess 98%argon/2% Oxygen mix, and if so they will lower your amp requirements some this is why they work good with blue machines If you use them with red machines chances of porosity will increase-or something like that

Lowtechman, what do the tri-mixes & Metal cored wires do for your applications? Just wondering since you sound like you use these consumables to make $ .

[lotechman]

You are able to pump as much as 450 amp through a little .045 wire. I can't handle it at that level but I have seen my foreman do it.
You really need tri-mixes for metal cored. I have mixed feelings about the stuff. It sure puts down a large amount of metal and the penetration deep. The one thing though if you get porosity it is right down to the root of your pass, never just on the upper part of the bead.
Also no matter what you do you cannot cover the bubbles up. ( not that I would do anything like that) You have to gouge the bead out and start again.
I will dig around for a picture of our last project.

[lotechman]

I'm going to try to post a pic.... Everything is half inch thick or more.... maybe a few little odds and sods 3/8th The assembly is floats and fender supports for leads to guide the vessel into dock.
You need lots of power to get the job done quickly.

[lotechman]

Here is a shot of the tanks and structures

[DLN]

Thanks everyone.And yes the gas is 2% Ox 98 Ar.......runinng 28.5 v......Did a but weld on 3 x1/2 bar stock and could not brake it (welded one side only).............I really like the way it welds...Thanks again DL.

Originally posted by lotechman
Here is a shot of the tanks and structures

Holy Argon, lotechman! That is a project indeed.
I am so used to sitting here admiring those nice tig welds on 2" tubing that the Jeep guys show us or maybe the scrolls and bedframes that Jim 314 does does so well. But damn, it took me a minute just to wrap my mind around the scale of that sucker. That's kinda humbling.

[lotechman]

Yeh it was an interesting project. It took six of us about four mionths plus. The units assembled were eighty tons each not counting superstructure. If I can reduce size I will try to show it assembled in the graving yard. Each unit was over twenty metres long
Don't get overwhelmed by size. All the screwups and problems are the same you get with your little jobs. The nice thing about this job was that it did not require pressure vessel quality.

Looks like those would make one hell of a BBQ....

[lotechman]

We were kinda pissed that the crops were five feet in diameter. Last time we had four foot diameter material that made nice firepit rings. This is the first shop that I have been in that uses metalcore wire. It is a lot better than the smoke from flux core which is more common locally
This picture shows the scale of the thing. It unbolts so that it can be transprted. The one piece needed a steerable trailer unit much like the old ladder trucks.

[LordLimbo]

Looks good lotech is that a ultra metalcore your using (esab or lincoln s3 type)???

We are using it .045 and freemax as our gas for pipe saddles and stands here in the the tarsands.

[lotechman]

We are using Air Liquide stuff. The wire is a C6 and the gas is Blueshield 6.
We got some pulse arc Lincolns lately and it makes for a nice combination. Before we were using power supplies that had seen better days.
For out of position T9 and carbon dioxide do the trick.
Tons of work up there eh? Around here it is pretty quiet.