is this with gas, and not flux core? Best guess is not enough gas coverage, probably caused be excessive wire stickout. Stick out is the distance you hold the nozzle from the work. Excessive stickout also lowers the energy going into the welds. That bead looks cold and "ropey", which further leads me to think you had too much stickout.

You also need cleaner metal than that for MIG. You really should get some of that rust off.

 

With gas, not flux core.

Thanks for the note, i'll watch what for that a little more.

 

are you welding outside or with a fan blowing? if its windy it will blow your shielding gas away, make a wind block in that case. contaminants on the surface will sometimes do that too 25 CFH is a good flow rate to start at. make sure you set it with trigger pulled as it usually drops a few CFH from the static state

 

Are you using 100% C02 or C25?
Is the MIG gun inserted into the machine fully? It will leak gas around the feed motor if not.
Is the polarity correct for gas?

 

using 75/25 (argon/CO2)

polarity is right

Mig gun is inserted properly.

 

Is your nozzle filled with spatter?

 

no, it's fairly clean.

 

in a work room, the door/window was open with a little breese but i also only had the gas at 15 CFH

 

Turn up the heat. Most likely poor gas coverage or tried welding over some debris. I usually run higher flow rates of gas usually 20-25 cfh. I weld on steel like that quite frequently make sure you push the bead.

 

What do you mean by push the bead?

 

Figured it out, it was the Gas!... seems i left it off with that last pass (that's what happens when kids interrupt welding)

Thanks for the tips everyone

 

When kids interrupt welding,that should never happen.Are they getting flashed?

 

LOL... no, they call down to the garage asking me to come up stairs. they aren't allowed to get into the room when i'm welding. but each time i leave i shut down just in case i cant make it back.

 

Oils, dirty metal, too much stickout, poor gas coverage, gun angle. Try leaving the bottle off tiggin. POP CRACK HAHA