|
Sumark Industrial Co.,Ltd.
|
Knowledge
*****Thin Metal
Blowing holes in thin metal? MIG welders aren't well suited to welding steel under 1mm thick.
Here's a technique that should be good for 0.6mm sheet.
The steel is 0.8mm thick and the welder power was set to minimum.
The effect is quite neat, though this is a cold method of MIG welding. The danger with this technique is the individual beads of weld might not melt into each other fully resulting in a weak joint.
For thin metal this isn't a problem, but a continuous weld seam weld would be much more appropriate for steel over 1mm.
*****Gasless MIG Welding
How to weld with flux cored wire ?
Flux cored is an economical way to weld mild steel if the welder is used only occasionally. Apart from that it's only real advantage over mild steel wire with shielding gas is that it can be used outside in moderate wind conditions.
It is difficult to use while learning MIG welding as the smoke and flux make it difficult to see what's going on. Also the flux doesn't conduct electricity so you have to be careful not to weld over the same piece twice once it's cooled.
Welding without gas
Where ordinary mild steel mig welding wire needs an inert gas shield to prevent it from oxidising when melted, gasless MIG wire has a flux core which forms the shield around the weld to keep oxygen out.
It's the flux that causes all the weld spatter in the photo and the light coloured crust (slag) on top of the weld.
The slag is easy to remove with a wire brush (apart from around the very edge of the weld), and the resulting weld is reasonably neat.
The advantage of gasless (other than saving on gas bottle rental) is the ability to weld in windy conditions.
I tried it outside in a gusty wind, and as the photo shows the weld turned out just as good as the one I did inside. Normal gas shielded welding would have struggled in the slightest breeze.
