Dual Shield Welding

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endicott_jb

Well-known member
Joined
Jun 19, 2013
Messages
1,352
Location
Havre, MT but may as well be the north pole
So for the last month or so I've been experimenting with dual shield welding. If you don't know what that is, it's where you use flux cored wire and a shielding gas. The reason being for the experimentation, I was at work one day and they were using our big 480v wire feed welder and the welds were looking like crap. Turns out, they have the polarity wrong but refuse to allow me to swap leads around. Anyway, I've been playing around with it for a month or so at home and I'll have to say, it's a very pretty weld when you're done. Almost looks like a 7018 stick weld but less time consuming because you don't have to swap electrodes and chip slag off constantly and less time consuming than MIG because you don't have the prep time. And if you're worried about splatter build up, spray your metal with PAM, yes the cooking spray, first.
 
I had the same results when I ran out of solid wire for the mig welder. I slapped a roll of inner sheild on it and ran it with the gas with good results.
Didn't help my shakey hands tho.
 
Only thing that helps shaky hands, and I know just what you mean, is resting your "guide" hand on a stable surface. Only downfall is if you hold your MIG gun as I do, you go through quite a few more left hand gloves. Forgot to mention yesterday that even overhead, which I absolutely hate doing, is easier with the flux cored and gas.
 
I was a truck equipment mechanic/welder/fabricator for many years. We always used flux core wire with straight CO2 shielding gas. It works good for heavy stuff because it burns hot as hell and also good at burning through paint/rust/dirt/etc. Not the prettiest but effective on that stuff. Don't try welding any thin stuff though - way too hot.
 
So as some of you may know, I went to another two week welding course for work right before christmas. Good class for me as we got more in depth on what happens during welding and getting into blue prints. Anyhow, again we were using .045” dual shield with 75%argon, 25%Co2. Covered vertical groove and fillet, horizontal groove an fillet, and overhead groove and fillet welds all on 3/4” plate. For the final project of the class we went into what’s called spray transfer(kinda) on 3/8” plate with a 1/2” opening and 1/4” backing strip. We cranked everything way up until the wire made a “V” instead of breaking off as it does in short circuit transfer, for my machine it was 29.5V and 525IPM wire speed. I swear it was one of the coolest(actually hot as hell) things I had ever seen. Unfortunately for the school I toasted the gun because in an 8” section running a gas cooled nozzle it got so hot that it melted the liner, o-rings, and nozzle insulator. Really makes me want to have a larger wire feed welder and a tig/stick setup. So for now, as my wire feed works for thin metal and short runs, I am going to invest in an a/c tig and stick machine.
 
Thanks for the update. Iv'e been welding for 35 years or more and still learning. Still trying to get the hang of pulse arc welding. I'm having a hard time with machine settings. Once I get it set right it welds great.
 
I’ve noticed with pulse arc, you have to set the machine up just right and move just fast enough. Pretty much turn up volts and wire speed until it’s a steady arc and run it like normal. I learn something new everytime I turn a welder on and pull the trigger. About to step foot into some uncharted territory for myself this coming year, decided that it’s time to buy a Tig welder and learn GTAW so I can weld aluminum. I had to turn down a lot of side jobs because I didn’t have that ability.
 
Thanks for the insight. I have an old Lincoln Idealarc that is set up for tig and I need to practice more. My problem is that I have a spool gun for miller 350P and it welds so well that I go to it first and don't get any practice with tig.
 
Kenny, I have kicked around getting a spool setup or even a push pull gun for my wire feed but at that point you’re still limiting yourself to thicker metals and large diameter piping. For me, I need to be able to do anything from “pop can” thin to about 3/8” along with large and small diameter tubing. When I put my 33 together I had to cut the aluminum thermostat housing and take it to the local welding shop. When I got it back I was not impressed with the quality of weld. They had taken it and welded it using a spool gun and I still had to go back and clean up the inside and outside of the weld. It had to have had a 1/8” weld profile which was just not going to work. Needless to say, I have not taken anything back to him.
 

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