Fillet Weld Issues

Hey Guys,

So ive been having problems making a decent looking fillet weld. Im using a Miller Millermatic 180 with .030 diameter wire and argon/CO2 mix shielding gas. The material that im welding is 1/8" thick mild steel. The welder settings are as follow:

Wire Speed: 65
Voltage: 4.5
Shielding Gas Flow: 25 CFH

The attached pic is of a bead i ran today on my truck frame. I ran that in the horizontal position even though in the pic its vertical. I have the frame on a homemade rotisserie so i was able to spin it. I havent always had this problem running fillet welds it just started recently and i cant seem to correct it. Any advice?

Thanks,

-Chris

Reverse polarity?

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My guess would be that 4.5 is not enough voltage to get the penetration you need, you have a large heat sink there as well welding on a frame.

You should be 7/8 range I would think on a 180 which would get you in the 140-150 amp range...

To me, the sound of the weld is how I set it up, you just know the sound of that crackle when you have it right and everything looks like it should.

the heat looks low. i like my wire to melt just above the heated metal so it penetrates and lays in. get you some more scrap and practice, you'll get, your close now. make it sound like your popping pop corn.

it may be that you are getting ahead of the puddle. try to travel a little slower while welding and keep your wire in the crater of the weld puddle and push it along as you go. you may also want to try turning the wire speed up just a little bit. another thing to consider is that line voltage coming to your shop may not always be the same. in different shops I have worked in and in my home garage the voltage can vary due to different demands at different times of day it reallly varies in the summer time in the after noon when people come home and turn on air conditioners, electric stoves, clothes driers, etc. I've found this effects smaller welders like the suit case style 220 and 110 volt machines more than the larger ones but it will affect my miller 210, usually it can be worked around with a slight adjustment to settings and or technique. the other thing to remember is to have the material you are welding as clean as possible. any rust in pits or old paint will make a bad weld. also steel is porous it will contain moisture .sometimes a little preheat with a small torch will help with getting rid of it. I hope this helped good luck and let us know how you make out.

You're not using an extension cord or a different outlet than normal? Other thought is that's a Millermatic - what happens when you use auto-set?

Why hasn't anyone even mentioned his Argon/CO2 mix setting? I know that most machines want 18cfm max. But then again, I don't know Millers.

The weld looks really cold. Could be any or all of what is mentioned above. Get a piece of scrap metal an experiment with different settings on your welder, until you get the weld you want, then weld up the frame.
Yes the gas setting is too high, but it is just probably wasting gas.

X2 on the, not enough amps.
Shielding gas flow is ok but, you can run it lower to save gas.
What size wire are you using? You need at least .030 for frames.
I use .035 on everything including body patch panels
I have a MillerMatic 200 and run on 2 wire feed and 2 (13.6) voltage low side for body work.
4.5 wire feed and 4 (16.7) to 5 (18.2) voltage low side on just about everything else.
Create little cursive e's as you run the bead and it'll look real good.
It's way easier to run a bead hot than it is too cold.

This is Millers suggestion on wire size to metal thickness


This chart should be on the inside of the lid of the Miller 180

One thing I have noticed as well is if the ground isn't up to snuff your welding quality can be real sketchy as well...

Thanks to everyone for all the responses! Im going to try and answer all the questions in one post....

-Wire size = .030

-Checked the polarity on the machine and its good. Wire connections are good and tight.

-I am running the welder off of a 220 volt heavy duty extension cord. Ive been running it on the cord for at least a year now and havent had any issues with that.

- I believe that i did a really good job of cleaning the metal first. Ground the metal down, wire brushed it, and i used a weld through primer that a local welding shop recommend. Its called "Dynaflux AL-Oxide"

- The settings for wire speed and voltage that im using are the ones i found on the inside of the lid on the machine. I attached a pic of the chart on the inside of my millermatic 180, slightly different recommendations than the chart in post # 9. I havent tried the auto set function yet, i will do that.

- Also someone mentioned that my shielding gas flow is to high (25 CFH), what do you guys recommend? I dont wanna be wasting gas for no reason.

I think a basic consensus is that my amperage is too low so thats the first thing ill try. I hope ill have some time to go out to the shop and grab some scrap and mess around with the settings. I'll definitely report back with the results. Thanks again for all the responses.

-Chris

Just a little more advice.
Leave the wire feed as it is now and only turn the voltage/amps up until you like the weld. Then play with the wire feed etc. etc.
15 to 20 is plenty of flow (inside out of the wind)

Thanks Old Iron, i will try that. I didnt see this post before going out to the shop and welding up some scrap...

So i took two pieces of 1/8" scrap metal and cleaned them both up and tacked them in a T-joint config. I then set my welder to the auto settings (pic #1). I ran two beads across the joint and i think they came out pretty decent. My problem was definitely that the weld was to cold. I also turned the shielding gas flow down to about 19 CFH.

What do you guys think?

-Chris

Try moving a little bit slower forward. Allow the time for the weld to get good and hot. Also, I don't know what your technique is but for me, I have found that a "halfmoon" works well for filling large gaps and a tight "zig-zag" stopping for a second or so on each side of the weld works well. Of course, I also count in my head while I weld, like I am conducting a band(band geek here).

Much better, although you're still moving barely, barely fast.

Thanks for the critiques endicott and ssimpala that's exactly what I need so I can figure out what I'm doing wrong. My technique is a half moon like you're talking but I'd like to experiment with some others and see which one looks best. Could you guys give me a few pointers on what to look for in a proper weld? I know both of you said I was moving a little fast, how do you know that?

Much appreciated,

-Chris

I think it is looking much better. Once you are comfortable with your welds try the same technique on the same material in the same method but with the weld through primer and see how it welds. I've only tied it once and it probably wasn't the same type you were using but I had a hard time with it and so did a friend that is a certified nuclear welder with many years of experience. neither of us has used it since.

Good idea Kenny I'll have to give that a try. The guy at the welding shop told me that the Dynaflux stuff that I'm using is what the navy has there fabricators use. I have no idea if that's at all true, maybe he just said that so I'd think it's a great product and buy it haha. It seems like weld thru primer isn't really necessary. I just thought it may be a good idea so I gave it a shot.

Thanks

-Chris

It may be a much better product than I tried and it will work well. it's worth a try. good luck and let us know.

Cut into the weld and check your penetration. Might as well.