Example Welds: Spray transfer

[Dan]

Well, since I ve been discussing the spray transfer topic here recently, and have never posted any true example welds, I went ahead and ran a few quick samples on some scrap at work today. The material thickness is 1/4". Wire was an .035 E 70S-6. Shielding gas was 98% Ar / 2% O2. Load voltage was about 27 volts. Wire speed was around 415 IPM. The joint design is a horizontal T joint.

Also, look around at the picture. You should notice the absence of weld spatter.

[Dan]

And here is one more. Same joint design different weld bead. This is it, only two pictures this time.

[Dan]

Sorry, the first one turned out kinda blurry, so Im going to try posting another one of it at a slightly different angle. Ok, I confess I just want to try something different with my camera.

[Arbo]

415 IPM !?! That's movin'. How much time would it take to run say a 4" bead on 1/4" material at that rate? Just curious, I never messed with this stuff at all.

[morpheus]

hey dan, how did you calculate that IPM number ?

nice looking welds Dan thanks for the pics. besides those pics that Rocky posted a while back I've never seen any spray transfew welds.

I'm glad you brought this up Dan, I've tried to spray arc with my machine (HH175) with .030 wire a few times and from looking at that esab chart that Roger posted a link to my wire speed isn't near fast enough. Also, I get alot of porosity in my welds which really confuses me ... at what distance do you hold the tip from the workpiece when doing spray transfer ?

- jack

[Ronald 1]

Dan, awsome welds and pictures. Are you using a digital camera? What kind? Maybe you could give my class a demo! Ron

[Dan]

Originally posted by morpheus
hey dan, how did you calculate that IPM number ?

nice looking welds Dan thanks for the pics. besides those pics that Rocky posted a while back I've never seen any spray transfew welds.

I'm glad you brought this up Dan, I've tried to spray arc with my machine (HH175) with .030 wire a few times and from looking at that esab chart that Roger posted a link to my wire speed isn't near fast enough. Also, I get alot of porosity in my welds which really confuses me ... at what distance do you hold the tip from the workpiece when doing spray transfer ?

- jack

Jack

Check out my postings to the GMAW transfer types question posted by Ronald1. In one of my posts I explain how I measure my IPM. Keep in mind though with the HH 175 by changing the voltage setting you also change the IPM for the same wire speed settng.

Also, an .030 wire is going to be to large of a wire for a HH 175 to produce spray transfer . Reason being because the HH 175 doesn t produce a high enough output voltage at the amperage that is needed to produce spray transfer. However, you could probably get spray transfer from an .023 wire. I don t know what thickness of material that it would be useful for. If nothing else it would let you see the mode of metal transfer. However, remember if your trying to produce spray transfer with a C25 shielding gas, the mode of metal transfer isn t going to occur, all your going to end up with is a globular transfer. You need a minimum of 80% argon in the shielding gas. To try this with a HH 175 , your highest success rate will probably occur with a 98% AR / 2% O2 shielding gas.

To be honest with though, if your really wanting to experience spray transfer in a benefical form, I would look into renting a MM 250 series machine or Lincoln 255 series machine. Have the supply store set the machine up with an .035 E 70S-6 wire, and a 98/2 shielding gas. This set up would allow you to run a single pass fillet on material as thick as 3/8" with spray transfer.

[Dan]

Originally posted by Arbo
415 IPM !?! That's movin'. How much time would it take to run say a 4" bead on 1/4" material at that rate? Just curious, I never messed with this stuff at all.

Arbo

The welds you saw are 3" long. I really don t know how long it took to complete the joints. However, I would guess that Im running a spray transfer weld on 1/4" material at a similar rate of travel as I would if I were short arcing 1/8" material on this same joint design.

[Dan]

Originally posted by Ronald 1
Dan, awsome welds and pictures. Are you using a digital camera? What kind? Maybe you could give my class a demo! Ron

Ron

Yes, I am using a digital camera. It is a Canon Power Shot A40. Sorry, but it doesn t look like a demo is possible, way to many miles between the two of us.

[PigTurd]

Dan, was that using your MM210? If so, what were the settings on your machine, ie where was the voltage and wire speed at? (not the real voltage and ipm, but what the welder says)..


Thanks for the pics!


Chris

[Rocky D]

Originally posted by Arbo
415 IPM !?! That's movin'. How much time would it take to run say a 4" bead on 1/4" material at that rate? Just curious, I never messed with this stuff at all.

Keep in mind that's how fast the wire travels through the gun, not how fast the weld progresses down the plate

4" bead about 3 seconds.

[Dan]

Originally posted by PigTurd
Dan, was that using your MM210? If so, what were the settings on your machine, ie where was the voltage and wire speed at? (not the real voltage and ipm, but what the welder says)..


Thanks for the pics!


Chris

Chris,

The welds were produced with the MM 250 that I use at work. However, I m in the process of getting a bottle of 98/2 to give spray transfer a try with my MM 210. I plan on trying an .035 and .030 wire. I am quite confident that I will have success with the .030, but we will just have to wait and see. If it works, I will post some pictures, and the exact machine settings.

[Dan]

Originally posted by Rocky D


Keep in mind that's how fast the wire travels through the gun, not how fast the weld progresses down the plate

4" bead about 3 seconds.

Rocky, I have to use an .035 wire, so I think that 3 seconds is a little fast. However I really don t know since I ve never timed it. Also, I would like to add that because of the amount of wire being fed to the weld puddle and the nature of the arc in spray transfer the travel was straight with no oscillation on this joint design.

[Rocky D]

Originally posted by Dan


Rocky, I have to use an .035 wire, so I think that 3 seconds is a little fast. However I really don t know since I ve never timed it. Also, I would like to add that because of the amount of wire being fed to the weld puddle and the nature of the arc in spray transfer the travel was straight with no oscillation on this joint design.

You may be right, I am so used to running heavy wire. Still, 4 seconds is feasible. I've seen some stuff coming out of Japan that sure looks like spray transfer, on light guage material. I'ts hard to tell the robotic welding from the spray, sometimes, though.