Kastoria

Is it me or is it a general characteristic. Does flux cored wire splatter 10X more when using it in a 230V welder v.s. a 115V welder? I dragged my Miller mig welder on site the other day cuz I could actually use it in a 230V receptacle...normally I bring my Hobart 140 cuz a lot of locations dont have the power needed. In any case, as soon as I started welding I noticed that I had splatter all over the place shooting 10ft in every direction. This never happens with the 115V. I mean there is splatter and some clean up but nothing compared to this. So is it because of the different power supply that caused that or...? I took it back to the shop and hooked it up again to gas/solid wire and not a problem. (Before any one asks...yes I did change the polarity from solid wire to flux core before I started welding).

Thanks guys

App-ironworks

Flux core will spatter way more. Play with your heat and wire speed to try and fine tune it to make as little as possible, but it'll still be way more than solid wire and gas.

Kastoria

I agree with the splatter...but my 230V welder splatters significantly higher than my 115V welder when welding the same steel at the same voltage/wire speed setting using the same type of flux cored wire. So is it the type of input power that is causing this?

72chevy4x4

just curious, what size wire are you running w/ flux core in a 230v setup? I use a 120v setup for gas and bought a 230v ac/dc stick welder for the big stuff b/c I couldn't get enough penetration using .35 on gas. the results could have likely been my inexperience...

I would say turn back the power setting-may be burning back to quickly which is throwing off the splatter.

Anti-wingnut

Almost impossible

Kastoria

I generally bounce between 030 & 035 from 16ga - 1/2 solid steel and never had a problem with penetration and thats both flux cored wire or solid steel/gas set up. Just have to prep the weld area good and do some grinding anything over 1/2 - like when I do 5/8 solid bars I just grind the ends on an angle to penetrate deeper. Ive never had a weld crack loose, even do test welds if Im not sure and put a sledge hammer to them. Welds always hold, the steel on the other hand bends like a noodle. Ive only used stick once and I cant even remember what for. I pretty much do, I would say about 70% mig and 30% tig in my shop and have the oxy-fuel for brazing.

App-ironworks

Another way to think of running flux core, is to make sure you're not holding your push or pull angle like you do when you're using GMAW.

Hold your angles more like when you're SMAW welding. FCAW likes to be pulled, more than pushed and run vert up, not down.

Watch your stickout, too.

Think of the wire position in FCAW being the same in relation to the electrode position in SMAW.

I usually like to run FCAW current pretty hot, and wire as slow as possible, then you can take your time and burn it in there good.