I'm getting ready to weld my IC pipes. I did things the hard way, and have spent the last few months MIGing aluminum.....

Anyway, since I was working with aluminum, I have pure argon as shielding gas. I figured I'd try using it with a few scrap pieces of steel sheet metal to get the welder settings correct.

I'm using a lincoln 110v weld-pack MIG, with .023 wire.

My best welds seem to come when I increase the wire speed to more than double what the welder chart says (7 vs 3), and turn up the heat from B to C. I have to hustle along with the weld, but I think I can do it.

My questions:

Can I continue to "cheat" by moving faster wire and hotter with argon instead of 75/25? Does this affect the weld quality? This is ~16 to 18 gauge steel. The weld bead looks excellent to me, but I still consider myself an amatuer.....

I wish my POS camera could take a picture of the weld to post, but the quality up close blows.

any help appreciated.

John