So I'm making that plate that I was talking about for the trunk of my car. But the metal is contaminated. 14 gauge hot roll. I asked a guy that I know at a welding supplies retailer about this, and he said that it's typical. I bought the metal from another guy by the way. He gave me two pieces of 308L and a new #10 cup for free and told me to put in the 308L when it started to bubble; it was a little trick.

If this is so typical, what is the deal with people selling such low quality metal? This sucks. Is it something only with hot roll, or do both hot and cold roll suffer from this problem? It also seems like maybe a result of recycled steel, but at $75 per 4x8 sheet of 14 gauge, I think that I should be getting top notch stuff. The best that I can do is tack weld it, and that works, but shoot, this sucks. I'm quite frustrated right now as I'm sure that you can tell (Eclipse can eat its own *****---I just got a denial on my headunit replacement insurance, etc. etc.), so what should I do?

 

By the way, the metal table that I got for free from a friend has the same problem. When I grinded down some square tubing and formed a bead, NO problem until smoke from oil on the other side of it rose and I could see it get into my argon flow.

 

I've had the same problems on hot rolled. I had some kind of goo in my torch. I dont really understand what was happening and it wasnt a problem that happened all the time. It was almost exactly as you describe. I cleaned my torch out and viola no more problem.

 

Dang it. No goo for me.

 

Are you welding the plate in the trunk or just welding on the plate for practice? If you're welding the plate to the trunk make sure to clean off the paint on the topside of the trunk and the undercoating on the bottom side.

I really haven't had that problem with any steel that I've bought new. Sure on some older vehicle's body panels that was made out of pot metal type crap, not on new mild steel though. Since it's happening with other stuff perhaps you just need to prep the metal better. Wire brush and then wipe down with acetone. Repeat until when you wipe off the acetone with a rag and the rag is clean afterwards.

 

I talked with a local guy. He gave me a new seal to go between the torch and the cup. That still didn't work, so I checked my hose as he recommended, and sure enough, there was a frelling hole. I sealed it with liquid electrical tape, so wish me luck!

 

That was it.