SO I was welding up a bunch of cast aluminum yesterday and I was religously cleaning it with ss wire brush and acetone, came out pretty good. Than I went to weld up a downpipe (mild steel) which I usually just clean up and hit the welded areas with wire wheel and a sander or bench grinder to give a bit of bevel. After I tacked it together I decided I would try wiping down the area to be welded with acetone, which I have never tried, and I got more contamination than I ever have before! Looks like that silicum (sp?) slag stuff from mig welding mild steel. Is this a common problem or should I be looking at somehting else?

 

I've had the same issue before, with both acetone and BPC. Our tube comes oiled, so I tried it instead of wire wheeling the top coat off. Didn't do anything to help, and the BPC must have left a residue, you could smell it burning off (smells like apples) even after being dry for over an hour. I didn't have any particularly bad contamination, just "sea shelling".

 

Nope never had that happen actually. I do you use your wirewheel on both AL and carbon?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Goullish &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">I've had the same issue before, with both acetone and BPC. Our tube comes oiled, so I tried it instead of wire wheeling the top coat off. Didn't do anything to help, and the BPC must have left a residue, you could smell it burning off (smells like apples) even after being dry for over an hour. I didn't have any particularly bad contamination, just "sea shelling".</TD></TR></TABLE>

Hmm whats "sea shelling" maybe thats more my problem but its not a term I have heard around here before.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by ManBearPig4silly &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Nope never had that happen actually. I do you use your wirewheel on both AL and carbon?</TD></TR></TABLE>

Nope I keep em separate. not quite that dumb

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by dave@passenger &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Hmm whats "sea shelling" maybe thats more my problem but its not a term I have heard around here before.</TD></TR></TABLE>

It's a type of contam. that I get on 4130. I've never had it happen on any other metals, but I also barely do anything else.

Basically, the bead looks like it has veins in it, running out from the center, like a sea shell. It's not something I've ever heard anyone else name, exactly, so I just called it what it looks like.