So yesterday i had to weld my aftermarket seat brackets to fit some recaros, and its basically the first time ive welded mild steel. i cleaned everything up as usual, and started going at it. my issue is when the weld cools, sometimes it makes small holes like as if my weld pool is hollow or something? i can imagine im doing something wrong here but i dont know what. this doesnt happen with stainless.

setup is 3/32 tungsten argon flow is 20 cfm using 3/32 mild steel filler machine set at 105 amp since its about 1/8 steel.

 

are you letting the gas stay over the weld long enough to cool with the shielding over it?

 

Turn your gas down to about 13 cfm and about 80amps and move slow for best pen.

Ive found using lower amounts of gas for the deversion series works best, unless you have a gas lens.

 

what your welding is possibly too dirty, contamination is a problem that can cause what your getting.
also like mentioned your using a bit too much argon but i dont think that is causing your problem.
lastly, I like to use stainless filler even when welding mild steel it usually works very nice.

 

Usually if the problem is not cleanliness, it's speed. Mild steel that is a little dirty likes more time to let the filler do some deoxidizing. ER70s-2 is best, and s-6 works good too. I usually bevel the crap out of mild steel anything so that the puddle is mostly high quality filler instead of cheap parent metal.

 

thanks for al the advice guys, i dont have a gas lense and im probobly not leaving my gas over the weld long enough. also i didnt know u could use too much argon?

 

Yes everyone has there limit on how much argon they use with different metals.

I've also had the same problem you have though with the diversion such as small crator like holes in my beads. Since its an air cooled system it seems the more argon you use the more air thats traveling out the nozzel also which blows your weld pool and contaminates it.

 

id try cleaning it good. some mild steel comes with a rust preventing coating that will def cause this problem. sanding good or wire wheel might help you along with acetone or brakleen.

 

watch what you put on your metals before you weld. using the wrong carbcleaner or brake cleaner will kill you because the byproducts at high temp are poisonous. I wouldn't use any of that crap. ever.

 

SS wire acts like valium for temperamental China steel.

 

Try grinding the weld area first. Brushing alone is usually not enough to get the scale off of steel. I would use 65-80A, 15cfm and postflow of 9 seconds.

 

This. But I suggest 80-100 amps

 

x2 depending on travel speed.