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Up Topic Welding Industry / General Welding Discussion / Will random flux hurt a weld?
- - By gangel99 (*) Date 02-24-2004 02:04
I have a 110V wire feed mig which I've always used with shielding gas. Recently I got some .035 flux core so I could weld thicker steel. When I tack I notice that flux dust spreads around the tack - maybe 1/2" - 3/4".

I've never done or seen flux core welding before so I don't know the answer to a pretty simple question: Should I clean off this flux before welding the full joint between the tacks?

Parent - - By welder_guy2001 (***) Date 02-24-2004 02:43
Flux core welding is just like stick welding, only it's in wire form. You don't have to clean the tacks if you are just messing around or practicing...but if it's something you want to hold together for a long time, I'd clean the slag off.

Also, you don't need to use the shielding gas w/ your kind of flux core. I didn't know if you knew that or not. It's actually self-shielded flux core if you want to get technical. There is also gas shielded flux core, but that is usually only run in machines w/ 200 amp output or greater.
Parent - - By gangel99 (*) Date 02-25-2004 03:25
I did know not to use shielding gas. As you said I thought it was similar to stick however stick seems to produce a solid slag that needs to be chipped and the flux core seems to produce a powder.

Thanks for your reply!
Parent - By welder_guy2001 (***) Date 02-25-2004 05:05
Interesting...with the self-shielded flux core I've run the slag had to be chipped off. I wonder if you got a wet batch of wire? Is it E71T-GS?
Parent - - By jwright650 (*****) Date 02-25-2004 11:21
The E7XT-X number should be written on the roll of wire somewhere. This number will tell you if you need shielding gas or not(particularly the last digit(s) after the hyphen). There are several fluxcore wires that don't require external shielding. If your wire needs shielding gas and you don't supply it, you will know in a hurry. Porosity will take over.

Slag will "normally" chip easier on the wires that require an external supply of shielding gas. However if you get your settings where they should be, the slag will "almost" fall off on it's own as it cools, unlike solid wires where the silicon has to be chipped off. We run E70T-1 and E71T-1 on our machines here. They require 100% CO2 shielding in addition to the flux in the wire. With these wires the slag will peel up like a E7018 SMAW rod when you get the machine dialed in.

Find that number on your wire and post back, someone can tell you what type wire you have by the number.
HTH,
John Wright


Parent - By gangel99 (*) Date 02-28-2004 01:18
The wire is E71T-GS. Says Gasless Flux on the spool so I did get that part right. Maybe the wire is so thin (.035) that the flux deposits like powder rather than the thicker slag from stick welding.

When it cools I can brush most of it off with my fingers and the rest with a wire brush. There is also a little spatter, but not nearly as much as with stick. The welds look pretty nice and the penetration is OK.
Up Topic Welding Industry / General Welding Discussion / Will random flux hurt a weld?

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