4.4. WELDING STAINLESS STEEL
Series 300 stainless steels must be welded using a
protection gas with a high Argon content, containing a
small
percentage
of
(approximately 2%) to stabilize the arc.
Do not touch the wire with your hands. It is important to
keep the welding area clean at all times, to avoid
contaminating the joint to be welded.
4.5. WELDING ALUMINIUM
In order to weld aluminium you must use:
• Pure Argon as the protection gas.
• A welding wire with a composition suitable for the base
material to be welded.
• Use mills and brushing machines specifically designed for
aluminium, and never use them for other materials.
• In order to weld aluminium you must use the torches:
P3KP or SPOOL-GUN with the connection item 530196.
5. WELDING DEFECTS
1 DEFECT- Porosity (within or outside the bead)
CAUSES
• Electrode defective (rusted surface)
• Missing shielding gas due to:
- low gas flow
- flow gauge defective
- regulator frosted due to no preheating of the
CO2 protection gas
- defective solenoid valve
- contact tip clogged with spatter
- gas outlet holes clogged
- air drafts in welding area.
2 DEFECT
- Shrinkage cracks
CAUSES
• Wire or workpiece dirty or rusted.
• Bead too small.
• Bead too concave.
• Bead too deeply penetrated.
3 DEFECT
- Side cuts
CAUSES
• Welding pass done too quickly
• Low current and high arc voltages.
4 DEFECT - Excessive spraying
CAUSES
• Voltage too high.
• Insufficient inductance.
• No preheating of the CO2 protection gas
6. MAINTAINING THE SYSTEM
• Shielding gas nozzle
This nozzle must be periodically cleaned to remove weld
spatter. Replace if distorted or squashed.
• Contact tip.
Only a good contact between this contact tip and the wire
can ensure a stable arc and optimum current output; you
must therefore observe the following precautions:
A) The contact tip hole must be kept free of grime and
oxidation (rust).
B) Weld spatter sticks more easily after long welding
sessions, blocking the wire flow.
The tip must therefore be cleaned more often, and replaced
if necessary.
C) The contact tip must always be firmly screwed onto the
torch body. The thermal cycles to which the torch is
subjected can cause it to loosen, thus heating the torch
body and tip and causing the wire to advance unevenly.
• Wire liner.
This is an important part that must be checked often,
because the wire may deposit copper dust or tiny shavings.
Clean it periodically along with the gas lines, using dry
compressed air.
The liners are subjected to constant wear and tear, and
O2
or
carbon
dioxide
therefore must be replaced after a certain amount of time.
• Gearmotor group.
Periodically clean the set of feeder rollers, to remove any
rust or metal residue left by the coils. You must periodically
CO2
check the entire wire feeder group: hasp, wire guide rollers,
liner and contact tip.
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