What's wrong with my welds?

[Mark1968]

Suddenly I go from nice flat welds to sparks and spatter. Ground is good, I have 25% left in my bottle and pulling the trigger and watching the gauge I have about 20 psi flowing.

Any thoughts?

 

[78SWB]

No gas

 

[Deuling]

Clean the tip, or find the leak

 

[ashman]

I had the same problem awhile back and someone suggested I may have pulled the hose out a bit... they were right. Check to make sure the gas is actually making it up to the nozzle.

 

[Z71paramedic]

What everybody else said. No gas getting to the tip.

 

[Keitha]

How far away from the work are you holding the tip? Indoor or Outdoor (windy)?

 

[rdn2blazer]

How far away from the work are you holding the tip? Indoor or Outdoor (windy)?

Exactly what I was going to ask. Ya can't weld with gas on a windy day. Even a slight breeze will blow your gas away. It HAS to be still as much as possible. If I weld outside I'll wait till it feels like it's still. Then I hit it. If it's breezy I'll set up some wind protection.

 

[454Sub]

Or, use flux core wire. I personally dont like it, but in my line of work, being outside most of the time welding, flux core is the only way to go. But in your situation, it looks like gas isnt making it to your tip. Make sure slag and associated nonsense havnt plugged up the tip.

 

[Mark1968]

The gun got pulled out of the machine just enough to spew gas into the welder.

Thanks all.