What causes "Green" in the Arc?

[everlastsupport]

Is this possible????

When switching tanks, to the one on my MIG machine over in the corner, I inadvertently rolled the knob on the flowmeter and tripled the flow and couldn't see it (I guess I was Not using the "same settings" after all ) I'm using the Gas Saver collet from CK but, would all this extra flow have turbulated anyway? The bluing on only one side and all? The welds I was doing were in the "crotch" if the 1/4" Angle, facing me, so I had earplugs in (that 175Hz is punishing...) and didn't notice the extra gas sound.

Hasn't happened since, I've swapped back to the refilled tank now. Well see....

That could do it.

[Blaster]

First, I wanted to thank everybody for their insight and experience, and to say I haven't seen the problem return despite 2-days of welding.

AND

Had another thought....

Because I don't think I saw this problem on any of the lap joints, just the "cuts", I am recalling the 3 days I spent cutting (did it all at once, everything goes into a fixture so I was being really careful to be accurate). I knew I couldn't WD the blade to prevent the Alum form sticking so I just would stop every-once-and-awhile, when I heard the "clunking" and pick the blade clean. BUT, at some point, I put on a HF 10" 60-tooth blade I bought for like $20. It occurs to me that though I never oiled it in any way, I should have cut some wood a couple of times and washed IT in Acetone. I'm sure it was oiled to prevent rusting on the Big Boat and I just used it on my clean Aluminum....

Could have contributed to my trouble too.

[Rambozo]

It's no problem to use cutting fluid on your saw blades. And a lot safer, you don't want to get aluminum welded to the blade. You will actually get a cleaner cut without tearing and leave a better surface. You just have to wash the aluminum before welding. Acetone will take off most cutting fluids like WD, and even a soap based cleaner will work on many fluids. Beeswax works pretty good for high speed carbide blades in aluminum, too.

[jakeru]

Sound like too much gas flow was causing your problem. (And yes, that can certainly cause the shielding problems you describe - more is not always better!)

You needn't question everything else you've been doing that, for your first thousand welds, didn't cause any problems. (Unless of course you are looking for a different, better result than you were getting on those, in which case, seeing some pics if your typical weld would help give you better guidance regarding whether further improvement should be sought).

For doing production welding, you may be more interested in adjustments that give you the same quality with increased productivity than ones for improving quality that is already sufficient. (For example, potentially switching to a bit larger diameter filler rod, to avoid terminating your weld bead so often to reach for new sticks.). Technique will also become optimized for production. (I assume you've learned to feed the filler completely with one hand without needing to terminate the arc to reposition the filler?)