MIG welding is one of the best processes ever to repair metal things. But, it’s the most intimidating task to weld metal things with the MIG. Most people may burn through the metals while welding. That’s why people frequently ask for the answer if they can prevent burn through when MIG welding.
Metals that you use in day-to-day life can be degraded over time if not maintained properly. Burning through happens due to the excessive amperage of the welding machine while MIG welding. You need to turn down the amperage of the welding machine to keep the metals cool to prevent burn through.
In this article, I am going to share everything that you need to know about how to prevent burn through when MIG welding. So, let’s get started without any further ado:
7 Steps To Prevent Burn Through When MIG Welding: The Best Way
You have already known about burning through. Now, I’ll explain the ways how you can prevent burn through when MIG welding. The following 7 ways will explain the procedures to prevent burn through when MIG welding. Let’s jump into it:
Step-1: Things That You Need While Welding With MIG
Before welding with MIG, you need to ensure personal protection. So you should have personal protection equipment (PPE). Here is a list of PPE that you require to start the welding process. Let’s take a look at the items:
- Welding Machine
- Welding Jacket
- Welding Helmet
- Welding Glove
- Consumable Kits
- MIG Welding Pliers
- MIG Light
- Leather Shoes
- Clamps
- Welding Goggles
- Media
- Blaster
- Angle Grinder
- DA Sander
Step-2: Wear The Personal Protection Equipment Before Welding
After ensuring the PPE, you need to put on them to begin the welding process. As MIG welding is a risky job for beginners and even for professionals. I would recommend wearing PPE as a first phase to ensure your safety while giving yourself the flexibility to weld with MIG.
You should wear an approved welding helmet that ensures the safety of the eyes, face, and skin. While wearing a welding helmet, make sure you wear goggles and glasses under your helmet for safety. Otherwise, welding creates sparks that can harm your eyes.
You should make sure that the welding jacket has no holes in it. To protect your eyes from sparks, wearing flame-resistant earmuffs is a must. Before welding with MIG, you need to remove combustible items like matches and lighters that are vulnerable to cause burn through.
Step-3: Prepare Metals For Welding
After wearing the PPE, you should prepare the metals for the welding process. The possibility of burning is high if you don’t clean the metals before welding. The metals you have might be old, deoxidized, and dirty.
Firstly, you need to get rid of them as the MIG welding will only hold the metal if the metals are clean enough. With proper cleaners like media blasters, you can clean the scratches, debris, deoxidation, and dust from the old iron, steel, and aluminum metals.
Using an angle grinder, you can fabricate the metals and can grind the edges of the metals as well. Then, you should make sure that there are no more particles on the metal surfaces. To prepare the metals for MIG welding, finally, you need to sand and buff them with a DA sander.
If the metals are welded the wrong way previously, you need to grind the old surfaces. Once the metals are clean enough, you are all set to go to the welding process.
Step-4: Set The MIG Weld Machine Properly
Burning through means to cause holes to the metals by getting melted with extreme heat. It happens right then when the amperage of the welding machine goes up. There is another reason that causes burning through the metals.
While welding the metals with MIG, the welding has a high temperature. If the welding machine stays in a spot of the metal for long, the metal cannot endure extreme heat that causes the burning through as well.
As an expert welder, you need to set the welding machine properly. To do so, you should lower the amperage to refrain the metals from getting hot. While setting up the MIG Welding machine, you need to be careful about wire speed and voltage.
Step-5: Avoid Long Arcing
Arc is a process of welding to join the metals. This process generates heat using electricity to cause metal melting. While arc welding, you need to be aware of the arc’s length. Arc length is the distance between the electrode tip and the part that needs to be welded.
If the arcing length is more, it will increase the voltage of the welding machine to result in an unstable arc and stubborn edges. It’s highly recommended you avoid long arcing to decrease the voltage while welding with the MIG.
Otherwise, the long arcing distorts the welding pool, and you will be unable to control it. The large crest will help burn through and overheat these metals. If you want durable welding, you can tight and low arc it.
Step-6: Avoid Short Arcing
When the electrode comes close to the base metal, the short arcing will happen. keep the electrode near the workpiece and it will make a short arc. It stays to the base metals. If you turn off the welder and the electrode, the short arcing will be weak. It will not support burn-through the weak base metal.
Step-7: Adjust the Travel Speed
Adjust the travel speed, which can prevent burn-through. The travel speed will help you move the weld pool. Because of low or high travel speed, burning through may cause damage to the metals.
Maintain a slow speed which has a lower thermal for metals. If you need to avoid the damaged metals, you can use the travel speed. Aluminum is a soft metal, and it has a high thermal conductivity. If you use slow travel speed, this metal will quickly melt.
Related Questions:
Why Does Burn-Through Happen When Mig Welding?
When you weld metals to repair with the MIG, the excessive heat of the welding machine can cause the metal to burn through. Burn through may occur because of Parameters – travel speed, heat input, and travel angle.
How Do You Prevent Metal From Burning When Welding?
If you need to prevent warping and burn-through, do not weave the torch. If you put pressure on a particular area, it will become hot. Maintain a short and straight line while welding. You can also use MIG welding to avoid burn-through.
- Use The MIG Welding Sheet:
The small wire is always better as it will melt the metal less quickly and it requires less heat. Small wires will give you a better chance of controlling the welding bead and preventing errors as they have a lower deposition rate.
It is never a good idea to use filler metals that are thicker than the base metal. The gauge sheet metal work should be done with .023- or .024-inch wire. 18-gauge material requires a .030-inch wire. However, MIG welding sheets use a gas shielding with a higher percentage of argon, such as a mixture of 25% carbon dioxide and 75% argon.
- Skip Welding:
You should fit together all sheets because unevenly distributed will make warping and heat distortion. If you need minor warping, distribute heat. This will be done using a skip welding technique since it has stitch welds.
- Backing Bars:
Cooling air reduces heat faster, so you should take a chill bar or backing. A metal bar is clamped onto the back of a weldment.
- Joint Design:
A butt welding could be done on metal ranging from 20- to 24-gauge. You will make a hole because these parts do not touch for 1/16 inch, and this will lead to a burn-through. Cutting once and measuring twice is the best way to prevent rework.
If metals can tolerate overheating, try to reset those parts. Using heat control, you can avoid burn-through. If you want the proper welding process, choose the suitable filler metal.
How Much CO2 Do You Need For MIG Welding?
With CO2, you can weld metals while protecting them from pollution. The CO2 helps extinguish fires. If you do MIG welding with CO2, you can tighten up the budget. Experts highly recommend CO2 as a MIG welding gas. The CO2 gas brings the following upsides for you.
- Low Cost:
You can do MIG welding with CO2 because its cost is low, and it is called C100. C25 is the best gas for MIG welding on blond steels. You should keep in mind that C25 gas sells by cubic foot, and CO2 gas sells by the pound.
- Portability:
The 20 pound CO2 tank is a tiny package. Portability is a plus because CO2 gives more opportunities than C25. The CO2 kit has a 20-ounce design. Though the equipment is not available, for paintball guns, you can use 20-ounce containers. It is a carry package, and it gives you 40 minutes of MIG welding time.
- Refill Options:
You can refill pure CO2 gas for your welding supplier. This gas will help get many conveniences. For example,
- You use the CO2 gas in brew shops.
- You will use this gas Aquarium supplier.
- The fire extinguisher companies use CO2 gas.
- Performance Of CO2 Gas:
The CO2 gas is inert. When you do welding work, this gas becomes reactive. It has more bite from argon blends. Now, we will know the best advantages of MIG welding with CO2 gas:
- CO2 gas will help the smaller machine handle the thicker metal.
- It helps to speed up the welding work.
What Are The Problems In MIG Welding Burn-Through?
Burn through will happen when the welding metal enters through the base material. You will see the burn through when you weld the thin materials. The burn-through is caused by excessive heat, reducing wire feed speed.
Welding defects in burn-through are caused only by an improper technique. So, be careful during the MIG welding. The downsides of MIG welding are given below:
- The MIG welding has insufficient shielding gas.
- The MIG welding voltage speeds are very high.
- The maximum wire is stuck out.
Final Thoughts:
Burn through is a typical issue while welding thin metals. Before starting the welding process, you should prepare and clean the metal. While welding, make sure you wear personal protection equipment (PPE) to impede burn through. To prevent burn through when welding, you must implement the aforementioned ways.
Throughout the article, I have tried to explain the ways to prevent burn through when MIG welding. If you have further queries regarding this topic, leave a comment in the box below. I’ll get to it soon.
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