Beginners Guide to SHORT CIRCUIT MIG WELDING

[BOB MOFFATT] Welcome
to weld.com.

Over the next four weeks,
we're gonna be talking about

Gas Metal Arc Welding
modes of metal transfer,

and we're gonna kind of
break things down a little bit.

And when I say break things
down a little bit,

I do need to tell you that
we're kind of taking weld.com

in a little bit
of a different direction.

We're gonna concentrate
on some processes.

We've got some enriched visuals,
and the audio

is getting way better.

So I just wanted to
encourage you to hit

the subscribe button
and stay tuned

because we're gonna try to bring
some cool content.

Plus, we're working on
some collaborative efforts

with some other people around
The states here that,

some cool stuff in education.

So we wanna talk about
Gas Metal Arc Welding

modes of metal transfer,
and there's four

that are recognized mainly
when you rattle them off,

and it's short-circuiting,

(metal sizzling)

Globular,

(metal crackling)

spray

and pulse spray.

(metal pulsing)

Each of them has its place,
one of which I don't use

a whole lot, and we'll talk
about that here in a little bit.

So this week,
we wanna concentrate

on the short circuiting process.

It gets its name because
the wire comes out of the gun,

makes contact with the ground
and material and shorts out,

and it does this hundreds
of times per second.

And that's where you get that.

Everybody's familiar with that.

They call it frying,
baking sound.

(metal sizzling)

It has a distinct sound to it.

So and there,
not to throw things off,

you can do a lot of things with
some arc features and stuff.

We just wanna keep it really
simple and kind of explain

how things are set up.

So I wanna do
some demonstrations

on various joints.

I have some material
laid out here.

I'm gonna do some lap welds
on some 14 gauge and 10 gauge

and we can do thicker than that
with the short arc self process,

outside corner joints,
T-welds, and stuff like that.

So let's get some gear on
and get right to welding.

Okay, we're gonna get started
with the short-circuiting

gas metal arc welding process.

I'm running off of a ESAB Rebel
EMP 215ic gas metal arc welding.

There are two functions
that affect the arc.

Voltage and wire feed speed.

You gotta think of wire feed
speed as a function of amperage.

It depends on the type of gas
we're running

and the diameter of the wire.

I like the fact that
these are both independent.

I also like
this particular machine

because I have some
other controls

within here electronically
that I can control the arc,

and that's like
a whole another video.

I'm trying to keep this
really simple here.

So for short-circuiting,
I'm gonna run some beads here.

I'm gonna start out
with 17.5 volts,

200 inches a minute
on wire feed speed.

I'm running 75% argon, 25% CO2.

Short-circuiting gas metal arc
welding can be run on two gases,

7525 and just straight CO2,
pure CO2.

Today, we're running off 7525,
okay?

So I just wanna run some beads
and quickly change

just a few things
so you can see it and hear it,

and then I wanna start applying
it to some actual welds

so that you can kinda see
where to use this

and how it makes sense.

Okay I'm gonna run a couple of
beads here.

In case some of you
are wondering

where did I come up
with these numbers here,

why 17 and a half volts?

Why 200 inches a minute?

I'm on 030' Er70s-6 wire
with 7525.

And I've been doing
this for so many years.

I mean, I understand
the process.

I read, study, and I've done
this so many times.

It's kind of, I don't know,
not joking,

but I know how to use it.

Anyway, I wanna run
some demos here

and pull a trigger on this
and let you see it and hear it.

And this is kind of cool, but
this is that short-circuiting.

This is that crackling, buzzing
sound, that frying bacon.

Hopefully, I'll get the essence
of bacon here up my hood.

(metal crackling)

Pretty stable condition, okay.

Hopefully, the audio
came through,

and you heard that really nice.

This is on clean material.

We've done videos
and demonstrations on

dirty versus clean metal,

and I'm telling you,
it makes a difference.

I know a lot of you that know me

You know that I hate to grind.

However, when it comes to
MIG welding, TIG welding,

and prepping material, I will
do it faithfully, religiously,

because it needs to be done.

There's nothing worse
than running over

some of this material,
and I'll explain why.

I wanna run a bead
on some dirty material,

and I want you to hear it.

Hopefully, it's enough
of a difference of sound.

I know I'm gonna see quite
a bit here.

(metal sizzling)

I heard it, and I see it.

This bead lays down nicely.

It's nice and round.

It has a smooth ripple pattern
to it.

This bead is peaked.

It looks dirty.

It has black stuff
on either side,

and it sounded
a lot different to me.

Hopefully,
you picked up on that.

So where do we apply this
short-circuiting mode?

I have 14 gauge blasted and
I'm gonna do just a fillet weld,

just so you can kinda see.

We can start putting some things
together in different

joint configurations here.

So I just wanna run
a fillet weld at these settings

on 14 gauge material.

(metal sizzling)

A quick little fillet weld here,
putting two pieces together.

Again, 14 gauge, fairly thin
sheet metal, 030 wire.

This is a super application.

Another one.

Another simple joint
configuration would be

outside corner joint.

This would be considered
heat sensitive

because we're thin and we're out
here on the outside corner.

So let me tack that up and
we'll weld that really quick.

Okay, I have two pieces
of 14 gauge set up

in an outside corner joint.

After I did the fillet weld,
just out of the top of my head,

I think I wanna change a value.

So what I'm gonna do is
I'm gonna go down to 17 volts,

and I'm gonna drop
the wire feed speed

down to 180 inches a minute.

The reason I'm doing this is
I don't wanna blow this outside

corner joint up, and I may miss.

I'm kinda using this from past
experience and common sense.

I want the weld to be
a little cooler, okay?

So just from experience,

I just wanna drop this down
about a half a volt,

and I wanna slow
the wire feed speed down,

which lowers the amperage.

The other things
that I have left here

for me to adjust
would be travel speed, okay?

So let's see what happens here.

I'll do half of this
and see what happens.

It should go,
it should be pretty close.

(metal sizzling)

A little wire explosion there at
first, so easily clean that off.

So that was a pretty good guess.

We didn't blow this thing up.

I had to travel fairly quick.

We are fused around
the edges of this,

and we have a little bit of
penetration on the backside.

A very successful weld joint.

Just made a pretty decent
weld on here.

I went over and buffed that
wire explosion thing off there.

It popped right off.

And after doing this,

it was running in there
pretty quick,

and I was traveling pretty fast.

I wanna do something
different now, I wanna,

I'm telling you that
we're able to change

voltage and wire feed speed.

I like the voltage
where it's at.

Because this crowned up
a little bit,

I wanna slow
the wire feed speed down.

So I'm gonna go from 180

down to 160,
and I should be able to travel

a little slower.

I expect the weld to be a little
more fluid, and that's about it.

Again, this is thin metal.

We're not trying to do
anything special with it.

We don't need a great big weld.

Solet's see what happens here.

(metal sizzling)

I like that reaction better.

It was still in the short,
a good short-circuiting.

First one just seemed I was
able to go a little slower.

The first one seemed really fast
to me, and keeping up with it.

Barely,
barely wiggling the wire.

So again, we're melting
the edges over the top.

It's not a critical weld.

(metal clinking)

We still have penetration
on the backside.

(metal clinking)

So with this 14 gauge
sheet metal,

we could do lap welds

about these settings because
we're not trying to build up,

we're just trying
to fuse things together.

I'm gonna move
these pieces away,

and we're gonna go to 10 gauge
or 8-inch material.

Okay, we did the 14 gauge,

and we did outside corner joint
and a T-weld.

And So I've turned the machine
back to our original base

that was 17.5 and 200 inches
a minute.

17.5 volts, 200 inches a minute.

And from there,
I just wanna leave it,

and I wanna do
this outside corner joint

on 10 gauge material.

I have a whisper of a gap
in here.

I'm gonna call it a 30-second.

So not much at all.

And again,
for camera angle and speed,

I like to prop
these little rascals up.

(metal clinking)

You're gonna be able to
see that there, camera guy?

[VIDEOGRAPHER] Yeah.

(metal sizzling)

[BOB MOFFATT] Good condition.

We can see where I rolled
my wrist a little bit here

on the table.

You can tell a little bit of
variation in travel speed,

no big deal.

Nice weld that fused together.

We've got a little bit of
penetration on the backside.

Settings probably would
not do me any better

as far as penetration.

Material prep or the gap opening
would probably get that done.

Since I've already finished
that on the outside of this,

this outside corner,
I could come in here

and quickly demonstrate
a fillet weld

on the inside corner
going downhill slightly.

(metal sizzling)

Ran a little bit on the inside
here with those same settings.

A couple of things here.

The material was heated
from doing the weld

on the outside first.

But this thing blended nicely.

I wanna demonstrate
a lap weld next.

(metal clinking)

And this is 10 gauge material.

The first part of this weld,
I'll leave the settings

exactly like they are,
17 and a half volts,

200 inches a minute
wire feed speed.

(metal sizzling)

So I left those settings alone.

I like the sound of it.

I like what I'm seeing here.

I was able to move comfortably
as far as travel speed.

The weld profile fits
across here.

There's a whole video series
on gun angle and electrical

stick out, nozzle distance,
and all that kind of stuff.

But again, simple stuff.

Just travel along,
run straight lines.

Width is travel speed.

So that's the first part of
the 10 gauge lap weld.

Could I change settings
and do something different?

Sure, we can experiment.

I get over to this T-weld on
the same thickness of material.

Then we could play with
some settings there.

Go up, I don't wanna go down
any in values.

I could just probably go up
because that particular weld

always tends to take a little
more energy.

You can pour,
and you can go faster.

You can pour a little
more heat input into it.

So for a variation,
let's change this

and go to 18.2 volts,
225 on the wire feed speed.

(metal sizzling)

A little different profile,
not much.

This one was obviously
a little hotter, wetter.

I traveled just a bit quicker.

But they both work.

If I turn this over,
neither one of them are melted

through the base metal,
the parent metal.

I kinda like
this hotter one better,

just the way it looks,
the profiles across here.

And I think the edges are burn
in just a little better.

So again, we're talking
about 10 gauge,

cheap metal, 8-inch material.

It's not critical.

So I like these values.

I'm going up slightly
from my base.

So I think I wanna go into this

T-weld here, this fillet weld.

These are both fillet welds,
technically, by the way.

And so I wanna make this weld,
one of them

in the horizontal position
as it's sitting right here

and the other one
kind of downhill,

just to show
some quick applications here

and what you can do.

(metal sizzling)

I like this profile here.

I probably, looking at it
and listening to it,

probably go up a little bit
in wire feed speed,

but I think it's fine.

Now, when we turn this
and go up like this,

and I probably will turn this up
a little bit in wire feed speed.

I want it to be a little
more active

because I'm going downhill.

(metal sizzling)

This weld laid down pretty nice.

I went from 225 up to 235
and I was able to travel faster.

Again, I'm just on the back side
of what I just got

through welding on.

The material was warm.

So that's something
to talk about.

We can get into so many
of these variations

and subtle things
that actually happen.

I'm just trying to bring some
awareness about voltage changes,

wire feed speed changes.

We're on 030 material.

And it's pretty versatile
when you go

from something super thin
to some fairly heavy material.

I have one more quick demo.

We've done this a lot on camera.

We've done bend tests
and etching and x-ray

and all kinds of stuff.

It's 100% fusion
on groove material.

This is quarter-inch.

I've beveled it to 30 degrees,
cleaned it,

put a 16th root face on it,
3 32nd gap, it looks like.

And I'm gonna set it up
like this and just kind of

slightly run it downhill.

Short-circuiting, 030,
try to get 100% root fusion,

17.8 volts,
235 on the wire feed speed.

(metal crackling)

Okay, I did this.

I set this up here,
and man, really strange.

Set it up so the camera guy and
you could see it and everything.

So I'm actually welding
backhanded

and completely weird for me,
anyway.

I should have switched hands
and tried it right-handed

but got to going downhill,
outran my wire,

shoved it through there.

You gotta stay right on
the leading edge of the pool.

When you do,
you get 100% root fusion.

I jumped forward,
I shot the wire through there

and shot it into dead airspace
and there's no arc at that time.

So I'm usually good
at screwing up at least once

during every video,
and I man up to it

and leave it there.

So that's what happens,
you know?

You get going too fast or
you jerk forward or something.

Smooth transition, you can put
some beautiful beads in there.

Now, since we've created this,
since we've created this groove,

then I should be able to run

one more pass in here
and fill this all in

with short-circuiting.

I'm gonna go uphill now.

So 235, 17.8.

I wanna go down in voltage
'cause I'm gonna be carrying

a fair amount of material.

I wanna go down in voltage,
and I wanna drop

the wire feed speed
just a little bit.

I wanna cool the pool,
so to speak.

So by common sense
and my experience,

I'm gonna go down in volts,
down in wire feed speed.

(metal sizzling)

So we dropped the values down
a little bit because

we were gonna be carrying
a fair amount of metal.

And to me, that worked out
pretty nice.

This thing is in here
with good edges.

It's got some nice
reinforcement to it.

We cleaned this off.

This thing will bend test,
X-ray all day long.

Done it a million times,
no worries.

These are some practical
applications

of what you can do
with short-circuiting.

And there's a lot of things
to talk about, some variables.

Main thing is clean your weld
material for short-circuiting.

Clean it and all of it
for that matter to go faster.

You get better fusion.

I fielded a message last night.

One of the things
we talk about is

how far does the nozzle distance
affect what's going on?

Yes, it does.

So for short circuiting
and globular

and some of these
other processes, they matter.

Think of it this way,
electrical stick out

from the contact tip to the arc.

For short-circuiting,
keep it around 3/8 of an inch.

About 3/8 of an inch
is a good all around.

That's where I've got this
clipped off.

Another thing is
to clean your nozzle

and clip the end of
the wire off.

You get better starts.

Make sure you have
a good ground.

So these are some things.

This process is very versatile,
and we use it a lot in

manufacturing, do some repairs,
and fabrication,

a lot of hobby work.

Hope you found
the material educational.

If you like what we're doing,
check us out

on Instagram and Facebook.

Thanks for watching weld.com.

I'm Bob Moffatt
with Cowley College.

God dang, kids.

I like that bacon, bacon, bacon.

Check 'em, look 'em,
look 'em, look 'em, look 'em.

It's kinda ugly
for the camera guy.

What?

[VIDEOGRAPHER] Go ahead.

[BOB MOFFATT] Wait a minute.

Huh?

[VIDEOGRAPHER] Go ahead.