Welding spatter is a common weld defect which should be effectively cleaned right after you’re done with your main task. They are also quite destructive as they kill the aesthetic look of the finished metal and all the particles surrounding near it. But the problem here is many beginner welders don’t know the proper way on how to remove welding spatter.
In fact, they don’t even know that there are effective ways to dramatically reduce the probability of occurring weld spatter. Well, this guide has been designed to answer all your concerns about welding spatters and also will guide you how you can effectively prevent it.
So let’s start with the definition of welding spatter first:
What Is Welding Spatter and Causes Behind It?
Welding spatter is basically a mass and tiny amount of droplets of metal which gets scattered across the finished metal and the substances surrounding it. It can be made of both metal and non-metal particles and also are easily identifiable because of their round shape. They not only harm your weld metal but also can severely damage your body in case you aren’t wearing adequate safety gears and PPE’s.
Now there are several causes lie behind welding spatter. Some of the most common causes include too long and too short welding arc, incorrect welding gas and angle, and incorrect power settings with deposition rate. Let’s take a look at the most feasible way by which you can appropriately remove welding spatter out of your weld metal.
How to Remove Welding Spatter?
The most effective way to remove weld spatter is by using a chipping or slide hammer. Grinding this over the visible spatters can effectively remove their existence and also give you an excellent finish.
Now the problem lies when you are about to remove spatter from a steel material which features high strength. Oftentimes, the spatters get strongly stuck with the material in this case. The only effective solution to this problem can be to attach a chisel with the slide hammer for removing these weld spatters.
During your grinding process, you duly need to maintain moderate pressure. Otherwise, too much heavy grinding may result in serious corrosion and cracking of the weld metal which can completely ruin your whole project.
In addition to that, the biggest problem it creates is by making the weld metal vulnerable and absorbent of any weld deposit which may consequently result in serious contamination with corrosion. This happens because too heavy grinding can make the weld surface rough which is also known as having those negative attributes.
Now due to all these problems, most welders now use anti-spatter which is sprayed over the weld metal before striking up the arc. This spray contains a silicon type element which temporally helps the metal surface from having any sort of weld spatter.
How to Avoid Having Welding Spatter?
There are 7 effective ways you can use to remove welding spatter out of your weld metal. Let’s learn about them one-by-one:
Correct Voltage and Amperage:
This is the most common mistake done by a beginner and ignorant welder. Welding should definitely be performed with the correct amperage and voltage settings; otherwise, it may not only ruin your whole project but also cause it to produce a mass amount of weld spatter.
Now when you are MIG welding with a wire feeder, you should be conscious about the feeding speed and also set the amperage (not too high) according to that speed in order to remove the probability of occurring weld spatter.
In terms of voltage, it’s completely the opposite. In this case, if you weld over a too low amount of voltage, the chances of occurring weld spatter will be high.
Adequate Cleaning of the Metal:
Now this is very crucial. Every time before welding over any piece of material, you should adequately clean it up from all sorts of contamination making substances like oil grease and rust, etc.
What happens when you do weld over their substances, the potential of occurring weld spatter goes really high. Not to mention, they are the primary source of causing atmospheric contamination.
Feeding The Wire Consistently:
This is another common mistake made by beginner and inefficient welders. They don’t feed the wire consistently into the weld pool. What happens because of this is the amperage settings get fluctuated which consequently result in a mass amount of weld spatter.
Hence, you should be very conscious while you’re feeding the wire inside the weld pool and be assured whether it’s been feeding consistently or not.
Correct Work Angle:
This is another crucial thing you definitely should be aware of. If your work angle is too much steep, there is a high chance that it will trigger weld spatter. Now whether you are applying the dragging and pushing strategy, you need to be aware of the degree of your working angle which shouldn’t go over 15 degrees. In excess of this can create issues.
High-Quality Shielding Gas:
Quite often, welders tend to invest more time and resources on getting the appropriate electrode and welder machine. Now the problem here is, they often forget to invest some time and resources in order to get a high-quality shielding gas.
In fact, many of them subconsciously use the wrong blend of gases which they don’t know can dramatically cause welding spatter. In this case, you can check through our previous articles where we have given a comprehensive guide on choosing the right shielding gas for your weld metal.
Never Use Globular and Short-Arc Transfer:
It’s a fact that globular and short arc transfers cause a mass amount of weld spatter. However, you can easily bypass this problem by choosing the right blend of shielding gas for your weld metal. Just be sure that the amount of Argon inside your shielding gas is no less than 83%.
High-Quality Filler Metal and Consumable Electrode:
Similar to that of shielding gas, a welder should also invest some time in getting the highest quality filler metal along with the electrode.
It’s admittedly true that if you use a low-quality consumable wire for your welding purpose, you’re more likely to encounter welding spatter. Besides, using the accurate diameter and coated electrode can considerably reduce the occurrence of weld spatter from your weld metal.
Final words
Seeing weld spatters after hard endeavors can be very disappointing. But it’s admittedly true that taking the right measures right before beginning the task can dramatically reduce and prevent its existence. We believe the information provided in this guide is sufficient enough to help you prevent it successfully.
Thanks for reading the whole post. Stay along with us for our upcoming welding-related guides and articles.
