getting a cleaner welding bead

[dclifton]

clean the steel good....play with the feed speed and heat....but flux core will always be dirty...if you go with gas shield wire and gas...should be sweet

This^^^

[Tubby]

You're going to get more spatter with flux core wire than you will with hard wire. Make sure your materials are clean and adjust your heat/wire speed to get spatter to a minimum. You'll still have minimal spatter but it won't be as spatter free as what it would with hard wire.

[boomer453]

PAM works miracles. spray the steel either side of the weld and the spatter sticks much less.

[PSD Ryan]

I weld outside mostly and use flux core all the time. Generally, I run my voltage really high, and my wire speed pretty dang slow. I get almost no spatter as long as I keep the tip to work distance in the sweet spot.

[Draco]

You are probably welding with your tip too far from the weld. The molten metal, having to jump the bigger gap won't have as much penetration, although the weld can still look good, and the outer droplets of molten wire tend to bounce rather than penetrate.

[Keith]

Have someone turn the heat up and down slowly while you weld. Then do the same with the feed rate. By adjusting them while welding, you can find the sweet spot where it welds the best.

[Bowyer]

It has been my experience welding with flux core on my welder that the wire speed is very touchy, just a hair off either way and it starts spitting and splattering. Pick an amperage and work the wire speed slowly up and or down until it welds smoothly. I have seen people make nice looking beads even though the welder is not adjusted properly. If you feel the wire pushing you away either turn up the amps or turn down the wire speed. If the wire burns back to the nozzle everytime it hits the steel then turn the wire speed up or amperage down. Make sure the area you are welding is very clean, grind away any rust, slag and dirt because it will make you think you need to turn the amps up if not clean.

[Frog72]

Jus put a bottle of gas on it and toss the fluxcore wire. That will give you a better weld. I used flux when I was at the track and had to fix something never used it for a permanent fix. Jus my op.

[Z7_Matt]

I have a cheap harbor freight flux core welder. Worked great for all the little projects around the house until i wanted to weld horse shoes together. Couldn't get it set right to save my life. Going to ditch the cheap welder and get a miller.