White gold prong tipping problems with pulse arc welder

I have an Orion 100c. It doesn’t seem to be able to weld white metals without a lot of porosity. It seems okay on yellow gold. Just wondering if anyone else has this problem. Is it just that the welder is to low end?

It might be the other alloy metals that have a very much lower different melt or vaporization point. Zinc comes to mind at 800f. It would just disappear from the piece leaving nothing.
Just a thought. I’m guessing that you’re working with welding cast pieces?

It definitely has to do with vaporizing something. I’m getting the same results on cast or die struck heads. If I use welding wire or not i get the same results. I wonder if the 100c just cant be fine tuned enough for white gold or white metals in general. Do you use a pulse welder? If so what kind and do you get good results?

I have an Orion 200i3.
It welds white golds and sterling well. Palladium white gold welds very well. Nickel white golds less so. Sterling is a very conductive metal and so it wicks heat away from the seam quickly. You can blunt the tip of the electrode for sterling and that helps tremendously. Many alloys have zinc and it does boil out at low temps. But that is often a problem with brass and with solders. I’m not sure what white gold alloy you are using, but I’m not sure it contains zinc in any appreciable amount—although it may.

Play with the power settings. Start low and work your way up. Also, make sure that your argon is working. Lack of a shield gas can lead to porous and dark welds.

Finally, contact Orion (Sunstone). They can be very helpful. There’s also a Face Book group for Orion welders.

Hope that helps.

Andy

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I have talked to Orion a couple of times. Still couldn’t get good results. Since most white golds are nickel alloyed does that mean you mostly get less than excellent results? I’m just curious, because I’d like to get a better one but not if I’m going to get similar results.
Thanks Andy
Mike

I get fine results with nickel whites . Just takes more finesse. Nickel is standard white in the US but elsewhere it’s palladium white, at least Europe.

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