critique my welds tell me what Im doing wrong

[aidank]

all,

im leanrning to weld in my own time, I did the 1 night a week course a few years ago in FAS and I suppose with my own practice Im at intermediate level now

im quite good at flat welding welding two pieces of steel together
not too bad at uphill either

things im not so good at- when I hit a soft patch in the steel being able to keep a consistently good weld, im ****e in fact when this happens, I need some instructoin on what Im doing wrong hence Im wondering about a course?

Im trying to well 4mm walled 6” pipe in a single pass I am drawing lines using 3.2mm electrode 90-100amps using a Kuhtreiber inverter with 6013 3.2mm electrode, electrode connected to negative)

Wedling this pipe uphill and hiting a soft patch is a bitch, I can see the weld puddle digging into the steel and all of a sudden you have molten steel mixing with weld and slag, impossible to control what do the pros do to avoid this, I have tried speeding up and as soon as I hit a soft patch increase my travel speed with limited success, limited success being not blowing a hole in the pipe

see the pics below

Tried turning the rod at an angle, the idea being larger surface area of rod burning with the same current meaning less heat.

Tried turning down the amps, shortening the arc, it kinda works but then you hit good steel again and you say to yourself I need a bit more here…….. I must be doing something wrong…….

Be nice to be able to weld light stuff 2-3mm steel together without making holes in it too

both pics are from the same pipe, see what I mean about the molten steel flowing out of the pipe and flowing down into the weld puddle

 

[PhillipM]

To be honest, that looks nowhere near clean enough for me to contemplate starting welding it even with arc....

 

[dai]

clean it!!

turn amps down
dont weave

 

[rob1]

you need to ivest in a grinder budy

 

[aidank]

its an inverter im using, no bother whatsoever striking an arc

 

[PTvor]

No doubt soft spots in steel do exist in the same way compiler bugs in software development do exist. They exist, but if you think you've come across one it's 99.99% certain you haven't and it's really your problem you're trying to pass off elsewhere.

Preparation and technique, and the preparation is part of the technique.

 

[dai]

its an inverter im using, no bother whatsoever striking an arc

maybe
but it needs clean to weld properly

 

[snowcat]

This is simply one of the best tuition threads that exists on the Internet, I could attempt to explain where to start but this does it far better.

 

[the snooper]

clean it!!

you need to ivest in a grinder budy

its an inverter im using, no bother whatsoever striking an arc

those welds are terrible 2 people above gave you a clue why they are terrible but you reply i have no bother stricking an arc.

its a fact you cant weld rust, and trying to weld rust will just contaminate the weld

 

[brightspark]

ive welded some crappy steel in my time but that takes the biscuit

 

[Tino]

Im at intermediate level now

Er, no, sorry, not yet, but don't give up.
You are not finding soft steel you are losing control of the weld puddle. Keep a tight arc. A long arc = more heat and less control.Prep your steel
Learn to walk before you try running; eg, fillet down hand, then butt down hand, then root run, fill and cap down hand. Practice until you get it right every time. Then fillet vertical, root, fill and cap vertical. Practice until you get it right every time. Then the same over head, practice until you get it right every time. Then you can start to think about pipe.

 

[jonnyBMX]

haha you do still have to clean the metal up... otherwise all those imperfections will go into the weld aswell and cause exactly what problems you have

 

[backpurge]

I am not sure sure what you mean by soft steel, have never heard that term in this context

As everyone has already said after looking at the photos you need to go right back to basics with clean material and master various joint types in the flat before moving onto positional welding and leave pipe work till last. The main thing is, take onboard the useful comments that have been made, don't get p****d off, keep at it and you will start to make progress.

 

[Lawnmowerboy]

Looks more like cast iron that pipe!! And it's easy to blame the equipment/materials but nothing makes up for loads of practice!

 

[aidank]

Er, no, sorry, not yet, but don't give up.
You are not finding soft steel you are losing control of the weld puddle. Keep a tight arc. A long arc = more heat and less control.Prep your steel
Learn to walk before you try running; eg, fillet down hand, then butt down hand, then root run, fill and cap down hand. Practice until you get it right every time. Then fillet vertical, root, fill and cap vertical. Practice until you get it right every time. Then the same over head, practice until you get it right every time. Then you can start to think about pipe.

are 6013 rods good for downhand or would I need 6010

 

[Lawnmowerboy]

6013's are good for all positions but aren't for a particular position