8ob
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- Thread starter Richiew
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olek
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Or any forum discussion if compared, but what is really efficient is the instructor. I did much hours of welding without much progression because of lack of on site instructor.
That gives the habit to look at videos, books, to send pics asking for advice.
After enough hours and a better fixed shade hood something happened, the gesture get more natural and reflexes better.
But I still have interest in the theoretical part, as one get better one may understand a little better the instructions and theories.
Regards
That gives the habit to look at videos, books, to send pics asking for advice.
After enough hours and a better fixed shade hood something happened, the gesture get more natural and reflexes better.
But I still have interest in the theoretical part, as one get better one may understand a little better the instructions and theories.
Regards
Well Gentlemen, I had another session this afternoon. Cleaned the fresh steel up to shiny metal for the new pieces, tried some stop starts and changed the rods over a bit earlier. I am still having the same problems. I have obviously got into bad habits along the way and they are sticking with me a bit too well. I am going to ask the instructors to watch over me while I weld on Tuesday so they can see what is going wrong with my posture and body positioning. I think Brad's point about consumables is very telling. I ended up using 6mm plate after the thicker stuff was used up and I had to drop to 2.5mm rods as the 3.2s were just too much for it. The 2.5s are Bohler, much better quality and seem to run more like the rods at college. I think I will have to invest in some good quality 3.2s. I don't like to blame tools and equipment and to be fair they are not causing me to weld to a bad line or poor angle but I want to make practice at home as much like the college sessions as possible.
The important thing is that I know what I need to ask instructors at the next class and what I need to correct which is much better than bumbling through it so thank you for all the input.
I have included a few pics to add for interest, I don't think they tell much new other than that I was getting a bit peed off. I took a break in the middle and sorted my lathe out a bit so I did manage something constructive today at least.
I started off where I finished yesterday. Stopped early into the run to try a restart. It is the weld at the bottom.
Tried grinding out/feathering the end of the weld for the restart. This is trickier than I thought. Thank God it's just practice. Sorry for the poor photo.
Restart
Missed it by a little bit and lingered too long at the start. I did get better at this aspect as the session went on however so there was a little bit of improvement today to show for my time. Peelers and crackers were not problem again today. The flux on these rods is runny and light compared to the Bohlers and the college rods and I think this is why I am getting so many peelers.
Mill scale removed with flap disc as per Brad's suggestion. This is an old coupon and there's a vertical MIG fillet weld on the other side so I cant do anything about the gap at the join.
This one just didn't go very well. Thought I was going backwards at this point but I persevered.
Continued.
The important thing is that I know what I need to ask instructors at the next class and what I need to correct which is much better than bumbling through it so thank you for all the input.
I have included a few pics to add for interest, I don't think they tell much new other than that I was getting a bit peed off. I took a break in the middle and sorted my lathe out a bit so I did manage something constructive today at least.
I started off where I finished yesterday. Stopped early into the run to try a restart. It is the weld at the bottom.
Tried grinding out/feathering the end of the weld for the restart. This is trickier than I thought. Thank God it's just practice. Sorry for the poor photo.
Restart
Missed it by a little bit and lingered too long at the start. I did get better at this aspect as the session went on however so there was a little bit of improvement today to show for my time. Peelers and crackers were not problem again today. The flux on these rods is runny and light compared to the Bohlers and the college rods and I think this is why I am getting so many peelers.
Mill scale removed with flap disc as per Brad's suggestion. This is an old coupon and there's a vertical MIG fillet weld on the other side so I cant do anything about the gap at the join.
This one just didn't go very well. Thought I was going backwards at this point but I persevered.
Continued.
The restart wasn't too bad on this one, fairly close. I still managed to end up welding flat at the end despite starting quite far into the work piece.
I ended up with a lap joint. This is another old test piece I had spare. I didn't really want to start mixing up other joints but it was the only 10mm that I had. I was just bunging in welds at this point.
This sums my welding up at the moment. I start off OK and trail down towards the end. I am not too worried about this yet. Still have 19 weeks of lessons and some spare weeks over the xmas and term breaks to get sorted. When I did the MIG version of this course a few years back it took me a few weeks to get my eye in and then I knocked out the test pieces quite quickly with a few weeks to spare. I have been looking up prices of 10mm by 60mm steel strip but I am in the dog house already at the moment spending money I haven't got.
Just a bit of follow up on this. I seem to have sorted most of my issues. The instructor advised me to work at an angle and off the side of the bench rather than face it square on. Consequently as the rod gets shorter, and my hands draws near, the bench does not interfere with my hand/electrodeholder/cable as my hand is still free in mid air. Simple really
To illustrate. The rod is just a nub by the end of this weld but I can still maintain my angles as the bench is no longer in the way. I also get to park my bum and rest my back against the side of the booth which helps keep me steady. Bonus.
Apologies. Cheap camera phone pics only.
A few more pics of my work tonight below. I'm no longer losing it towards the end of the weld and I am also now managing to keep my runs straight. I produced a couple of coupons which passed visual inspection but I couldn't submit them for testing as I'd already practice welded on the other side.
I was also advised to weld higher up on the first pass when welding the second pass. This solved my problem with my runs sitting flat on the bottom plate too much. Finally, I've realised too much drag angle is not helping with my third/top pass. I am welding much more square to the plate for this one now and the weld pool is better behaved as a result. I am much more confident now and expect to crack the fillet next week. I need to practice my starts more, the first second or so is a bit hairy on the root until it all settles down. Overall I am very happy and thank you all for helping me think this through and ask the right questions.
The weld on the right coupon was sitting a bit flat. I corrected this by welding higher up on the second pass next time and the left coupon shows a better profile as a result.
To illustrate. The rod is just a nub by the end of this weld but I can still maintain my angles as the bench is no longer in the way. I also get to park my bum and rest my back against the side of the booth which helps keep me steady. Bonus.
Apologies. Cheap camera phone pics only.
A few more pics of my work tonight below. I'm no longer losing it towards the end of the weld and I am also now managing to keep my runs straight. I produced a couple of coupons which passed visual inspection but I couldn't submit them for testing as I'd already practice welded on the other side.
I was also advised to weld higher up on the first pass when welding the second pass. This solved my problem with my runs sitting flat on the bottom plate too much. Finally, I've realised too much drag angle is not helping with my third/top pass. I am welding much more square to the plate for this one now and the weld pool is better behaved as a result. I am much more confident now and expect to crack the fillet next week. I need to practice my starts more, the first second or so is a bit hairy on the root until it all settles down. Overall I am very happy and thank you all for helping me think this through and ask the right questions.
The weld on the right coupon was sitting a bit flat. I corrected this by welding higher up on the second pass next time and the left coupon shows a better profile as a result.
Cheers. I just need plenty of more hours under the hood to nail it every time.
That's still to come. Once this one is out the way, I have lap, fillet and butt welds in vertical and also a flat butt weld to do.
A bit more today. Invested in some branded rods and a new electrode holder as the original didn't hold the rods as well as I liked, the new one is also the same type as the college holders and the rods are held a lot more secure.
I found a little bit of 10mm strip that I picked up at car boot earlier this year. It's only 38mm wide but it's all I had, it got hit with a sanding disc first.
I'm not too much of a fan of the Oerlikons at the moment. That may change if I get used to them. They don't strike very well and I have to use a file on the ends to help out. They seem very "soft" and burn quicker and more fiercely than the other rods that I'm used to.
This is the first run on an old piece of plate. I didn't want to ruin the fresh piece just getting used to them.
I put a few more runs down and had a go at the root on the fresh piece. I think perhaps that the test piece is too small to cope with the heat, there's nowhere for it to go. The root started well but the weld got stupidly hot and out of control by the end. The increasing frequency of the spatter on the bottom plate seems to accurately chart the increasing heat as the weld progresses. The slag stuck really hard to the weld on the right hand side which is a symptom of too much heat too. I put this in at 120 amps. Certainly too high.
I dropped the amps to about 100 and ran the second pass. The spatter caused me a bit of trouble at the end when catching the rod which made me mess up a bit again.
Top pass went in and covered up a few sins.
I had a quick go with my old rods just to make sure the new electrode holder wasn't the source of any problems. This struck up the second time without the use of a file and ran as well as before so the holder is blameless. The old rods run better IMO but maybe that is because I am used to how they run.
I ran the second side of the coupon with the Oerlikon rods. I put the root in at 110 amps and the other two at 100amps. This went much better but the rods still like to make a break for it and are less controllable. I have to travel much quicker and that shows in the freeze lines, they are much pointier.
Root.
Continued.
Please ignore the little bottom picture. Its out of sequence and I cant get rid of it
I found a little bit of 10mm strip that I picked up at car boot earlier this year. It's only 38mm wide but it's all I had, it got hit with a sanding disc first.
I'm not too much of a fan of the Oerlikons at the moment. That may change if I get used to them. They don't strike very well and I have to use a file on the ends to help out. They seem very "soft" and burn quicker and more fiercely than the other rods that I'm used to.
This is the first run on an old piece of plate. I didn't want to ruin the fresh piece just getting used to them.
I put a few more runs down and had a go at the root on the fresh piece. I think perhaps that the test piece is too small to cope with the heat, there's nowhere for it to go. The root started well but the weld got stupidly hot and out of control by the end. The increasing frequency of the spatter on the bottom plate seems to accurately chart the increasing heat as the weld progresses. The slag stuck really hard to the weld on the right hand side which is a symptom of too much heat too. I put this in at 120 amps. Certainly too high.
I dropped the amps to about 100 and ran the second pass. The spatter caused me a bit of trouble at the end when catching the rod which made me mess up a bit again.
Top pass went in and covered up a few sins.
I had a quick go with my old rods just to make sure the new electrode holder wasn't the source of any problems. This struck up the second time without the use of a file and ran as well as before so the holder is blameless. The old rods run better IMO but maybe that is because I am used to how they run.
I ran the second side of the coupon with the Oerlikon rods. I put the root in at 110 amps and the other two at 100amps. This went much better but the rods still like to make a break for it and are less controllable. I have to travel much quicker and that shows in the freeze lines, they are much pointier.
Root.
Continued.
Please ignore the little bottom picture. Its out of sequence and I cant get rid of it
Last edited:
Continued.
Root. Much less spatter.
Second pass.
Second pass.
Top pass. The slag was falling away on its own.
Top pass. Quite happy with it considering I had to cope with a much faster burning rod.
At this point I pulled the good camera out to show the weld a bit better.
This was the earlier bad side with all spatter from running too hot.
My starts seem to be improving even if striking up was a bit troublesome tonight. I am quite happy I am managing to cope and adapt with changes to material. Roll on Tuesday.
Root. Much less spatter.
Second pass.
Second pass.
Top pass. The slag was falling away on its own.
Top pass. Quite happy with it considering I had to cope with a much faster burning rod.
At this point I pulled the good camera out to show the weld a bit better.
This was the earlier bad side with all spatter from running too hot.
My starts seem to be improving even if striking up was a bit troublesome tonight. I am quite happy I am managing to cope and adapt with changes to material. Roll on Tuesday.
