Uphill Fillets.

[Brad93]

@Brad93

So if a vertical weld needs several passes is it just straight up and no weaving? Watching YouTube vids suggests otherwise. Bit confused!

Cheers

Adri

You’re watching American videos

 

[Arclikeharrypotter]

First pass root no weaving, second pass it's either a weave or stringers dependant on wps. Often weave isn't allowed.

Americans seem to love to weave everything, not sure why but there's better ways if doing things.

 

[Brad93]

First pass root no weaving, second pass it's either a weave or stringers dependant on wps. Often weave isn't allowed.

Americans seem to love to weave everything, not sure why but there's better ways if doing things.

Half of the people putting videos on YouTube don’t know what WPS means.

Jody Collier. Only guy who has a proper channel worth watching in my opinion.
Along with:
North Sweden Welding.
FieldRes (Travis Field)

That’s about it.

 

[adri123]

How about this technique? Quick dash ahead to let the weld pool solidify and then back to the pool...

As in this vid...

It seems to be giving me slightly better results on first try.

Cheers

Adri

 

[Stingray]

How about this technique? Quick dash ahead to let the weld pool solidify and then back to the pool...

As in this vid...

It seems to be giving me slightly better results on first try.

Cheers

Adri

Even worse than that clown ChuckE2009...

 

[adri123]

OMG!!!

So, Uphill fillet SMAW. It's just a matter of keeping the tip of the rod moving at a steady speed up the weld? Including for multiple passes? I'm stumped as to how you stop gravity screwing up the weld unless you use either the 'weave' or 'dash ahead and back' or some technique to allow the weld to solidify without dribbling towards earth...

Anyone know of a vid that shows the correct technique?

All help much appreciated.

Adri

 

[Dcal]

As Brad says "Welding tips and tricks"
It's full of brilliant information
I'm no expert but you probably.need to move a bit quicker.
Less material = less mass for gravity to act on.

 

[Arclikeharrypotter]

So here's the answer. Hood time!
This is a root done at 120A 7018. That last video that was posted was an absolute mess, he's doing open root and using 6010. So no use to you. And also He s not a clue what's happening. Keep a steady upwards travel speed, real tight arc, with the electrode pointing straight in or slightly upwards.

 

[adri123]

@Arclikeharrypotter Thanks for that.

The root pass isn't going too badly for me. I can get somewhere near what you've got in that piccy. It's when the subsequent passes go in that I can't quite get it right. On the root pass there's a nice tight corner to jam it into but afterwards without the corner assist gravity is getting the better of me.

Would there be any benefit in tilting off vertical say 15 degrees and slowly building up to vertical? I wonder if it will allow me to build up to it rather than go vertical straight off.

I agree that it's all down to practice and more practice so will get plenty of hood time in over the next few weeks.

Given that I only started SMAW about a week or two ago I'm very happy with the progress anyway so hood time it is!!!

Many thanks for the help.

Adri

 

[Arclikeharrypotter]

Try to use you root edge as a guide for you second bead. If the puddle is falling out and going all droopy then possibly picking up your travel speed may solve this. Also let you work piece cool of for 5/10 mins, 6mm will get hot quick and that will make things harder if too hot.

 

[adri123]

@Brad93

On Jodie Colier vids on YouTube he says he always uses a high Arc Force setting as he holds a tight arc. Why did you suggest setting AF to 0?

Cheers

Adri

 

[Brad93]

@Brad93

On Jodie Colier vids on YouTube he says he always uses a high Arc Force setting as he holds a tight arc. Why did you suggest setting AF to 0?

Cheers

Adri

Depends what rod he is running.

With a basic electrode you want to keep your arc force under 30%.

Arc force is a term that is a bit misunderstood.
It comes from the engine driven machines where you had two gears.

You had an amperage range and a voltage range dial.
Setting your dials at high on the amperage range and low on the voltage would give you an soft buttery arc and 120A say.
Setting your dials medium on amperage range but high on the voltage would still yield 120A but you’d get a much harsher, more forceful arc.

The side effect of this is if you hold a short arc the voltage drops off a bit giving you a cooler puddle, lengthen the arc and the voltage spikes giving you a hot arc and puddle.

Well an inverter or rectifier can’t really copy that.
So what they do is give you this arc force control.
All it does is sense if you’re holding a shorter arc it bumps the amperage accordingly to stop you snuffing the electrode out.

So when you’re doing a vertical, and holding a short arc to keep the puddle right in tight, do you really want the machine putting another 30% of amps on top? All that does is burns the electrode longer, the puddle gets messy and uncontrollable and you get undercut or the weld droops.

0-5% for verticals or positional work.

If you’re welding in the flat, a bit of arc force runs a rod in quite nicely. But watch your amperage range.
If you’re running a 3.2 and the max amperage is 140A, you’re welding at 130A and give it 30% arc force you’re going to be getting over the max range of the rod.

 

[Brad93]

 

[adri123]

Understood. V helpful.

Thx.

 

[Brad93]

Common problem is people welding with basic rods and getting spatter. Usually a factor of a long arc, so sometimes that can be down to the arc force.

Or welding overhead and getting loads of sparks and metal droplets, too long an arc - again could be a factor of arc force being too high.

7018 is a very low spatter consumable with a very supportive slag.

 

[adri123]

Some progress today...when I compare to last week it's really coming on but still looks like there's a fair way to go. On the flat it's all hunky dory... the troublesome stuff is uphill fillets...

Well I've worked through a box of esab 450mm 7018s and now have a box of bohler 7018s on the way. these new ones are shorter so should be easier to handle.

Adri

 

[Brad93]

Some progress today...when I compare to last week it's really coming on but still looks like there's a fair way to go. On the flat it's all hunky dory... the troublesome stuff is uphill fillets...

Well I've worked through a box of esab 450mm 7018s and now have a box of bohler 7018s on the way. these new ones are shorter so should be easier to handle.

Adri

The Bohler are a nice rod if it’s the FOX EV50. Very nice for fillets.

 

[adri123]

Had a look for the Fox EV50 but couldn't find them...

I ended up getting these...

https://www.weldingsuppliesdirect.c...aws-7018-low-hydrogen-welding-electrodes.html

I suspect they are the cheaper end of the Bohler range so won't be as good as the FOX but then again it's probably better for me to work with cheap (ish) until I get some muscle memory built into my welding. Would be nice to try a really good rod though just to see the difference but they seem to be much more expensive like twice or more the price.

Adri

 

[adri123]

@Arclikeharrypotter

Your root pass in the photo. Is that with a 3.2 or 2.5 mm electrode?

Cheers

Adri

 

[Arclikeharrypotter]

@Arclikeharrypotter

Your root pass in the photo. Is that with a 3.2 or 2.5 mm electrode?

Cheers

Adri

3.2 120A