Vertical Fillets

[HasBean]

I know I'm doing something wrong here but for the life of me I can't figure it out!
I can lay a bead down on the flat quite easily and 9 times out of 10 the slag peels of of it's own accord (good rods, certainly not down to skill). Using a bit of old angle to practice horizontal fillet welds however, I had to beat the daylights out of it to remove the slag but found it got better if I increased the amps a bit, and hereby lies the problem!
Doing a vertical fillet I reduce the current a bit to make the pool less fluid so it doesn't 'run', but in doing so I'm reducing the penetration and can't remove the slag, if I increase the current the pool just runs everywhere (except where it should be)
Any suggestions anyone?

BTW using 2.5 eutectic 6013's for the root, straight up, no christmas tree (can't get that far!) about 10 degrees below horizontal at 70 ish amps.

Paul

 

[Drains]

Hey hasbeen. You don't want to go straight up, you need to step left and right. Think of it as building steps for the following weld to sit on.

So weld left, dwell, right, dwell, left etc etc. The middle will take care of itself. The slow movement will aid the penetration, and it helps to avoid slag inclusion. The slag will be much easier to remove too. You can certainly use lower amps than on down hand.

With your horizontal welds, are you getting slag inclusion? If you are, that's the main reason for not being able to remove it. I'd also use lower amps than downhand. Take your time though, and allow the filler to build. Travelling too quickly is easy to do, and is the root of many problems.

A trawl of the library found this, may help...



Miller SMAW pdf download here

 

[snowcat]

What Simon said really, the key is not being afraid to pause on the end of each sweep, sometimes if iv got loads to do vertically IL treat myself to some fast freeze rods, but practice with the 6013s and you should be fine....

 

[gavuk]

try the fast freeze rods, build up confidence it will help running 6013

 

[HasBean]

Thanks guys, I always thought that the root was done 'straight' so to speak. When I first started mma welding it took me while to learn to slow down, obviously not slow enough!
Simon I do get slag inclusion in horizontal fillets so I'll try a few less amps and slow down a bit, probably panicking that the weld pool will run!
Don't have much choice of rods over here I'm afraid, it's SIP packs of 10 which really are dire or eutectic which are brilliant in comparison but limited to 6013's, low hydrogen or the expensive jobs for cast iron.
Time for more practice methinks