Welding Tips and Tricks

Was asked if it is acceptable to start in the middle of your test plate for the root pass. Traditionally one would start at the bottom and stop in the middle and restart from there going the rest of the way up. Can you start in the middle of your test piece and then tie in from the bottom to middle. I don't see a problem with this but wanted to see what others have to say.
-Jonathan

I'd grind the "start" before doing the bottom half, but I don't see why this would be a problem.

Dont be afraid to put a few tacks in, and feather them, so you can do it in one go, of you prefer.

(If the WPS allows, of course.)

Steve S

Steve
The beauty is we are in the process of writing more WPS' for different processes so I guess to a extent we can make it however we want. The gentleman that asked is also taking the test and comes up with interesting questions. Another question was can you use a needle scaler to remove slag, to which I said no.
I didn't state in the first post but this is an 1/8" 7018 test.
Another thing we have been discussing is stringers vs weave. I don't care which one we use but the others are not doing so hot on weaves. I think I will leave the WPS open on this one so as not to get trapped.
-Jonathan

Interesting.

The use of a needle-scaler also peens the weld, allowing some stress relief. Unless it's a readily work-hardened alloy where peening will embrittle it, a needle-scaler is not an automatic "no" in my book.

I do consider it cheating a bit; If you can't clean your welds with a file, you're leaving too much undercut to hold the slag.

Steve S

Otto Nobedder wrote:Interesting.

The use of a needle-scaler also peens the weld, allowing some stress relief. Unless it's a readily work-hardened alloy where peening will embrittle it, a needle-scaler is not an automatic "no" in my book.

I do consider it cheating a bit; If you can't clean your welds with a file, you're leaving too much undercut to hold the slag.

Steve S

Steve,
I guess you do have a point on the stress relief, cant argue that point, however I do not want the marks left from a needle-scaler and he needs to learn how to pass without one. Those are my two main concerns. In real life I have used one before for various welds but don't want it to become habit.
Anyway, I will give the root pass a try as described Monday just to say I tried it. Thanks for your response on this one!
-Jonathan

Starting in the middle will definitely help prevent arc blow. And I have not seen anything in Aws d1.1 that would not allow it.
I agree with steve that feathering the start would be smart.
If bend straps are cut. This would be a way of making sure tie ins were in an area that would not be tested.
We would like for a welder to make good stops and starts even on a test but we all know that sometimes we change methods to increase odds of passing a test.
Can I get an amen?

Jody


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admin wrote:Starting in the middle will definitely help prevent arc blow. And I have not seen anything in Aws d1.1 that would not allow it.
I agree with steve that feathering the start would be smart.
If bend straps are cut. This would be a way of making sure tie ins were in an area that would not be tested.
We would like for a welder to make good stops and starts even on a test but we all know that sometimes we change methods to increase odds of passing a test.
Can I get an amen?

Jody


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Thanks Jody and AMEN! We set up for a test piece done like this and that's as far as we got. I will get some pictures up when we get back at it.
-Jonathan