In my opinion, penetration and its importance is vastly overstated in welding, especially at the amateur level. The mixture ratio for filler metal to base is ideally a 70/30 mix. Therefore on a 1/8 inch weld, the penetration and mixture only needs to be approximately 1/3 the thickness of the bead size, or 1/24 of an inch of actual penetration into the base metal.olek wrote:PeteM wrote:There ya go! Sometimes a little tinkering with it does more than thousands of words.olek wrote: Well so the arc force regulation , when there is one, , is possibly the "fine setting" ? WIth zero arc force I noticed a very buttery arc, not so unpleasant but I did put arc force back trying 10 20 30 until I find a strenght that suits my need
Mixing that regulation and amps is more difficult, at that point I do not understand yet very well what makes what.
But its coming For instance I think raising arc force and lowering amps may fight too strong spatter while allowing enough penetration.
In the cert. courses I took, there was a 15 min. instructional followed by 3.75 hrs. of practice.
"I think " means "I have noticed that, but I am not so sure"
Best way to check that is a cut/polish/etch analysis, and for actual soundness of the weld- beat it till it breaks.
Fusion (or lack thereof) and the re-crystallization of the metal is the real key to a good weld.
Something to think about- Take a scribe and scratch a line down a piece of metal. Now ask yourself what amount of metal is holding one side of that scratch to the other?