Welding Tips and Tricks

Hello,
I am new here and have been welding for a few years and all of my education was from videos online and trials/failures. Most of my welding was Mig and Tig, but I have been having a lot of fun with stick welding. I currently have an Everlast Powertig 200dv that I am using on 110V. I have kind of fallen in love with 7018 and so I prepared a few practice pieces for my father to look at because he was once a sheet-metal-worker and did a ton of welding long ago. However, when I asked him to scrutinizes the welds he didn't exactly give me much information other than "that's good" or "little cold there".

So I just want to know how they look and if they are done correctly. I would also like any criticism of technique, settings, procedures and appearance.

Thank You,

Looks like you might be long arcing your starts on the open butt plate and have a bit of inconsistent travel speed on the same. Try clamping your stinger a few inches lower on the rod or find a more comfortable position. I don't see any undercut or porosity. Looks good. Maybe add a little more metal on your tie ins on the pipe.
After all the smack talk on YouTube and in articles on the web that I've read, that hobart rod looks a lot better to me than the lincoln does. I've never tried hobart rods so it was all hearsay to me until now. No wonder hearsay isn't admissible in a court of law.
Good job.

RamboBaby wrote:Looks like you might be long arcing your starts on the open butt plate and have a bit of inconsistent travel speed on the same. Try clamping your stinger a few inches lower on the rod or find a more comfortable position. I don't see any undercut or porosity. Looks good. Maybe add a little more metal on your tie ins on the pipe.
After all the smack talk on YouTube and in articles on the web that I've read, that hobart rod looks a lot better to me than the lincoln does. I've never tried hobart rods so it was all hearsay to me until now. No wonder hearsay isn't admissible in a court of law.
Good job.

Awesome, Thank you

So when doing a restart on the open butt plate root should I long arc on the back-strap when doing my restart?

Also 95% of what I run for 7018 3/32 is the cheap Lincoln AC from home depot. Anything in those pictures that's not labeled it Lincoln rod.

I don't long arc anything. I suppose you're doing that to heat the rod up before running the bead. It causes spatter. I just touch the rod to the work piece for about 3 - 4 seconds then strike an arc. The entire rod will be at least a couple hundred degrees in those few seconds. This is a good technique for drying out low hydrogen rods as well. You can leave em out for several months in a humid storage building and 8 - 10 seconds of contact before arc initiation will drive every last bit of moisture out of them. Just don't hold it so long that you catch the rod on fire.

I'm not that great or knowledgable of a weldor. Other folks on here will be able to help you more. I really only answered with my little knowledge so that your post will get noticed by guys who know a lot more than I do.

It looks pretty good to me. My welds don't usually look any better than yours do.

I run the same home depot stuff. I've noticed that it isn't always consistent but that's most likely my own fault.

408cheytac wrote:

RamboBaby wrote:Looks like you might be long arcing your starts on the open butt plate and have a bit of inconsistent travel speed on the same. Try clamping your stinger a few inches lower on the rod or find a more comfortable position. I don't see any undercut or porosity. Looks good. Maybe add a little more metal on your tie ins on the pipe.
After all the smack talk on YouTube and in articles on the web that I've read, that hobart rod looks a lot better to me than the lincoln does. I've never tried hobart rods so it was all hearsay to me until now. No wonder hearsay isn't admissible in a court of law.
Good job.

Awesome, Thank you

So when doing a restart on the open butt plate root should I long arc on the back-strap when doing my restart?

Also 95% of what I run for 7018 3/32 is the cheap Lincoln AC from home depot. Anything in those pictures that's not labeled it Lincoln rod.

I didn't see any open butt joints in the attached pics?

On a beveled joint with backing a good technique is to strike the arc about one inch above the eye of the bead to tie into, then drop back into the eye. A tiny swirl in the eye to fill even with the bead you're tying into, then proceed with the weld.
Snapping out of the weld and leaving a nice eye for re-starting in helps. Also, at the last couple of inches toward the top, it looks like you may be dropping your angle and reaching with the electrode. This creates more heat and also causes the arc to blow the molten metal, hence the spatter.

It takes a little practice, but once you get it, you got it.