Welding Tips and Tricks

I taught myself how to weld about 5 years ago buy sticking rods and figuring it out. I have gotten to the point now that if it can be arc welded I can do it, as long as it isn't uphill that is! My uphill welds are strong but they look like my 4 year old did it. I prop, keep a very tight arc, set my amps accordingly but no matter how fast or slow I go I have a large hump all the way up the weld. I primarily weld with Lincon Excalibur 1/8' 7018 and vary my amps based on position and type of weld. I can make near perfect welds, even peel the slag up in any position but uphill. WTH am I doing wrong? I have done everything that Jody and others say to do in the videos but I just can not master it! Any advise would be helpful and much appreciated.
Thanks, Derek.

Welcome aboard, Derek!

Are you welding stringers, or weaving? The techniques vary somewhat.

What type of joint are you having trouble with? Groove? Fillet?

The devil is in the details...

Steve S

I had a little bit of trouble with fillet welds while practicing vertical up. I put together an x shaped piece using a 4 inch plate and two 2 inch plates (3/8") and ran beads vertical up. I ran the first pass on all four corners which was to me a complete and total crap shoot. I figured out over time that you gotta turn that welder (using 7018 1/8th) down to about 112 amps or so. On the fillet you can afford to go a little cooler and if you have a dig function, bump it up just a little bit, like 20 or so. I do a little step motion, imagine a little ladder on the face of the plate. get your pool going in the corner and jump up two steps and down one step, repeat till you make it to the top. Then you can run weave passes over that for practice. You can literally run these passes until you are all the way out to two inches just doing overlapping weaves. You may want to crank up the heat a little bit every time you put another pass on there up till you're about at 120-125 or so. You should be a pro by the time you are out an inch on all four corners.

Photos would help tremendously to understand what is going on and how to resolve it.

On Jody's videos the key to vertical up seems to be to not let the middle get too hot as the weave progresses from bottom to top. Pausing at each side while hurrying across the middle to pause on the other side seems to work well.

A stringer with absolutely no weave is harder for me since a steady hand and consistent speed is vital. Just a little weave when a narrow bead is desired is how I do it.

Looking for your photos.

I've been taught to follow the shape of a 'U' when welding vertical up. It preheats the sides and the puddle just naturally forms when you cross the bottom of the 'U'. It came natural for me and I never had to struggle with it. I learned by watching other people weld (up close). I'd stick my helmet in as close to the weld as possible when watching someone else weld. I use the 'Monkey See, Monkey Do' approach when learning. Watch carefully and ask lots of questions.

Otto Nobedder wrote:
Are you welding stringers, or weaving? The techniques vary somewhat.

What type of joint are you having trouble with? Groove? Fillet?

Stringers and weaving and what ever joint I attempt uphill, I will post a picture as soon as I can.

WerkSpace wrote:I've been taught to follow the shape of a 'U' when welding vertical up. It preheats the sides and the puddle just naturally forms when you cross the bottom of the 'U'. It came natural for me and I never had to struggle with it. I learned by watching other people weld (up close). I'd stick my helmet in as close to the weld as possible when watching someone else weld. I use the 'Monkey See, Monkey Do' approach when learning. Watch carefully and ask lots of questions.

That is exactly what I do. That is what is most comfortable for me but I can not make it look worth a crap!

That is how I learned to position rods and all is by getting in close with a old timer and watching him, but when it come time for me to strike an arc he would walk off and tell me to have fun and not burn his shop down!

DSRobin.

As a learning mechanism, try understanding your amperage (the heat). Start extremely low in amps, so low that your rod sticks. Then work your way up until it is extremely high in amps, so your rods literally blows off uncontrollably. It is important that you can sense the extremes. You will start to understand your puddle.

Practice running uphill narrow passes without any lateral motion with the lowest current possible. Start with your electrode 90 degrees to the work piece. After numerous rods, then change only one variable at a time. For example, the angle of the rod. Start to slightly drop your hand so the angle is slightly pushing upwards and burn a few rods. Then repeat but with a slightly stronger push angle. Continue until your push angle is exaggerated and you cannot control puddle.

Next go back to your 90 degree rod angle and this time, change another variable ... the amps. Ever so slowly, increase your amps and run those uphill stringers again. You will find a range of amps that will work for you at that angle setting. You will also find a range of varying push angle settings.

Your practice should have you realize that you are guiding that puddle, as if you were writing ever so slowly.

Alexa

Both Hobart and Lincoln have training material (some free some cheap) with sample welds and causes. Very useful to compare your welds with theirs and figure out the problem.

Free stick chart http://www.hobartwelders.com/elearning/ ... g_Tips.pdf

Welcome to the forum.