Welding Tips and Tricks

So basically I am taking a welding crash course of sorts. I found out that I have a knack for it and am trying to become a proficient stick arc welder in about 60 hours. Vertical up on 7018 was a cake walk for me I figured out fillet welds in about 2 hours and then did a practice v groove D.1.1. that didn't break (little bit of undercut, but not enough to fail) so they let me try the 1" structural test, passed. Awesome right? From starting to passing in 8 hours. But guess what happened? I get to overhead, total road block. I'm trying to do a practice piece which is essentially just a 2x2x2x2 x shaped piece using 3/8ths steel and I am trying to run practice stringers in this thing using 7018 1/8ths. Well the first problem was that I couldn't figure out what the heck my weld pool was doing. I'd be cruising along for the first inch and a half or so, then suddenly my whole puddle just falls out. I'm running at about 130 amps. So I back up and put some more material in and keep going, get to the end and to quote Jody, it looked like fido's butt. So I try to steady myself a little more because I'm having trouble keeping a nice even steady track. So then it just became consistently bad. I keep my ground on the work piece and when I get to the end I have ridiculous amounts of arc blow that just starts digging out the work piece like hell. (I'm also moving away from my ground) So I try to run a few overlap stringers on this thing to make it look like I'm learning something so I run away from me instead of towards me. Basically I set a couple tacks about an inch and a half in from either end of the 8 inch long work piece. When I go towards the ground the ends look great, everything in the middle is a big sloppy unbearable mess.

So that's a lot of rambling basically asking for some tips and tricks to making a pretty looking stringer in a t joint overhead using 7018

I usually use about 115A for overhead with that rod, push about 15*, and do a bit of a step-pause motion for stringers.

I never burn 1/8" 7018 above 120A in other than flat position. That much heat in the rod deteriorates the flux, which affects the weld after about the first 1/3 of the rod is gone, which may explain your good starts in overhead before it falls apart on you.

Your mileage may vary...

Steve S

Your problem is not arc blow. If a 7018 looks like it is gouging the base metal ahead of your puddle then your amps are too high or your arc length is too long or both. Tighten up your arc length (if needed) and turn your amps down. Except for your amps it should be welded like a flat weld, just inverted.

Kevin