Welding Tips and Tricks

I'm practicing for a 6g pipe test with 2in pipe . My root looks good till I grinded pipe till it was mostly clear of slag . This test will be xrayed so I didn't want to leave any trash . I added my hotpass with 3/32 LH at 83 amps and got suck back and root has undercut on the inside. Could I get away with buffing root then only grind a little on wagon track ? We weld structural pipe on the vertical and pass u.t. with a buffing and a little grind at work ,could I do the same on x ray ? Help needed . mid 80's amps 6011,thermal arc 181

Its not what the x ray will see, its what your examiner will allow. If they are a complete stickler and have minimum real world experience, they will make you weld it as pretty as a brides you know what, but if they have worked in the outside world, and know the trade, they may let a bit extra grinding.

Ps, Ill move this post to the stick welding area, as this section is for suggestions and feed back about the forum.

Mick

I believe you should grind as little as possible, that way you don't have such a thin layer of metal for your hot pass to go over and won't risk disturbing the root. I like to grind until it looks decent, and pretty flat/clean without going overboard, the. USe a real hot hot pass to burn out anything the grinder left behind

i know i took too much metal out and thats where the suck back happened . I also thought of using two stringer hot pass to focus heat on wagon tracks with 3/32 LH at 80-85 amps . I appreciate the feedback because I don't see many pipe welders to get feedback from . But this forum is really useful and i love the videos

What are wagon tracks?

waylinbrandon1 wrote:i know i took too much metal out and thats where the suck back happened . I also thought of using two stringer hot pass to focus heat on wagon tracks with 3/32 LH at 80-85 amps . I appreciate the feedback because I don't see many pipe welders to get feedback from . But this forum is really useful and i love the videos

That's an interesting concept for a hot pass, I've never tried it and have no input as to whether it is a good idea or not. Would like to hear some of the more experienced guys thoughts on this. For my root and hot pass I run 6010 5P 1/8 rods. Root pass I like to run about 75-80 amps and hot pass I like to run about 90-95 amps.

I prefer to use the "bury-rod" technique for a root pass. It requires a good fit-up, though. I run 1/8" 5P at 105A for this, and when the fit's right, I can raise my hood and talk to you while welding by the sound and feel. (I don't do that on x-ray, just once in a while to show off... )

One advantage for bury-rod is a nice smooth concave outer surface on the root. A wire-wheel will dress it well enough for the hot pass, which I run at the same current, but slower travel and a slight step-pause. Up- or down-hand is customer's choice, works about the same.

Another advantage is that I can also fill and cap with 1/8" 7018 at 105A comfortably, so no need for machine adjustments for a rod-switch.

I've also done it on 14" sch. 160 using 5/32 rods for both, at 155A, if I recall.

These machine settings were on generator welders, BTW, both blue and red.

Steve S