Welding Tips and Tricks

Hi I am new to this forum and thanks for taking a look at my pictures. I am practicing my 6g pipe welding and am having issues with my cap. I can't seem to get the stringers to flatten out smooth. The beads seem to crown out. My root and fill are going great but when it comes to the end it just seems to not flow right. I am using a miller master 200 and 3/32 7018 92amps 75 dig. Thanks any advice is greatly appreciated.also its a 6inch pipe sch 80

The individual beads do not seem too humped up (convex) however the valleys between the beads take away from the appearance.

Concentrate on bead placement during the cap. Forget about how many beads you are going to cap with. Try to maintain a smooth transition where the toes of each bead tie into top of the previous bead.

Below is a page with a sketch describing what I am speaking of. Even with beads a little humped up, stacking them tight can help.
[url]http://www.weldingdata.com/WeldCapProfile.htm[url]

A very slight weave or oscillation will flatten them,but overlap them a little more as said

Lose the "dig" on the cap.

You don't need "amp correction" from the machine to make a slick cap. You need to weld it with no more than 10% dig, "zero" preferred, and control the arc with your arc length, or you will never get a smooth cap.

The dig control will fool you, and make you undercut when you think you have it right.

"Dig" is a great cheat for root and fill, but you pay for it if you use it to cap.

Steve S

Maybe you are doing it a bit slow so you are building up those beads, try speeding up a bit your travel speed to get some flatter bead welds. Just my personal opinion !



Yeah, + 1 on Otto, loose the " dig " on the caps.

weldingt wrote:The individual beads do not seem too humped up (convex) however the valleys between the beads take away from the appearance.

Concentrate on bead placement during the cap. Forget about how many beads you are going to cap with. Try to maintain a smooth transition where the toes of each bead tie into top of the previous bead.

Below is a page with a sketch describing what I am speaking of. Even with beads a little humped up, stacking them tight can help.
[url]http://www.weldingdata.com/WeldCapProfile.htm[url]

Thanks for answering

Otto Nobedder wrote:Lose the "dig" on the cap.

You don't need "amp correction" from the machine to make a slick cap. You need to weld it with no more than 10% dig, "zero" preferred, and control the arc with your arc length, or you will never get a smooth cap.

The dig control will fool you, and make you undercut when you think you have it right.

"Dig" is a great cheat for root and fill, but you pay for it if you use it to cap.

Steve S

Thanks for the advice you helped a lot

roberts56 wrote:Maybe you are doing it a bit slow so you are building up those beads, try speeding up a bit your travel speed to get some flatter bead welds. Just my personal opinion !



Yeah, + 1 on Otto, loose the " dig " on the caps.

Thanks

wheresmejumper wrote:A very slight weave or oscillation will flatten them,but overlap them a little more as said

thanks

cdico,

Please share pics of your results, including what worked for you, and what didn't.

We learn from each others' experience.

Steve S

I would turn off the dig, you dont need dig for 7018. Also after the first fill pass i would switch to 1/8 electrode, pull back your arc length and add a slight side to side wiggle with the tip of the rod to flatten out the bead, also you want to overlap your previous bead by half when stacking beads, you want the toe line of each pass to contact the crown of the last bead, a cover with 1/8 in 7018 on schedule 80 6 inch with 35 degree bevels should take 3-4 stacked beads

I too turn down my dig as well. I like about a 2 or 3 on a 10 scale. Just a little.