Welding Tips and Tricks

Lately I have been practicing vertical up stick on a 3/8 inch Tee-Joint with an 1/8 7018 for an up coming project in the welding class I take at my local tech school. When I was done I noticed alot of the bead was just random blobs here and there. I was doing some research the day before on a website that said the heat should be between 120-130 amps obviously when I did that the next day I ended up burning through and ending up with giant blobs. After that I set myself up another tee-joint with the same dimensions and electrodes but this time at around 100-105ish. I noticed it did look alot better but still wasn't sure if I had the correct settings...so I have decided to ask the community for help. Any tips on amperage, rod angle, and anything else helpful will be much appreciated!

Welcome,

There will be tons of different ideas about how hot to run a 3F joint. Here's tip #1... a 1/8" 7018 is "rated" (on average; brands vary) for 80-120A. The folk running them in the 120-130 range are experienced welders who've been doing it a fair minute or two. Tip #2... No two machines perform exactly the same at the same number on the dial. You'll have to find your ideal.

Short form, until I'd mastered some other techniques, I did vertical up 1/8" 7018 at around 110-115 amps. It was a good compromise between heat/speed and timing/control.

Once I had a good handle on 6010 and 7018, I used 105A for 1/8" on both, but that took practice.

Steve S

The welders that we use at my school are Lincoln idealarc 250's any idea for how many amps on those machines or just use the same amperage as you described earlier?

I think I'd start within the 110-115A range on any given machine for what you're working at. I feel it's a good "middle ground", even if your machine is out of calibration (yes, welding machines can be calibrated, and often are for stricter code work).

The trick, as I'm sure you've heard repeatedly, is to hold the edge, sweep across the middle, hold the other edge, lather, rinse, repeat.

The hardest part is learning to distinguish the line at the back of the puddle where the slag hardens. This is what makes it hard to tell how much "fill" you have.

Steve S

Thank you so much I will try my best tomorrow...maybe even send some pictures in if I get some decent stuff

Travis Field, (Fieldres) on You tube has a great video about vertical up 7018 with a Lincoln SA 200. He expresses the equation of watts, volts, and amps. Melting the steel requires a given number of watts. Varying the ratio of volts to amps gives a very different experience. If you don't have a SA200, you can control voltage with arc length. Set the amperage pretty high. Keep a very short arc length. This keeps voltage low. Travis talks of burning a hole at each weave margin, this surrounds the molten metal with relatively cooler solid steel. You've made a pocket which will quick freeze. After you move to the other side of the weave, and return, you have a shelf to support the next deposit. Passing over the middle can be pretty quick, just keep the puddle molten.

Otto Nobedder wrote:I think I'd start within the 110-115A range on any given machine for what you're working at. I feel it's a good "middle ground", even if your machine is out of calibration (yes, welding machines can be calibrated, and often are for stricter code work).

The trick, as I'm sure you've heard repeatedly, is to hold the edge, sweep across the middle, hold the other edge, lather, rinse, repeat.

The hardest part is learning to distinguish the line at the back of the puddle where the slag hardens. This is what makes it hard to tell how much "fill" you have.

Steve S

So I decided to talk to my instructor and asked him for any tips this is what he did. I had to heat turned up to about 110-115 like you said and he told me that was WAY to hot. He turned it down to about 90-95 and he laid down a perfect bead. He told me that for most miller machines I would go 110-115 since they run a bit colder. As I said we use idealarc 250's, maybe because they are made for industry they run hotter than other machines or maybe their is another reason that I dont know about. He used an 1/8 7018 on 3/8 like I said in my first post.

Unless I'm pushed for time and trying to lay down a lot of weld fast I too run about 90-95. Even on the miller machines I've used I hold a really short arc sometimes I can feel the rod dragging. I feel like I have more control at that heat. But on a good day if I'm feeling in the groove I'll push 135-140. It's all about were you feel you have the most control over the puddle.

Btw are you polish? Just wondering cause Iam also polish, my uncle was a welder in fact before he moved to the U.S and became a machinist.

Sorry. Not polish. Name traces back to whales. But I can trace my family back to the early 1800's starting in NY and then they moved west along the Great Lakes. Till they got to Iowa in mid 1800. But I've heard almost every polock joke there is.