Welding Tips and Tricks

This is my first time practicing walking the cup and I am having a bit of an issue with using my gas lens with number 6 cup. When trying to move along joint I am using the upper "fat" part of the cup to pivot on, however the lower skinny part of the cup sometimes comes into play and messes me up. Is there a "recommend size" I should be using for walking the cup? Should I not use a gas lens setup?

Thanks!

By the way I have no idea why my images get inverted when uploading them.....

It can sometimes be a little harder to walk the cup with a gas lense than with a standard cup. But it usually comes down to how much of a death grip you have on your torch. If your pushing down too hard on the torch this can cause issues. Try holding your torch with just three fingers and don't push down against the metal. Walking the torch is a great skill to work on. It's a method I use a lot. I work mostly on pipe. But even then there are just some situations were you can't get the right angle or position to do it. Having a flex torch can help a lot with keeping a good torch angle that will still allow you to walk it. Keep practicing but don't get discouraged and focous on having a light touch.

In addition to Poland's comments, use a flexible head torch to get the shaft inline with your travel direction. And, walking the cup can become tricky on carbon steel once it gets really hot. This causes the cup to get "sticky" against the metal and you have to jam it, glide it, jam it... To help, clean the mill scale off entirely and your cup will slide more easily.

I use a stubby #7 and #8 without difficulty, but it took some time and lots of practice to get a light enough feel to be decent at it. (I think your attempt looks pretty good for a first go, by the way).

I always liked a #12 or bigger for walking the cup. Then, I was using the end of the nozzle rather than the flare, which gave me better torch angle. This works especially well on larger torches like the -17, but you can get the large consumables with the -9/-20 threads making the whole works lighter.

The smaller the cup, the more exaggerated your arm movement is to advance at the same rate. With a big enough cup, you're doing little more than wiggling to move at an appropriate pace.

About the only situation I'll walk the cup on with a -20 gas lens is a socket weld, where the radius of the weld magnifies my steps.

Just from personal experience. Your mileage may vary.

Steve S