Welding Tips and Tricks

I've recently been practicing a lot. Mostly on aluminum. I'm getting more consistent and fairly comfortable striking up an arc and moving. Finally got my filler hand to where I can feed a whole stick autonomously. That was a huge deal. Occasionally, I will stop and switch over to mild steel or stainless just to change it up. Sometimes it's because I'm tired of the AC noise (usually wear ear plugs). But I am always amazed at my inability to keep from sticking the filler rod to the metal. My technique is essentially the same as aluminum. Keep rod in the shielding. Dab at the edge of the puddle. Dab at the center. Focus on torch angle, etc. But I'll be damned.....it's like the rod weighs 100 lbs and is just destined to stick. Seems like I've read somewhere that things can get magnetized. Don't think that's what's going on here but I may be wrong. Even if it was, I wouldn't think dabbing in a hot puddle of molten steel would matter. When I'm "learning", I typically go to extremes to see what results I get. Last night, I jammed a bunch of pedal in to get the puddle hotter/larger. That didn't seem to help. Just got the workpiece really hot. Not really a serious issue. Just more curious as to what's going on at this point. It's almost comical to me. I do not have this issue at all with Aluminum.

JAM

You may be adding too much filler rod when this happens. Adding rod cools your puddle. If you jam a bunch of rod in, with too low a heat on the base metal and in the puddle, the rod doesn't melt off and liquefy, it just "blobs" in and cools everything. The line between molten and too cool is not far, and with steel, it's a delicate balance.

Aluminum rod melts at a much lower temperate and it will melt away on the rod without even getting into the puddle if your torch angle is off, that's why you're finding that easier.

cj737 wrote:You may be adding too much filler rod when this happens. Adding rod cools your puddle. If you jam a bunch of rod in, with too low a heat on the base metal and in the puddle, the rod doesn't melt off and liquefy, it just "blobs" in and cools everything. The line between molten and too cool is not far, and with steel, it's a delicate balance.

Aluminum rod melts at a much lower temperate and it will melt away on the rod without even getting into the puddle if your torch angle is off, that's why you're finding that easier.

Or your filler rod is too large. What size are you using(metal and filler)?

Metal thickness, rod size, amperage, pics, etc - these items really help speed up answering questions.

On steel if I'm laying filler wire and walking the cup. I will sometimes leave the wire stuck in the puddle as I taper off. But only if I'm going to light back up on it. I.e. Just stopped long enough to reposition the pipe, or me if that's what has to move.