Welding Tips and Tricks

The two welds in the following picture were made within 30 minutes of each other, under the same conditions...

2" 304SS, sch. 5. 70A(max)DCEN, 3/32 tungsten, #8 gas lens, 20 CFH argon, backpurge 10 CFH argon.

I know exactly why one looks better than the other (my mistake!), but I thought this would be a good exercise in analyzing problems.
Steve S

And, frankly, I'll be stunned if someone actually nails the "exact" cause, but I'll bet several of you get it right in general.

Steve S

one was left handed, one was right handed?

danielbuck wrote:one was left handed, one was right handed?

Nice, but no... Each weld has an equal mix of "handedness", and the better part of the crappier weld was southpaw.

Otto Nobedder wrote:

danielbuck wrote:one was left handed, one was right handed?

Nice, but no... Each weld has an equal mix of "handedness", and the better part of the crappier weld was southpaw.

Southpaw helped you do this weld? I thought he was better than that.

As to the problem, that's a easy one. Everyone should know that.
-Jonathan

How was fit up? Beveled and open root? Was the ground connected in the same place? Which side was welded first, I assume the RH?

Superiorwelding wrote:

Otto Nobedder wrote:

danielbuck wrote:one was left handed, one was right handed?

Nice, but no... Each weld has an equal mix of "handedness", and the better part of the crappier weld was southpaw.

Southpaw helped you do this weld? I thought he was better than that.

As to the problem, that's a easy one. Everyone should know that.
-Jonathan

Yes, the problem was a step in the prep, but it had nothing to do with the amount of coffee I'd had...

You say the conditions were the same for both welds. That leaves you as the only variable. Lemme guess, you accidentally put on someone else's glasses?
Cheers.
-Eldon

Rick_H wrote:How was fit up? Beveled and open root? Was the ground connected in the same place? Which side was welded first, I assume the RH?

It was fit dead tight, and welded essentially as if I were welding sanitary, but with 1/16" filler added every time I saw the devil's eye.

The ground was left of the picture, the purge fed from the left as well, and the left weld was done first.

Steve S

Didn't clean it the same?

You welded the first one, had a coffee break plus a half a dozen doughnuts, and came back and welded the second one. Jitters.

dirtmidget33 wrote:Didn't clean it the same?

DINGDINGDINGDING!

The section was out for a week, waiting for an expansion joint for the outer jacket (not in the picture) to arrive. The exposed ends were taped up tight.

I prepped the section, then pulled the tape and began prepping the ends. I got sidetracked by a newbie with a question before I finished prepping the left side. There was still a bit of tape adhesive residue on the left. The uneven HAZ shows where this slowed me as it cooked out and gave me fits in the 9-12 quarter in particular.

Steve S

Do you tape the joints? Cleaning after removal?

Rick_H wrote:Do you tape the joints? Cleaning after removal?

In this case, with the zero-gap fit, I did not tape.

As I said above, though, I taped the open pipe ends shut to keep out dust and critters while waiting for parts. Failure to fully clean this caused the issue with pretty much the entire top half of the weld in the left in the picture... I was working at the cleaning and

"SQUIRREL!!!"

Where was I?

Oh, yeah... I got distracted.

Whoooohoooo got it right party time
So I win lifetime supply of TIG fingers right?

Reminds me of when you don't clean cromoly on how Gray that weld will get.

your post gave me an idea not sure how or if it could be done on the forum. my idea is to set up a little test section with pictures and descriptions the members could log into see something missed up or incorrect way of doing something and have multiple choice answers. the test would not be to grade a person but teach them when you see this, this is what your doing wrong. I realize Jody gives a lot of free infromation away and would not expect him to do this, but maybe as a whole we could come up with section to help teach problem solvinig. just a thought Otto's post gave me

Lol....I was on the right track, I hit reply as I was letting my truck warm up before pulling out of work. Just checked the thread when I got home.

The weird HAZ was throwing me off, but I didn't see any visable residue in that area. Interesting...

Make you feel better I was welding a cast alum bracket yesterday, made a first pass and had to let it cool a little. Came back, brushed it, and welded another area and it popped was dirty and looked like a$S...here another guy in the shop used my ALUM only stainless brush on his dirty ass steel. Clearly in RED paint marker it said Aluminum Only. I got this info a few hours later as someone over heard me talking about it... Still hits a nerve.
I know I'm a little anal at times about my brushes, some of the other guys just don't realize how important it can be.

Excelent lesson!

And if pipe would have been aluminium what problems we may have then?

I was going to say the travel speed for the one on the left was slower for reasons unknown to me.
And as I read on seems as I was on the right racks, woo yay me, this Meens im learning!!!

Drifta-X wrote:I was going to say the travel speed for the one on the left was slower for reasons unknown to me.
And as I read on seems as I was on the right racks, woo yay me, this Meens im learning!!!

Indeed!

The travel speed WAS slowed a bit, as debris cooked out, and that's exactly why the HAZ varies like it does.

I can show off pretty welds anytime (well, almost any time... sometimes it's just that kind of week), but nobody learns anything from "what went right".

I like to put up my bad welds, and ask everyone, "what went wrong?" I've usually figured it out by the time I've posted it, so it's something teachable, but once in a while I'll really ask, "what went wrong?"

Steve S

On the flip side of that coin, sometimes we are to quick in the draw to pick out "flaws" of a weld when there are none or it is acceptable.

Thanks for sharing Steve!
-Jonathan

Markus wrote:Excelent lesson!

And if pipe would have been aluminium what problems we may have then?

WOW! That has me thinking!

Under the same circumstance, aluminum that was cleaned before it was taped, but tape residue not removed, would likely show lots of "pepper" from contaminants floating to the top of the puddle, assuming tape-glue residue was the only contaminant. That's a weld I would not want x-rayed. I'd think inclusions to be likely, and porosity not unlikely.

In SS, you have some time to cook/float the debris out of the weld. In Al, not so much.

Steve S

Superiorwelding wrote:On the flip side of that coin, sometimes we are to quick in the draw to pick out "flaws" of a weld when there are none or it is acceptable.

Thanks for sharing Steve!
-Jonathan

The welds I posted were tested at 3X MAWP, and further Helium-leak tested, so, as you said, looking kind-of funky is not a flaw...

Steve S