when you say cored wire i hope you are talking about innershield that is strictly gassless and the size being 1.2 all of my experiance is with either 5/64 dia or 0.45. But other than that i did make X-ray quality vee groove welds in every posisition but mostly overhead,vertical and horizontal if the weld was a true flat something else was always a better option as innershield is pretty slow for flat welding. Ok the setup is dc straight polarity and amperage has everything to do with the wire diameter that you will have to discern from the weld puddle characteristics but what you want to see is a little tough to explain without a picture but i am going to attempt it anyway. there is a part of the weld arc called the transition zone where the wire is burning off and becoming liquid and looks a little like spraypaint coming out of a nozzle in the way it fans out before it hit the "parent metal" the piece you are welding on. that transition zone is usally pretty short between 1/4 inch to almost nothing depending what type of welding process you are doing but for this instance innershield requires a relitively long arc that is accompanied by a pretty loud hiss and a fair amount of smoke it is a pretty dirty process but really good for welding in windy rough conditions or rusty, dirty or coated metals; however you wont weld x-ray quality that way but with good prep work it can be done and that is what will pass a weld test of any kind.. Ok here is what I look for in welding a multipass double bevel vertical weld test using innershield keep in mind this type of welding is not very fast compared to other wirefeed methods so be patient and let the wire burn off watching that transition zone length and the amount of spread out that the bead has it is important that it is not pinching up (too cold) or spreading way out (too hot) but nice contour on the bead profile always test your settings on something as close to what you are actually going to weld as possible. Ok weaveing is not imperitive it can be done without it but I always liked downward facing Cees very consitant and rythymic only enough to make it lay in there nice and not too wide as this can lead to a whole bunch of other problems that can all cause a failed test. also pinholes are another nemisis of this welding process if you see these there is usally one of four things first too much welding current wich will be indicated by an excessive transition zone, bad ground wich will be indicated by all sorts of erratic behavior, or faulty wire either has absorbed moisture is has some manufacture flaw and last possibly something on your parent metal that you are welding that should not be burned thru. I hope this helps there is actuall some more but i dont want to go on and on I think Jody should do a video on this as it is a popular type of construction welding.
