Welding Tips and Tricks

It seems like everyone wants me to run hardwire uphill in weld tests these days. I've been working structural welding since I started about 5 years ago and was always told not to do down hill, and the topic of vertical hardwire just produced odd looks from my fellows. I can run a real nice dual shield vert, but every time I have tried to run hardwire it looks like hammered crap. Anyone have any tips to get me through this test. Once I get in the door I'll shine, it's getting past this stage.


Thanks,
KenC

Hi there,

The main thing to remember is that solid mig wire is not fast freeze, like flux cored wire. Turn the Volts down to around 19 - 20. You have to go fast across the middle of the weld face because the metal wants to flow into the center. Pause at the sides to avoid under cut.(about half a second) The motion I uses looks like this ))))))))) imagine that standing on its end with the curve facing upwards. This helps counter act the sag of the molten metal. That's how I do weave fill and cap passes on fillets and butts. On a fillet or closed/ backing stripped butt turn up the heat for the root. It doesn't really matter how you move but keep your arc touching fresh metal all the time. Haven't done any open root butts (lol ) so I cant help there.

Regards
Mick

thanks for the tip, ended up they let me downhill the root, and your tips helped me nail the fills and caps. Helped me land a job paying $6 more /hour than where I was working. Much appreciated.

KenC

Hi there,

Nice work Ken. Glad I could help.

Mick