Improving vertical welding

[Hillbillysmith]

Now, in the case that you cant get the weld to break, there is liquid penetrant equipment available (I believe you can simply get it through your local welding supplier but not 100%). It is a two part testing unit: a dye penetrant and a developer. To use this, shake very well and spray the developer on the weld side of the "TEE" joint (obviously when the weldment is cool) and wait a few seconds for it to dry. Then, spray the dye penetrant in the groove on the opposite side of the weld and wait. If you get color showing on the developer, it fails test.

I hope this helps and I hope that anybody who was remotly offended by my previous post will accept my appologies. We are all only here to help one another. Information must be shared for anybody to get anywhere.....

-Hillbilly

[horseshoe182]

Don,t worry to much Hillbilly. I know I am guilty of misreading posts to. You sound like a nice guy and also know a lot of welding theroy, I recoken by reading your posts that you will end up an ace welder and will proberly get your welding tickets too. If you were in Oz, we would say "don,t worry, lets go have and brew down the pub".

Cheers

[crij]

Will this TIG rule of thumb work for MIG?

Since I did a little stick welding before jumping to TIG, one rule of thumb that I was told for TIG was that you knew you had good penetration in steel if the backside of the cap plate of a T weld (piece that continues past the weld) showed a continuous layer of scale flaking, and on a butt weld where beads shows up on the backside of the joint. The line of scale told you that the metal was heated above the welding temp and the width of the scale told you how good the penetration was (a thin scale line [smaller than the bead] was risking a cold shunt, whereas a scale path 1.5-2.5 times the width of your bead told you you had good penetration)

I think the rule also worked with stick welding.

Rich C.

[Bryce Masuk]

Now, in the case that you cant get the weld to break, there is liquid penetrant equipment available (I believe you can simply get it through your local welding supplier but not 100%). It is a two part testing unit: a dye penetrant and a developer. To use this, shake very well and spray the developer on the weld side of the "TEE" joint (obviously when the weldment is cool) and wait a few seconds for it to dry. Then, spray the dye penetrant in the groove on the opposite side of the weld and wait. If you get color showing on the developer, it fails test.

I hope this helps and I hope that anybody who was remotly offended by my previous post will accept my appologies. We are all only here to help one another. Information must be shared for anybody to get anywhere.....

-Hillbilly

I was not offended my friend infact anything critical should be seen as a way to improve,

These were my first two vertical welds I have welded for a few years but mostly light gauge stainless in the food industry,

then I began to learn about vertical welding and spray transfer when i began to work with heavier metals and began to use the mig machine more

more practice is needed I am thinking about getting my welding ticket but i may focus my efforts towards blacksmithing instead

[Bryce Masuk]

Will this TIG rule of thumb work for MIG?

Since I did a little stick welding before jumping to TIG, one rule of thumb that I was told for TIG was that you knew you had good penetration in steel if the backside of the cap plate of a T weld (piece that continues past the weld) showed a continuous layer of scale flaking, and on a butt weld where beads shows up on the backside of the joint. The line of scale told you that the metal was heated above the welding temp and the width of the scale told you how good the penetration was (a thin scale line [smaller than the bead] was risking a cold shunt, whereas a scale path 1.5-2.5 times the width of your bead told you you had good penetration)

I think the rule also worked with stick welding.

Rich C.

when we welded with tig we always had to prevent getting this much penetration because it looks bad and is not "Foodsafe" it needs to be polished and its pretty much impossible to get out of a tight corner

nothing we made was structural though and we never used thicker than 16 gauge

[Ten Hammers]

Just a thought. If you are (pick a process) welding 100% welds and run a root on this side, the other side gets ground back into that root (and yes you should see a nice scaling. Depending on the issue you had an 1/8 gap anyway) and a root is run on that side. This process is continued on either side until a nice 1/8 proud weld is on top of each side. Normally 3 passes on up to 1/2 thick stock. The grinding done with a nice rock and perhaps a needle scaler (although some instances a gouge and then grinding is faster).

Welding vert up with a mig can be( for me ) tough. The settings need to be pretty much dead on and this is a tough one to get set. One reason I no longer work in that facility.

Edited August 14, 2009 by Ten Hammers

[Bryce Masuk]

I am getting better at it i will post pictures later

I have been practicing with my stick machine as well

the reality of welding is you must practice untill you realize you are failing at something take a step backwards gain the knowledge and then progess forwards

[jack hollingsworth]

My old tafe teacher (college) told me to worry about three things to get a good weld.
1. weld preparation.. Make sure its clean, enough gap if doing a root run.. etc

2. Settings.. you just have to play around and weld on a bit of scrap until you have something that feels good to you.

3. Technique. once you have the other two all you have to do is practice! and that will get your technique down pat. (maybe pause more on the sides)

This is what a told my dad to teach him how to use his gasless mig and he is getting pretty good for half blind, rough bugger.

I hope this helps anyone reading this thread, ive learnt a lot from everyones imput here so far.

Edited September 2, 2009 by jack hollingsworth

[Bryce Masuk]

yeah I need to burn some more thick plates I just picked up a deltaweld 302 so i will be able to weld some really thick stuff once the new shop is set up

my friend is a cwb cert welder as well as a teacher I am learning everything i can from him

those first 2 welds look like xxxx but you have to start somewhere