angle 10-15 degrees ,try a few different rods as well some are easier than others check the box make sure they are suitable for positional work ,i used to practise on the inside of angle iron ,,,,,,,,practise practise practise
Couple of techniques, root and fill your bottom first, root the top grind back into the top and the bottom (keyhole) then start welding from your bottom weld, as you come near the top and into your cutback land, narrow the bead and push the arc tighter against the face into the slot, thus staling the arc and reducing the current......
Try using the christmas tree technique, rather than going straight up.
Quoting Hitch here:- "
Theres quite a knack to vertical up welding. Very low settings, even for thicker plates.
A nice pattern, a bit like a child drawing a christmas tree.
Quite difficult to make it look very neat."
There are various ways of building up a stable, non blobby weld, all require a weave of one kind or another.
Dutch, I don't know why, but I thought you meant MIG. Anyway, for MMA it's similar. You're looking to build a platform with each weave, to put the next weave onto. Usually its just a left, pause, right, pause, left, pause, right, pause etc. The middle takes care of itself. If you're getting slag inclusion turn the amps up a bit or try a slight change in technique. Electrode angle as subsea says.
Are we talking Mig here or stick dutchman because what iv just said is strictly nicked from pipewelding techniques, Im really not a "MIG" Welder and cross techniques across from the arc.......Thats not one of em.....
On anything above 4-5mm then Verticle up is by far the best approach.
If you have got a lot to do, its worthwhile investing in some higher percentage Co2 gas mix, (80% Ar 20% Co2 or a 15% mix), the weldpool is much more controllable with the higher Co2 value on positional work. Its less hot.
Get a nice short arc (dip transfer) setting and then point the wire bang into the centre of the joint, leave for a couple of seconds, then bring the wire out towards the left hand side of the joint, leave a second or two, go fast across the middle of the weld pool and hold at the right hand side (opposite to what you just did on the left side) hold for couple of seconds and then put wire back into centre of joint a fraction above where you initially started and the repeat up the plate.
I was referring to stick/mma/smaw welding. Probably should have used the word electrode angle instead of torch angle. Sorry, my mistake. It can be a bit confusing sometimes, learning tig and stick at the same time and in a different language.
Quite interesting to read how it is done with mig though. Haven’t touched one of them in years…
Learning to mig properly would be a nice project for the future.
Back to the bottom blobbie, top crater thing; all the instructions sound like I am in for some serious welding and joint preparation now.
Snowcat, your explanation seems like the thing I was looking for. Only thing I am not 100% sure of in the explanation is the keyhole and rooting it back. What exactly is meant by that?
Technically Dutchman you wont have a true keyhole as you wont be open rooting, but if you grind an upside down Vee in the area your closing too, and weld into the top of the Vee then you should be able to close your welds quite neatly...
In layman's terms simply weld bottom inch or so, same at the top, grind back bottom leaving just a platform to set off from then a slot, then do the Vee trick at the top and see how you go
I bought that american dvd - learn to arc weld. It's pretty good (I watched it again the other day now I know the basics)
It mentions keeping the arc very short, and when you watch the weld pool you can see why, if you keep the arc short the weld pool isn't as hot and so cools/goes hard quicker, therefore less "blobs". also pretty much 90 degree to the peice for position.
Both these things worked well for me as an inexperienced welder.
I know thats nothing that hasn't been said, but just thought I'd post up how I found it.
Did some more practicing today and I still couldn’t get the bead as smooth as I hoped. Top crater and bottom blobbie were really annoying and difficult to avoid…. Until I remembered what Cappy said and tried a different electrode.
Bingo!
Although both electrodes are 6013, the second type has much less tendency to run down. I was quite amazed by the difference in bead appearence, welding horizontally as well as in the flat.
Glad to hear that dutchman, certain brands "freeze" much better than others, something like a 6010 would also offer you a fast freeze..... but also a deep pen.......Certain brands also offer fast freeze and fill freeze alternatives Vodex are ones that spring to mind, although in the days of inverter technology, and how easy they are to run verts, overheads with many of these rods are an expensive luxuary....