Vertical welding

[6thdude]

Right I’ve just about got the hang of welding steel on the flat, quiet chuffed with myself really But whats the technique for welding vertically? I’ve had a little go and found that my weld pool just kept dripping and looked horrible! Should I start at the top and work down or visa virsa?
Cheers guys
Jim

 

[Hitch]

For what i imagine you are welding (less than about 5mm thick?) you would go top to bottom. You will also need to turn your settings down slightly from flat. Point your torch upwards about 15degress from right angles and that should do it.
If the weld still seems to blob and overtake your torch just turn down your settings a bit more.

 

[6thdude]

Thanks Hitachimad,
I had a go last night and certainly got mush better results, that is until I ran out of gas! grrr! :x Only opened a new bottle on Saturday and used it twice!
I'm going to bite the bullet and set up a BOC account and get a proper sized bottle and regulator this weekend.

How about welding upside down?

Jim

 

[^neo^]

Same sort of theory as vertical welding. Dont try to do the whole weld in one go, do 1/2 inch or so, let it cool for a couple of seconds then carry on.

If you want to go vertically upwards, then you need to do it as a series of tack welds which slightly overlap each other.

All down to practice so keep at it!

 

[Hitch]

There is no advantage of welding upwards unless your material is over about 3mm. In 3mm+ you should be able to weld upwards, with a very low setting. move in a kind of left to right and curve upwards at the edges.
Any less than 3mm you will probably just burn through.

 

[1969 Vernon]

Vertical Welds

Hey Jim,

Jim to weld vertical its not hard just need to know somethings. When welding vertical also move side to side without slowing down in the center Stop for a second on the outside so it will hook up than move across to the other side without stopping in the middle each time move up just a little bit to sit on the weld before All about timming. people stay in the middle to long and that is the hottest spot of your weld thats why it drips the coolest spot is on each side must hold for a second to hook up than with a smooth stroke move across without stopping in the middle.repeat it over and over. picture below to look at. Good luck Vernon

 

[Drains]

Handy advice Vernon, but hopefully Jim got himself sorted... over 5 years ago.

Talk about waking the dead - the OP's not been on this forum since January 2006!

 

[Tigman]

Hahahahaha !

 

[Wozzaaah]

Hehe, brilliant!
The trophy for the oldest thread resurrection now belongs to 1969 Vernon.

 

[fenman]

Good advice just a little late

 

[1969 Vernon]

Hehe, brilliant!
The trophy for the oldest thread resurrection now belongs to 1969 Vernon.
View attachment 19335

Wow I will check the data for now on. "VERY FUNNY GUYS""I'M GOING FOR THE SLOW LEARNER REWARD" Vernon

 

[Chickenjohn]

Right I’ve just about got the hang of welding steel on the flat, quiet chuffed with myself really But whats the technique for welding vertically? I’ve had a little go and found that my weld pool just kept dripping and looked horrible! Should I start at the top and work down or visa virsa?
Cheers guys
Jim

If you are talking about thin stuff- such as a patch in the inner wing of a car then yes, tack the patch in and start at the top and weld down- in short bursts, as in the "thin metal technique".

 

[Wozzaaah]

John, 6thdude asked the question 5 years ago!!

 

[Chickenjohn]

Yes, I know that Wozzaaaah. But what you have not considered is that many people are reading these forums, not just those of us who post! And I wanted to ensure good advice was in place. Certainly, many more people than the original poster will be reading this thread for advice on vertical welding for years ahead! Try asking a question in a search engine, scroll down the results and you will see many useful (and some not so useful) answers on web forums, often going back years- 10 years in one case for a search I did.

Think of the bigger picture Wozzaaah! There are a lot, lot more people in the world who are both on t'interweb and who are interested in welding than just the members of this forum!

 

[Drains]

Wozz, that's you told.

I wondered if the subject of positional mig was dealt with anywhere outside the forums - like in the tutorials. But no joy - couldn't find anything. Would it be an idea to put together something to refer to?

 

[Wozzaaah]

Is it not covered in the welding wiki? It's still work in progress so no doubt it'll be in there at some point.
John, wasn't having a go, just that you'd quoted the original post and I wasn't sure you'd seen the recent ones about it's age.

 

[malcolm]

I wondered if the subject of positional mig was dealt with anywhere outside the forums - like in the tutorials. But no joy - couldn't find anything. Would it be an idea to put together something to refer to?

Been planning to cover vertical up with Snowcat in the arc tutorial. The arc stuff ought to happen this year (last year I was tied up with other things)

True enough there's not a lot on positional MIG outside the forum itself.

 

[1969 Vernon]

Video

Been planning to cover vertical up with Snowcat in the arc tutorial. The arc stuff ought to happen this year (last year I was tied up with other things)

True enough there's not a lot on positional MIG outside the forum itself.

I could make a video or someone else could. A person needs to see it done to get it lol. I welded 13,000 vert. welds with a mig on a job for 11 months. I could do it in my sleep. lol