Overhead welding

[CRB]

Tomorrow I am going to have to get under the van and look to the sky.

I have read what is available and although one of the threads went off at a severe tangent, the gist appeared to be, a shorter shroud, and a 90* angle with the settings as you would with a butt weld.

Todays' ordinary welds were like this.


When I had a quick go I found that there was 'flare' with a huge arc and no real direction. Something similar happened when I did a restricted internal corner, though a little playing with settings sorted it, but not now as a usual butt weld.

Any pointers always welcome.

 

[Tigman]

Be prepared to get sparks all over you ! cap on your head is a must , good luck with it

 

[optima21]

yeah as said be prepared to get burnt, I got fed up with being burnt welding under my car I ended up getting a leather hood and shirt off ebay for £30. wish I'd done it years ago. I do wear ear plugs when welding under cars too as I was speaking to someone who got some spatter in his ear (while welding under a car) and it perforated his ear drum and after 6 operations he still couldn't hear properly.

if its chassis legs, sills or hollow sections,be weary of cavity wax dripping on you or catching fire. if it does start burning I normally use compressed air to blow it out (and have a pressureised plant sprayer and fire extinguisher handy)

 

[mike 109444]

Think you need to up the wire feed a tad to avoid the tendency for the weld to fall back. Get a welding hood/balaclava only a few quid and should reduce the "weld in ear" syndrome ! If you have a leather apron or similar then drap it across your chest cos that another place the blobs of weld fall to and seam to find the gaps between your poppers. gauntlets and taping up sleeves. Good lighting. Tools to hand inc wire brush to remove the splatter that will fall back and build up in shroud. Check carefully whats still above that flammable inc wiring. When you are underneath you won't know whats burning above you. Have a bucket of sand or water and damp cloths to hand. And unless you have your van high up you will find you craw under and then can't flip you helmet down, Gerrrrrr

 

[Tigman]

You look special in that gear LOL

 

[mike 109444]

Looks like Mr Optima is a faster typer than me
And it looks like you have lost your sky poles

 

[CRB]

Looks like Mr Optima is a faster typer than me
And it looks like you have lost your sky poles

?Ski?.............or his ladder............


Shopping tomorrow then, though I did manage to get away with staggering the plates so I was welding from the side rather than below, but cannot do that on the next part.

 

[tflnemesis]

Get a mate/ spouse/ child to fire spot for you.... Its dead easy to be underneath, busy laying down welds and not notice the smoke pouring out of the inside as the paint/carpets/seam sealer/ wiring catches fire.

 

[Bill Edwards]

And you will gain the opportunity to use those very special swear words you'd almost forgotten existed as that extra large ball of extra hot spatter works its way through a bit of your clothing to nicely lodge in your chest hair, ear, nose etc for the xxx time.
You'll probably also be left with the view that paying somebody to do this part of the job would be worth every penny.

I use plenty of tip dip as well on the torch, just to help keep the spatter from causing any more welding grief while I'm under there.

 

[optima21]

Looks like Mr Optima is a faster typer than me
And it looks like you have lost your sky poles
?Ski?.............or his ladder............

welding is just about in my comfort zone, the other two are far too dangerous, I know my limitations

 

[Kent]

Don't be a puff, proper welders keep going to the end of the run even when they are on fire! LOL

 

[CRB]

I might roll the sleeves down on my Tshirt but that is the only concession I will make.


We have some leather from a sofa shop from years ago, so will be stapling some together later.

 

[johnik]

todays top tip from me....i used to lay a damp cloth on the inside above where you are welding,it stops fire,minimises smoke and acts as a heat sink to reduce burn through

 

[CRB]

Too much 'housy' stuff yesterday so got very little done and no welding at all, but I did get my paper pattern done and this morning has resulted in a one-armed, halter-neck leather dress. Cunningly stapled together and best of all free, since the depreciation on the materials was taken into account.



I might make the collar a bit taller, but since I am not going to be directly under the area, I am more bothered about arm and body coverage.

 

[CRB]

Well the good news is that I have not been burnt by a rolling ball of molten steel.

The less welcome news is that although I set up the top welds first, and was quite happy with them...apart from the spatter.......

....the underside was a complete waste of time. As advised, I dropped the wire speed a little and did a few tacks to see if any further faffing was required. At no point in the 780mm did I get the same results twice. A good tack was next to a splurge where the arc was jumping all over and the other side of it would start well and then degenerate into a shroud blocking ball. The area was wire-brushed by grinder before each attempt. Changing the power/wire speed again did not help particularly since I was getting such varied results anyway.

?What on earth is going on, or more likely, what am I missing?

 

[Bill Edwards]

Wrong torch angle and inconsistent travel speed would be my first thoughts - it does require practice

 

[Kent]

I feel you might be too bothered about this, its not particularly much harder to weld overhead with a mig but the top picture shows you need further practice and refinement on the flat. Sure you might get a bit down your neck but rarely will it do more than make you flinch, I can only remember getting actually burnt once and it was a freak occurrence when trapped inside a truck wheel arch

 

[CRB]

Wrong torch angle and inconsistent travel speed would be my first thoughts - it does require practice

Push and pull on the upper welds Bill and Kent but I do appreciate the input.

I was not expecting to get it first time, but did think I would be reasonably close.

 

[Kent]

Push and pull on the upper welds Bill and Kent but I do appreciate the input.

I was not expecting to get it first time, but did think I would be reasonably close.

Don't take this the wrong way, but your top weld really needs work yet. if you were really getting a good bead on that then I doubt you would find overhead anything more than a doddle because frankly it is with MIG and not rocket science with MMA etc. But going positional when you have not got the hang of running a bead on the flat is bound to lead to frustration and poor welds. Perhaps you should just run some beads on a section of scrap for a few hours on the flat till you get the feel of control over the puddle and can create an even bead?

 

[CRB]

Don't take this the wrong way, but your top weld really needs work yet. if you were really getting a good bead on that then I doubt you would find overhead anything more than a doddle because frankly it is with MIG and not rocket science with MMA etc. But going positional when you have not got the hang of running a bead on the flat is bound to lead to frustration and poor welds. Perhaps you should just run some beads on a section of scrap for a few hours on the flat till you get the feel of control over the puddle and can create an even bead?

Still learning really, and I know that my welds are not consistent and that in itself does get to me. I did probably jump in a bit quickly, I needed to do some MOT work on the van and got the thinner stuff done quite well, good enough for my MOT man to comment on it, positively.

I will be able to have some proper time on Thursday, and so will be doing some practising then. I had already decided to return to the bench after a think yesterday.

Your 'rocket science' comment is why I was expecting to be reasonably close rather than not.

Many thanks.