fillet weld practice

[BrokenBiker]

just had an hour in the shed...was meant to be turning something but that got off to a bad start with 2 inserts being broken in as many passes so knocked that on the head and picked up the tig torch.

now, ive been told tig butt joints arent particularly easy to get good looking welds, so i didnt bother...went straight to fillets...looking for advice/criticism from the more experienced.

so, first one, 3mm flat bar, 135ish amps (set at 140 but just floating under full pedal), tired to focus on torch angle and travel speed...dabs arent consistent and where i was hovering just below full pedal i had a few fluctuations with the amps, but overall im pretty happy with it, can see the slightest hints of penetration on the back of the weld too so maybe a little bit slower or a few more amps would have had full penetration

then moved onto something thicker (the reason i was practicing, a guy in work wants some heavy wall tube welded for some sort of stand based on his own design and wants the welds left visible so its either tig or stick), 5mm wall box, 60mm on the bottom with some 50mm welded on (its what i had left over from the toe jack i made)

200 amps flat to the floor, the fillets were quite nice to weld, no issues with the arc wandering, nice defined puddle but i screwed torch angle up i think and had it leant back too much so gas cover was a bit naff.

then there was this sort of but weld, but with a gap. the 50mm box was slightly hanging over the edge of the 60mm box so the radius of the 60mm caused a bit of a gap, maybe 1mm...puddle started fine but it seemed to want to sag down so i tried a small weave between dabs and ended up with this...thing...but atleast i kept the torch angle correct on this one and got good gas cover again

you can also see some of the attemps at a flat bead on the sides of the box but im struggling to get these down a tthe moment, im sure it will all come in with practice though. the thing i struggle with there is, when im doing any sort of fillet or what i call proper joints, where the is a corner, i light up, dab, move, dab, move etc...but when i do this with a flat weld it just comes out like a badly set mig weld...and if i try and just keep moving while dabbing i end up bumping the filler into the tungsten.

PS, i know i didnt wrap the corners on the box section, if it was an actual part being made i would have ended the weld after the corner, not before.

 

[Popcorn]

Looking good I think the main problem is the tungsten gap/arc gap your running. You need to tighten it up, you should be aiming for a gap the same as the size of the tungsten your using ideally. So 2.4mm tungsten has a 2.4mm gap to the work piece.

 

[chrismac]

On your fillets, can you lightly hold the torch on the work piece and rock the tungsten up and down (walking) makes for very even runs if your looking for perfection, its not required but can help, dont point your torch too far forwards, it will melt the filler wire before you can get it in the pool if your dabbing, advice dont dab, hold it in there, the key is getting welds round that box to box very similar in size, takes a bit of practise nailing round the corners, go as far as you can before you stop, you'll have a few burnt fingers before your finished yet.

 

[Barking Mat]

I'd be well chuffed with welds like that, frankly.

 

[Turbo]

On the edge weld where you had a gap tip the upright piece over to 45 degrees.
That way gravity is working for you and you will not get the weld sagging.
Other than that I would be happy enough with those welds.