horizontal welding

[tomwenman]

Hello all i was wondering if you could give ne some tips please about welding horizontal? I can weld verticle in a Tee-fillet weld and looks great but when i tried to weld upwards it didnt work, it got all lumby and messy.
so i lowered the wirespeed, power and temp and still didnt work and kept changing it several times but still didnt work.

 

[Sparkey]

Hi there tom, don't think we will not reply to your question but you've mixed up the horizontal and vertical a bit?
it's a bit confusing your message...
Okay, this is what i think: you're welding vertical (from top to bottom) that works fine, when you want to weld the other way around (from bottom to top) that doesn't work... am i right?
Right, i found out that welding upwards can be done as long as your bead isn't too long,
if it is you have to do it in several small welds that overlap slightly starting out at the bottom... if you try to do it in one go your weld will fall and blubber down (what you saw)
Take your time for it too! hope this helped...
Sparkey

 

[Hitch]

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.

 

[Sparkey]

Thanks for the backup Hitch!!

 

[Hitch]

Much stronger than a downhill weld
Downhills arnt anything much more than a seal weld in anything over about 4/5mm

 

[matt1978]

As Hitch correctly said, 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.

Its commonly known as the Xmas tree method and I am sure you will find drawings explaining it on the net http://www.esabna.com/EUWeb/MIG_handbook/592mig7_20.htm

I found this on ESAB site but its not that clear from that.

When your ready to do the cap, just do a normal left to right weave, holding at each side marginally and quickly across the middle.

Hope this helps.

 

[Hitch]

Nice explanation Matt

 

[Sparkey]

yeah nice! u can count on Matt for the explanations!!
can you do it Hitch?

 

[Hitch]

Yeah, fine on mild steel, tried on some stainless the otherday, had to get the grinder out after first attempt, tadjust welder then it went okay.

 

[tomwenman]

thankyou for the replys. i will try this wednesday when i go to college.
thankyou again

 

[snowcat]

just to add, the duel cored wire's make a much neater jobs on thicker hotter verticals, rarely worth useing if its an odd bit of work, but I find it very handy on trailers, buckets etc, often with feet of positional and pigs to manipulate...

 

[jimslater]

need somehelp on overhead welding

 

[peterd51]

Hi,

lay (or stand if it's not on a car!) slightly to one side so you don't get dripped on, lots of protective clothing, clean metal, lower wire speed or move your hand slightly quicker to keep the weld-pool as small as possible so gravity doesn't take affect.

Regards
Peter

 

[Rusty]

need somehelp on overhead welding

If your laying on your back or side as in under a car put some ear plugs in,if you get a red hot spark in your ear that's nasty !

 

[Wozzaaah]

Can be deadly!

"my uncle got a weld sparp in his ear he said it went hisss than ringing bells than death"

(Sorry Intransit, still one of the funniest quotes ever )