overhead struggling

[Memmeddu]

Hi everyone I need advice to do better in overhead welding.
At work it happens like in these days to do some overhead welding.
I'm trying everything but weld sags and i have to grind a lot to make them pretty.
Wire sticks to the contact tip, shroud get clogged with big spatters , I can't find a correct setting.
I hate grind welds because I'm a one shot finish weld kind of a guy.
I think that welds should never be grind, they have to be strong and good looking.
Machine is a miggatronic 300A
Transformer MIG ,2 step crass ,10 fine adjustment,no inductance adjustment ,0-18m minute,no reference to voltage or current I'm using like a scale or digital indicators ,1.2mm solid wire ,82 Argon 18 CO2 mix.
I'm currently welding on 5 to 3mm joints.
I've already said that I'm unable to weld overhead to my boss.
But looks like I'm the best at work doing it from what I've understood.
Often happens to weld over colleagues welds which are just horrible for this reason, it's not fun at all because makes me feel like a ... You know it's not good looking towards someone who has done this job for much more many years then me.
I'd like at least to get a standard which justify the fact I'm correcting other ones jobs .
Hope you understand what I mean.
It's like ok I'm redoing your job and I'm doing much better.
Obviously they understand but redoing as same as them or worst is like giving them a punch in the face .

Thanks in advance

 

[Wildefalcon]

I feel your pain. I'm rubbish at overhead.

I'm a hobby welder so know nothing.

What I do is:
slow down and power up.
Accept that the shroud will fill.
Do lots of tacks, rapidly one after another.
Use lots of light so I know I'm hitting the seam exactly.
Be as comfortable as possible so my arm and hand is under no strain, so no shake.

Despite all this, I'm still rough:

 

[stuvy]

Torch angle and lower the wire speed a touch

Have a look on YouTube a million vids of overhead on there

 

[Tigman]

Pushing or pulling the torch ?

 

[Memmeddu]

Pushing or pulling the torch ?

Tried both , feeling better pulling like I do on open roots

 

[minimutly]

Move faster, leaves less time for blobs to form and droop, or drop. Gotta push towards you so you can see the pool?
Hobby welder so please don't beat me up.

 

[Tigman]

Can you do overhead fillet ok , or is it just a butt weld ?

 

[Bornfree]

Have tried smaller wire size. 1.2mm sounds a bit large for 3-5mm material.

 

[Memmeddu]

Can you do overhead fillet ok , or is it just a butt weld ?

I can't weld overhead in general.
And it's very upsetting because I can in every single other positions TIG stick or MIG
But overhead it's a wall for me.

 

[Memmeddu]

Have tried smaller wire size. 1.2mm sounds a bit large for 3-5mm material.

Boss buy 1.2 I have to use it even on exhaust parts.
I can easily weld less than 1mm thick rusty and corroded with it but not over head.

 

[tom2207]

I push rather than pull ,, slightly lower wire speed , as steep an angle as I can see round ,, and a good leather jacket or sleeves ,,, you have to get jammed in and not worry about the odd burn ,,, dont be scared of it is the secret. and a wee weave helps too.

 

[dextadriver]

I kept practicing on scrap bits until it came right

 

[Memmeddu]

I kept practicing on scrap bits until it came right

I can't
I have a stick welder at home , and use MIG at work

 

[chrismac]

Can you get someone ne the machine controls, changing the power/wire feed as your welding to hopefully let you see the changes, I would be looking at turning the wire speed up if its blobbing, but its hard to give real help not being there as depending on your power setting you might need to screw it down,

Keep at it you will get there.

 

[Wildefalcon]

The way I approached it was to get one "good" tack weld. Just one. Then do another.

Slowly increase until it's continuous.

 

[Tigman]

On cars and thin metal your better of with tack after tack rather than a continuous bead

 

[Turbo]

The secret with overhead stick is a really short arc length & keep the rod moving. Due to the normally awkward position its also very easy to get your welding angles wrong. Quite often you find yourself moving just your wrists, meaning the torch angle will change. Or you are trying to stay away from the spatter dropping on you. Get on the correct ppe & don't be afraid of it, treat it like a normal weld but keep the rod buried in the corner of the weld & don't stop!

Not had as much overhead mig experience apart from cars, & that's normally a series of overlapping tacks. I wouldn't recommend that you decrease wire speed as that increases arc length, the weld will be hotter & your problem will be worse. If your welds are dropping it means everything is getting too hot. On a mig there are 3 ways to stop this, lower power setting, higher wire speed & move your hand quicker. Sometimes you need to do all 3.

 

[zeppelin builder]

Have tried smaller wire size. 1.2mm sounds a bit large for

I can't
I have a stick welder at home , and use MIG at work

use .8 mm wire with not too much feed
bare wire loves to sit in a groove
take a cutting disc about 3 mm wide angle it to catch both sides and form a shallow groove this will help you to see you can even put a chalk mark in the groove to help
hold torch in front of you get comfy
"tack a bar on as an arm rest if "needed hold torch in front of you angle slightly towards you and weld towards your chest keep reading the pool just let it fill the groove and no more adjust speed to give an almost flat profile

when i worked on orbital 2 head mig pipe welding rigs if you were flushing the area at 3 oclock it was almost impossible to re start in this position! the metal just poured out
dig a groove and it would sit in perfectly , same patching in on the overhead virtualy impossible without a groove

try it