- Thread starter carbine
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Hi, You are doing quite good for just welding for a month. On plate that thickness I would suggest a small bevel on both sides to get the heat into the root, but the weld in the the first two pics looks ok, a litle bit shaky on the other end. The third pic I think need less wire speed or higher voltage to flatten it a bit. What sort of welder do you have and what setting were you running on the last one? ie; type of gas, wire size, amps and volts, wire speed ?
Hi,
Thanks for the feedback! Much appreciated.
I'm using a Sealey supermig 185 amp, BOC argoshield gas, 0.8mm wire. I was running setting 4 on the wire speed, think that's 4 m/s? And the power stages goes from 0 to 6, and I had it on 4. So I'm guessing around 120amps..? Not sure!
Less wire speed on the 90' one would make sense, I will try that next time and see what it looks like! If I up the power to 5, I know I will end up with a hole in it.. seems to be quite a difference between the two. Thanks!
Thanks for the feedback! Much appreciated.
I'm using a Sealey supermig 185 amp, BOC argoshield gas, 0.8mm wire. I was running setting 4 on the wire speed, think that's 4 m/s? And the power stages goes from 0 to 6, and I had it on 4. So I'm guessing around 120amps..? Not sure!
Less wire speed on the 90' one would make sense, I will try that next time and see what it looks like! If I up the power to 5, I know I will end up with a hole in it.. seems to be quite a difference between the two. Thanks!
Country Joe
Argoshield Dark
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Probably doesn't mean a thing - but almost definitely not 4m/sec - that's very fast wire-feeding!
Those welds look pretty good, to me.
All the Best,
CJ
johnny max
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I don,t see anything wront with that run
Did ya do wat ED said lower wire speed and up the amps
Did ya do wat ED said lower wire speed and up the amps
Yep, I don't know if you did as I suggested but that one looks better whatever you did, one last thing, when I get to the end of the weld, I change the angle of the torch back up and go back over the weld a smidge to get rid of the crater/shallower bead that usually forms at the end of the weld, also I drop the tip down a little bit to reduce the arc temp a bit before it goes out. This where you have the little fused silicon patch on the left end of the weld. This also helps to prevent a hole which sometimes occurs in the weld. You may have come across this hole before. Hope this helps.
Chickenjohn
Morris Minor and Porsche 944 fan
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I've seen far worse welding from people who have been doing it professionally for years!
You should be proud of those welds.
What are you planning on welding up?
You should be proud of those welds.
What are you planning on welding up?
Thanks Ed, advice appreciated :-)
At the moment I'm making some 1.5 metre horse / cattle stands made to order, and various other things people have asked me to make!
Thanks for the info all. Will try and get good at MMA now.. done some welds at college which look alright, instructor said they are good so I'm chuffed with that! Will keep plodding on, much to the girlfriends disgust.. apparently I smell of burnt metal! haha
At the moment I'm making some 1.5 metre horse / cattle stands made to order, and various other things people have asked me to make!
Thanks for the info all. Will try and get good at MMA now.. done some welds at college which look alright, instructor said they are good so I'm chuffed with that! Will keep plodding on, much to the girlfriends disgust.. apparently I smell of burnt metal! haha
Hi Backpurge, Just as in the first image, the top plate is beveled both sides and just raised a smidge off the bottom plate. That way when you need to weld up thicker plates the weld pool penetrates right into the joint and just under the plate, so when you weld the other side as well, you will have full penetration. This also depends on what you are welding up as you may not need to do this in a lot of cases, but if you have a small amp welder and you need to use thicker plates for a job then this will give you much better penetration then you would achieve otherwise. Looking at your pics you seem to have good penetration anyway, but hard to tell without testing, MIG welds can be deceiving. Just make sure that your weld bead goes over and covers the top of the bevel.
You can do a rough test on the weld by welding it on one side and then cut the test piece in half and do the "hammer test". see if it holds or cracks. See the second pic. Although I didn't raise the top plate on that test, it still didn't break or crack the weld.
That one I did was using 0.6mm wire on 6mm plates which I normally use for thinner steel but had to do a small quick job and couldn't be bothered to change the spool to 0.9mm wire.
It was good enough for the job that had to be done.Oh! last thing, If you are going to weld for a living, that burnt smell is going to be a part of your life,
Just remember to wear full protection and also wear a respirator when grinding, and especially while welding Galv items or painted steel. Galv fumes can be deadly. If you are in a situation where you are breathing in a lot of the fumes then wear a respirator while welding as well, otherwise you may get "fume fever". You can always get another job but you may not get your health back.
backpurge
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Ed
I totally understand where you are coming from with regard skilled welders depositing multi run welds on thick material where full penetration joints are specified but for normal run of the mill fillets root fusion should be achievable without the need to bevell the plate.
A big part of my job is testing (coding) welders and the biggest failure rate we get is MAG fillets in the PB (horizontal-flat) position, the main fault is lack of fusion at the root which in most cases is down to people travelling too slow in order to build the weld size up, a lot of people think big, slow runs are stronger.
When you bevell the bottom edge of the T it is very easy to just "pour" molten metal into the joint without it actually fusing.
Fusion/penetration etc on the photo above is obviously fine as you know what you are doing but less experienced people could easily trip themselves up using this technique.
I totally understand where you are coming from with regard skilled welders depositing multi run welds on thick material where full penetration joints are specified but for normal run of the mill fillets root fusion should be achievable without the need to bevell the plate.
A big part of my job is testing (coding) welders and the biggest failure rate we get is MAG fillets in the PB (horizontal-flat) position, the main fault is lack of fusion at the root which in most cases is down to people travelling too slow in order to build the weld size up, a lot of people think big, slow runs are stronger.
When you bevell the bottom edge of the T it is very easy to just "pour" molten metal into the joint without it actually fusing.
Fusion/penetration etc on the photo above is obviously fine as you know what you are doing but less experienced people could easily trip themselves up using this technique.
Hi Backpurge, This was mainly to demonstrate that if you have a smaller machine and want to weld bigger plate then this would help, but at the end of the day, testing will tell whether or not it is done properly. It comes down to practice. I don't weld full time now anymore as I am retired, but every now and then I do some test samples to make sure that I am not also "just pouring metal in" and that my welds will "stick"
"Carbine" seems to be doing well considering he has only been welding for a month or so. I also have seen much, much worse from far more experienced welders.
By the way, I had you mixed up with "carbine" as the poster in my last reply hence the rant about the safety gear, I must have had a "senior moment" might be loosing my mind too... I know it's around here somewhere just can't remember where!
backpurge
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I know it's around here somewhere just can't remember where!
Ed
Tell me about, have made a career of it, agreed about carbine, cracking results for a novice, he obviously has the feel for it
See you're in Aus......wont mention the cricket, my daughter's been trecking around over there for the past couple of years, she's in Broome at the moment and loving it over there
I know this is off topic... but.
The Monsoonal wet season is just about to start up there. Hope she likes very hot, steamy, wet and stormy. I never quite made it up that far in that part of OZ, I got within 465Km of it. I'm on the other side now, Qld. But one day will take the missus back over there.
I've switched to arc now as my mig got stolen..
Did these last night, I know I should have run over the end to stop the crater.. but I was quite pleased with these. Going to get myself a lincoln invertec, and go mental with it! Will weld the thieving scum's tongue / eyebrow ring to a lamp post, with him still attached if I ever find him..
That is 2x 150x50x3 mm plates in a lap joint, I think!
Did these last night, I know I should have run over the end to stop the crater.. but I was quite pleased with these. Going to get myself a lincoln invertec, and go mental with it! Will weld the thieving scum's tongue / eyebrow ring to a lamp post, with him still attached if I ever find him..
That is 2x 150x50x3 mm plates in a lap joint, I think!
Looking very good Carbine, Shame about Your MIG being stolen. Hope you gave the serial number to the police. Chances are that they won't catch them but you never know. Any insurance cover on it? Don't know too much about the Invertec's but I was considering buying one at one stage, I have heard mixed reports on them, some people swear by them and say they are really good, and others say that they have a stiffer arc, whatever that means. 
Maybe you should make a new thread about the Invertecs asking for info from people who have actually used them. What model are you looking at?
Maybe you should make a new thread about the Invertecs asking for info from people who have actually used them. What model are you looking at?
Excellent, that's what I like to hear. It's hard to know if I'm going along the right lines. I know my college teachers are giving me advice, but hearing from the people who do it day in day out builds my confidence quicker!
No serial number, but I've given them details on defining marks on the welder, and all the other kit that was stolen too might be with it.. I have no hope of getting it back though. Probably already in use in some dodgy back street garage somewhere. I had hoped that BOC would have the barcode from the gas, and put a marker on it. If someone tried to fill it, call the police! But BOC said they can't do that.. seems silly as so many of them are stolen.
Stiff arc, sounds like it must be a good thing! I've kind of started a thread about the TEC-ARC or the lincoln. Teachers said you can't really go wrong with the lincoln, I had a go of one last night and its the best MMA I have used so far.. we use Murex at college but they said Lincoln are pretty much the same, but lighter.
I'm looking at the invertec 135 which can do 3.2mm rods max. But a chap might be able to get me a deal on a 150s as they buy so much kit from their supplier. Would be nice! 150 should be able to weld pretty much anything I hope.. and they are small and light which is handy! Going to take me a long time to reclaim my costs for the stolen kit though. They took everything, bosch grinders and drill, evolution steel saw, Sealey helmet, my 250 piece socket set, the lot :-( Thanks Ed
No serial number, but I've given them details on defining marks on the welder, and all the other kit that was stolen too might be with it.. I have no hope of getting it back though. Probably already in use in some dodgy back street garage somewhere. I had hoped that BOC would have the barcode from the gas, and put a marker on it. If someone tried to fill it, call the police! But BOC said they can't do that.. seems silly as so many of them are stolen.
Stiff arc, sounds like it must be a good thing! I've kind of started a thread about the TEC-ARC or the lincoln. Teachers said you can't really go wrong with the lincoln, I had a go of one last night and its the best MMA I have used so far.. we use Murex at college but they said Lincoln are pretty much the same, but lighter.
I'm looking at the invertec 135 which can do 3.2mm rods max. But a chap might be able to get me a deal on a 150s as they buy so much kit from their supplier. Would be nice! 150 should be able to weld pretty much anything I hope.. and they are small and light which is handy! Going to take me a long time to reclaim my costs for the stolen kit though. They took everything, bosch grinders and drill, evolution steel saw, Sealey helmet, my 250 piece socket set, the lot :-( Thanks Ed
