Rate my weld

[Mid Wales welder]

All critiques welcome, thanks!

 

[Paul.]

Not much wrong with that, other than a slight crater on the finish of the right hand run, well done

 

[Tigman]

very nice !

 

[gordon stephenson]

As above, Just the crater, I would just like to see a little more filler metal used.but nice even good looking weld

 

[Mid Wales welder]

Thanks all! The crater was a bit annoying, the slope down on my machine is a bit touchy. I tried a bit of a circular motion when it was sloping down but still cratered, should I have added a dab of filler as it was sloping down?

 

[Mid Wales welder]

As above, Just the crater, I would just like to see a little more filler metal used.but nice even good looking weld

When you say more filler, do you mean more frequent adding or each time I dab hold the filler in for longer? Cheers

 

[gordon stephenson]

Probaly just feed a little more each time, Weld looks a tiny touch concave, might be just the pic itself.

 

[Paul.]

To me the weld profile looks about the right size, throat thickness wants to be about equal to the material thickness of the box section which looks like 3mm, to avoid the crater just weld round the corner for a few mm then over lap with the new run, or just keep going and weld 2 faces in one run.

 

[Mid Wales welder]

I'll try adding a bit more filler next time I have a go, I was using 1.6 filler, maybe should go up 2.4. This is a bit better pic, just a little slip towards the end. What do you think about the colour, was trying to get as little as possible, do you think it's too slow travel speed?

 

[gordon stephenson]

Listen to Tig Paul, He is the tig guru, I think I was misled by the thickness of the baseplate.

 

[Paul.]

1.6 filler is fine for that joint, 2.4 is far too big and will chill the weld pool too much, don't get too bogged down worrying about colour, that's for the motorsport fraternity, penetration, profile, and lack of inclusions are far more important, your settings look about spot on to me.

 

[Mid Wales welder]

To me the weld profile looks about the right size, throat thickness wants to be about equal to the material thickness of the box section which looks like 3mm, to avoid the crater just weld round the corner for a few mm then over lap with the new run, or just keep going and weld 2 faces in one run.

Yes the box is 3mm but it's to 10mm plate. Thanks for the tip about welding round the corner slightly. Will that still work on the last run?

 

[Paul.]

Yes the box is 3mm but it's to 10mm plate. Thanks for the tip about welding round the corner slightly. Will that still work on the last run?

Yes just use the start of the new run to fill the end of the previous one, sometimes we feather them out with a grinder on critical joints, especially butts, just to eliminate the possibility of a cold spot, not necessary here though.

 

[Mid Wales welder]

1.6 filler is fine for that joint, 2.4 is far too big and will chill the weld pool too much, don't get too bogged down worrying about colour, that's for the motorsport fraternity, penetration, profile, and lack of inclusions are far more important, your settings look about spot on to me.

I'll stick with the 1.6 then lol. Do the Motorsport guys like colour or no colour?

Just for people to reference, I used 2.4 gold tungsten, 1.6 filler, gas lense with No7 cup, about 5-6mm stick out, about 4lpm and roughly 125amps (although the dial on my machine is very crude so maybe more or less lol).

 

[milk]

Welds looking good

 

[Richard.]

Just my personal opinion but for that joint 3mm - 10mm fillet I would use 2.4 tungsten (thoriated/lanthanated) . I would use a 2.4 filler too with around 140amps and really heat up that thick base running into the thinner material . You will then also find the weld colour will go more silver which means it's nice and hot.. I'm assuming this is carbon steel which a weld with lots of purple blue colour may look nice but is too cold. Lovely neat job though.

 

[Paul.]

Just my personal opinion but for that joint 3mm - 10mm fillet I would use 2.4 tungsten (thoriated/lanthanated) . I would use a 2.4 filler too with around 140amps and really heat up that thick base running into the thinner material . You will then also find the weld colour will go more silver which means it's nice and hot.. I'm assuming this is carbon steel which a weld with lots of purple blue colour may look nice but is too cold. Lovely neat job though.

The material is stainless, and he is using a 2.4 electrode

Not sure I follow your logic with the colour of the weld, the heat tint is just the oxide that has formed on the hot metal when it has come into contact with the atmosphere, ie when the gas shield is lost as the torch moves along the joint,
the hotter the material at the time of oxidation the thicker the oxide is and the darker the colour, colours typically range from light yellows to straw at around 300 - 370deg darker yellows to brown at about 400, with purple in the mid 400 range through blue to dark blue at around 600,these are very rough indications and will depend on the grade of stainless (%chrome) and the original surface cleanliness and roughness prior to welding,
personally on these kind of thicknesses I would prefer to see a purple to blue heat tint, then I know its been hot, golds and yellows are usually the preference of sheet metal workers and thin wall pipe welders.

 

[Richard.]

Stainless yes I agree carbon steel I would want to see a silver weld bead. I was not sure of material he was welding.