T fillet weld

[Edwardbear]

Evening all

This is my first post so please go easy on me. I've been doing a city and guild introduction to welding. I'm stuck on what should be one of the easiest welds. I'm in on Tuesday evenings for 2 hours. 2 hours a week doesn't seem enough.

I've been stuck on the t fillet for 4 weeks. I'm left handed and what's happening is I start the weld it's going fine then half way through I'm lowering my hand and the weld is the. Going up. So it's ruined. I've tried standing, sitting, moving my arms and not my torso and also standing up straight and pushing the weld. All sorts.

It's just not happening. I'm really frustrated. I also have 2 more welds to do and not much time left.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated

Edward

 

[Kent]

I don't get how being left handed matters at all

Do a dry run till you sort out how you are best going A to B. Sort out were your head needs to be and how you might need to switch your wrist gradual to keep a good angle.

Do the above gloves on visor off until you get what works best

 

[Edwardbear]

I agree leftism shouldn't/doesn't make a difference. Its the same as right handed only opposite. I seem to be massively tense during the weld to try and keep everything smooth but it's causing me to point the torch upwards towards the end of the weld. the first half is perfect second half the feet of the weld are too high.

Need to sort out my position and practice practice practice. It's been 4 weeks on this simple joint and its just not happening.

 

[Rob85]

Describe how you hold your mig gun and perform the weld. Does the instructor not keep a look out over your shoulder to spot how you are going wrong? If you're just training he should be looking at your hand/arm movements to see what changes as you progress down the joint. Especially now since it's going wrong. And the more you stress the more it will go wrong. So ask him/her to look at what your arms are doing as the weld progresses

 

[Richard.]

Most Mig/mag welders push with solid wire but this is through skill and practice because they know how to do this and keep the wire at the leading edge of the pool.
This is very important to avoid fusion problems. For learning (unless told otherwise by your tutor) I'd suggest you keep your torch at 90 degrees to the joint. You must keep the back end of the torch up. If you let it drop due to been uncomfortable then the seesaw effect of the weld running up the vertical plate is inevitable. It sounds to me like your letting this happen so as said above do some dry runs, if you need to, then prop your arm so the angle going in is fixed, do short runs (50mm of quality is better than 150mm with the last half all over the place).
You might say the fillet is a simple joint but to perform it properly and to a correct size it's not as easy as you might think.

 

[Edwardbear]

The instructor doesn't get a huge amount of time just based on the size of the class. As there are only 3 joints left on the course the numbers in the class are falling and now there is more time. The seesaw thing is exactly what I'm doing. I'm so tense because I'm trying to keep everything straight and all the angels correct but this is causing the problem. I need to relax! wosah ... wosah ...

The angel of the torch is also causing me problems. I'm having to hold the torch higher to keep the 45 degree angel, and then it slips.

I'm current using the torch in my left hand and resting on my right which is on the table

 

[Edwardbear]

Angle ...

 

[Edwardbear]

Sound advice will give it a go. I've booked the day off on Monday to try and get through the last three joints.

 

[Kent]

I will prop on anything I can even on easy welds it helps perform them quick. Consistent and proper
Of course you can free hand but welding is much like rifle shooting " don't stand when you can sit", don't sit when you can go prone" etc

For a lefty I should use my right hand ( gloved up) to support my left with the torch in it. Most welders can go left or right handed if required

 

[Spark plug]

Can you see clearly what is going on, I.e. The weld pool and the corner of the joint?

If you cant see the weld properly you won't be able to see when your running off, if you can see what's happening you can correct any faults before it's too late.

 

[Edwardbear]

The problem is the using my right hand as a support doesn't allow my left hand to be high enough to compensate for the bend in the torch.

I can't see really see the corner of the joint. Maybe slightly, but not enough to really see what I'm doing. Maybe a mask adjustment.

 

[Edwardbear]

That torch has less bend than the ones at college. I will try and get some pictures on Monday.

 

[Kent]

If the bend is an issue tilt it run along the weld towards were your looking
It don't really matter just get the right angle of dangle and your head wherever it needs to be
Practice it dry till you get what's going to work

 

[Edwardbear]

I nailed it in the end and the lap joint. I've moved on to tig welding and I love it. It's so civilised