Welding T and Corners..?

TheJoker · Apr 9, 2009

Hi Guys,

Been out in the garage practising a bit tonight. I seem to have got the hang of butt joins and simple stuff like that. Now I'm trying to stick coupons onto another piece at 90 or 45 degree angles. The 90 degree ones I can weld, but I seem to be sticking a helluva lot of filler rod in there.
Do you guys have any generic tips for me? I've tried extending the tungsten a bit, but I just seem to be sticking it into the weld pool more. :rolleyes:

This has been on mild steel by the way.

Thanks!

hotrodder · Apr 11, 2009

To have a sensible arc length the tungsten is going to have to extend more than for a butt weld. Have a look here, shows the difference arc length makes. You can use the joint itself to set the tungsten stick out... rest the cup in the joint and tighten the backcap with the tungsten touching down. Laying a piece of filler in the joint first will help with regard to touchdowns but with less stickout the ceramic can hinder the view a bit- more of an issue for positional work than when sat at a bench

As the angle gets more accute it gets harder (then impossible) to get right into the root... need a very steady hand when things get to 30* or so, any DTs and you weld the tungsten to the side constantly

TheJoker · Apr 15, 2009

Sorry for the late reply, just got home from Germany last night...

hotrodder said:
To have a sensible arc length the tungsten is going to have to extend more than for a butt weld. Have a look here, shows the difference arc length makes. You can use the joint itself to set the tungsten stick out... rest the cup in the joint and tighten the backcap with the tungsten touching down.

Thanks! Very clear information. I did try a bit to get a shorter arc length last week and the difference was quite prominent. So you stick the tungsten all the way to the material. Interesting. I'll have to give it more tries.

hotrodder said:
Laying a piece of filler in the joint first will help with regard to touchdowns but with less stickout the ceramic can hinder the view a bit- more of an issue for positional work than when sat at a bench

Sorry, I don't really understand how filler helps with touchdowns.

Get the fact that the ceramic can hinder the view, especially if you're not able to position the piece and/or yourself with point of view.

hotrodder said:
As the angle gets more accute it gets harder (then impossible) to get right into the root... need a very steady hand when things get to 30* or so, any DTs and you weld the tungsten to the side constantly

Can you elaborate a bit more on this. I'm a newbie and I think my vocabulary isn't really up to scratch.

Thanks very much! Those pictures of different arc lengths are a great source of information as I've been experimenting the "two puddles" and then I've been "joining" them with filler. I'll definitely try shorter arc lengths (on the expense of a lot of tungsten initially, methinks! hahah!)

hotrodder · Apr 15, 2009

Setting the tungsten stickout so that'll reach right into the root lets me get right in there for tacking up. Torch obviously needs pulling back a touch as you add filler to the puddle and start to weld or the tungsten will be in the weld pool. Laying a piece of filler in the joint before setting tungsten stick out will result in less stickout- depending on weld size might end up that the ceramic makes contact with the work before the tungsten hits the pool if you've got the DTs. Downside is that with less stickout the view isn't so clear which is why i generally set it so that the tungsten will reach at least to the root

This drawing should make it easier to visualise

The red represents either the deposited weld or a length of filler laying in the joint, obviously you'd have the tungsten a little further away than pictured while welding.

As the angle between the pieces gets more acute it gets harder and harder to reach. Even if you can get the tungsten in the side walls of the work melt ahead of the root so you end up having to bridge across the pieces as shown...