upside down welding

[outkastkustoms]

I think i have done a good job mastering the art of mig welding in about any position but upside down, does anyone have any tips? I end up doing several tacks or short beads, i would like to run a good bead on the underside of frame work on air ride and hydraulic suspensions, do i stick with the tacks and gussets?

[Blondie_486]

Outkast,

MIG will run out of position and no matter which method of welding you're using the overhead position is the hardest to master. It takes a little finessing but it will weld well overhead. Sometimes I turn my machine down just a bit to do overhead especially on thinner stock. The best thing I can say to you at this point is get a bunch of scrap and practice, practice, practice. If you're going to do much undercar welding you will want to invest in some leather to keep from getting burned by the splatter and any hot globs that may fall on you!

Good luck

Blondie_486

[Grampa]

Yup

Blondie is right..practice..get some plate and hang from the ceiling in your shop and work at it..I do overhead but it has been so long ago I was taught that now I just do it..gotta play with travel speed as if you are slow the bead will build up on you and drip hot metal..then if you are too fast you will not get penetration..there is that just right combo of heat..travel speed..and wrist motion that allows good overhead..

Really helps if you can get the rig up on a hoist to do this..At least high enough to get inot a comfortable position...laying on your back welding overhead is not a fun day..:<(

Do what you do and do it well..

Grampa

[HAWK]

outkastkustoms,

I have found overhead with mig works better pushing the torch rather than pulling. Whatever settings you are welding the same thickness and joint type in position do need to be turned down in most cases to keep the puddle from rolling out. Keep the nozzle in tight with a short stick out. Make a jig so you can play with overhead fillets and lap joints. Overhead butt joints come pretty easily.

[H80N]

Re: Yup

Originally posted by Grampa


Really helps if you can get the rig up on a hoist to do this..At least high enough to get inot a comfortable position...laying on your back welding overhead is not a fun day..:<(



Grampa

Lost me at the Hoist...

thanks
Heiti

[Grampa]

Elevation

If we can get the vehicle up on a hoist so that there is room to work under there then it makes it easier for the welder to position himself to do his work..putting a bit of thought into this makes the job go a bit easier..See I have found that a lot of the issues we run into can be alleviated in this way..

Welding laying on ones back working overhead is a tough deal for anyone..

For example when installing 5th wheel hitches you can get it done with the vehicle setting on its wheels..it is much easier and not so likely to get slagged if the vehicle is raised up to give a better access to the work area..

WElding the brackets for suspension components is much easier if the vehicle is up on a hoist so one can stand and work on them..


Any time it is possible to reposition the work piece to make it easier then go for it..there is for example a rotating rack used in chassis building..the whole chassis can be rotated in the jig so one is always welding down rather than up..that is not possible on a complete vehicle but we can jack it up so it so we have better access..

One of those prior planning prevents poor performance deals

Does this clear it up a bit..??

Grampa

[Paul Seaman]

Here ya go on the tubing I must say that the tighter the fit the better and on the top side pull the weld and below 90 degrees push the weld. On the race car I pull the top then pick up speed and roll over the free hand to push the bottom and hopefully get to about 4 or 8 o'clock before I run out of reach and visual to have to reposition. The way I got good at it is 4" long stubs hung so I would lay on the creeper and practice and each time I go for a while without doing any I forget part of the magic voodoo and go back and practice for a little bit and 3-5 welds later wow that was easy. It does get easier never enjoyable like fab work at a bench but it isn't too bad with practice. Hope my technique is described well enough. Weld well and good luck

[outkastkustoms]

thanks for the replies, I am laying on my back when i do it, and i think that its the fact that i am uncomfortable and lack of space that make it difficult

[Grampa]

thats part of it

Certainly it is more difficult to do much of anything well when you are in an uncomfortable and akward position..

I am shaking off the rust from a long layoff from doing much welding..soo can't help you much on the technique part..Hawk has it right tho in that trying push instead of pull..tweaking your heat and spending some time doing a bit of practice will help improve the situation..

thats how we learn tho by gettign ourselves into these "picklements' and then getting out of them..

Take care..do well
Grampa