Does anyone know???

[Blondie_486]

Hello all,

Recently I've been perusing the internet looking at welding positions across the country. I noticed a few out in CA that needed TIG welders for stainless food equipment and one of the requirements said "must be able to walk the cup".

My question is does anyone know what they mean by walking the cup??? I've been welding 30 years now and I've never heard that expression. Heck I might know how to walk the cup and not even know it!

Any answers will be appreciated.

Thanks
Blondie

[whatter]

Walking the cup

I've been taking TIG at the local junior college and one of the techniques is to walk the cup. You actually rest the cup on the work to steady it and walk it along the weld. It helps you make a uniform weld. Been tigging for about 8 weeks now and still can't do it very well. It takes alot of practice, tig welding is big fun but it is not as easy as it looks. I have a long way to go.

W. Hatter

[Blondie_486]

W Hatter,

It helps if you learn oxy-acetelyne welding first it's very similar. I learned to oxy-acetelyne weld as a youngster around 9 or 10 on the farm then when someone handed me a TIG torch and said it was very similar I had the knack within a half hour or so. I must admit though that aluminum did give me some grief at first but now it comes easy to me.

I'm curious though as to which direction of travel you use when you rest the cup on the work. Are you pulling the puddle behind the arc or are you pushing it along and resting the cup on the completed weld?

Thanks
Blondie

[HAWK]

Blondie,

I walk the cup side to side and push forward. It works great for pipe. You rest on your completed bead unless it is the root pass on pipe where you can rest the cup on the beveled edges. For the root pass use a small diameter cup. Each time you make a pass increase the cup size to help you keep the torch in the groove. Also keep pushing the filler into the puddle. Do not add and remove the rod. Keep it in the arc as you walk. It's not that hard to grab the technique.

[Blondie_486]

HAWK,

I didn't figure it would be that hard to do, I just needed to know what it was to begin with. The employers were looking for someone to weld stainless food service equipment. I've done a little bit of repair work on stainless food service equip and usually we more or less just fused or puddle welded it without adding a bunch of filler to it. Although on pipe you couldn't get away without the filler.

We used to TIG root passes on boiler shells then run a few passes of 7018 then on to the sub-arc to fill it up and I used to rest the cup on the bevel. So I guess that is sort of similar?

We were basically building something to run the arc of the sub arc on. We used pretty heavy wire and lots of amps, I think the power supply for the sub arc would crank up to 1000 amps or better and would blow through without a good set of beads to start on. I can't remember how many amps we ran it on but if memory serves me correctly the max was 1000 or better.

Blondie

[HAWK]

Blondie,

Doing it and didn't know it-more or less. You just have to walk it laterally while pushing forward and keep the filler in the puddle-no biggie. It is a really pretty bead. Some people don't like it because it does not really stack. Actually the stacks are so close together they are an almost continuous flow-like a ripple in a pond from a small stone.

[HAWK]

Blondie,

The pipe and filler thing you are right. However, I had a chance to do a power plant with schedule 10 stainless butt welds and fusion only. It turned out real nice! No straw in the weld or anything. I did some shop fab and sent down for the guys to install. I passed on the job because it was only 3 months long and the money was not right.

[Blondie_486]

HAWK,

We do a lot of thing guage (22 - 16ga) stainless fusion welding at our shop. Most of it is for dust control systems and it turns out real nice. However if the boss does it it turns out all warped because he gets in a hurry and doesn't believe in back stepping either. not to mention he'll run a 1/16 tungsten in a 1/2 cup and decreases the effectiveness of his gas shield.


Blondie

[whatter]

Walking the cup

Actually I've been able to master flat and T joints, right now I am having trouble welding uphill and on pipe. I've tried aluminum and can do that. However I haven't been able to get the stacked dimes look yet. By the way I have torch welded a bit, you're right they are quite similar.

W. Hatter

[Blondie_486]

W Hatter,

All I can say is practice, practice, practice and then practice some more. The more you weld with the TIG procedure the easier it becomes. Someday you'll get like HAWK and myself and prefer to stick to the precision TIG welding than anything else. I'm getting too old to hang upside down and weld 7018 uphill or wrestle with 20' lengths of 6" wide flange with 1/2" webs or try to wrestle an 8 x 12 foot piece of 1/2 tread plate into position on a hopper platform.

This is the reason I'm looking for another job anyway I want to get out of the heavier work and just do TIG welding. I'm looking seriously at applying with a company that does stainless vacuum and high vacuum equipment for the medical field. I won't rule out the food service equipment either. With this economy I will most likely take any decent paying job I can get. Right now I'm grossly underpaid for what I do and now the company looks like it's on shaky ground financially. If the doors are still open by the end of the week I'll be surprised.

Blondie

[HAWK]

Blondie,

10-4!!!