Rate My Welds

[BradJacob]

Could someone please rate and or tell me what I'm doing wrong -or right- with these welds.

Machine: MM210.
Gas: 75%A, 25%CO2

Speed: Forgot to write it down
Tap: 4 or 5 (ditto as above!)

I ask alot of questions - and have elarned a lot - so I thank everyone for all their posts and answers to my questions.

[BradJacob]

Rate MY Welds

Another one...

[BradJacob]

Rate My Welds

One More... (Multipe Passes)

[walker]

Looks like you are running a little cold on the first two, you can try turning up the heat a little, or turning down the wire sped and slowing down a bit. The last one looks a little hot, or too slow on the wire speed. I find that welds on flat plate, where you are not joing two pieces of metal react differently. Try butting two pieces of steel together and welding, also use the wirespeed/tap chart in the machine as a guide for the settings.

[klsm54]

If the settings are correct, according to the chart, you should probably slow down a little on the first single pass welds. You can see a little lack of penetration and the "V"s in the bead are a little sharp.

I agree with Walker, don't practice on a solid piece of steel, better to practice on the joining of two pieces.

[Alex]

I've got a couple of questions.

1. Are you pushing the bead or dragging it?

2. What gas flow rate have you set?

3. Are you using your off-hand to steady your gun-hand?

Weld on,
Alex

[paulrbrown]

BradJacob: and what is your stickout length [end of contact tip to beginning arc], how many inches per minute [spoolout 6 seconds worth and multiply by 10], what wire size? By dividing inches per minute by the wire size 'factor' you will get the amps, 2 for .030, 1.6 for .035, 1 for .045.
Remember the quide line of 1 amp for every .001" of thickness. Also you get more buildup and deeper penetation by pulling the gun, and it is easier to keep the electrode arcing because you are always in a pool of molten metal which helps it arc because of the heat. While pushing ,you risk getting out of the weld pool and stubbing on cold metal, which causes splatter, which I noticed was in your example. I know this is not much of a critique, but like the other guys, we need more info on what you are doing. Hope the info helps, it took me quite awhile to find it when I was beginning, turned out to be in Miller's GMAW Book, which I highly recommend. Hope this sheds some light on a few things, and remember,Welding is not a 'Spectator Sport' you gotta get close to see that weld pool and what it is doing. Best Regards, Paul

[Paul Seaman]

Bradjacob:
It looks like the weave needs more time on the edges and faster across the center. If I am right there is a high crown in the center, its hard to tell with no angle on the photo.

Weld on,

[Alex]

pjs,
Now there's an "optical confusion" for ya. I thought it looked like a deep steep-shouldered valley down the middle of the weld.

Alex

[BradJacob]

Thanks For The Advise

Thanks to everyone for their suggestions. I will do some more welds - with the techniques I learned from this site - and will post some more pix.

Thanks Again

[Paul Seaman]

Alex:
I think its in the eye of the beholder, right or wrong it matters not. Difference of opinion makes the world go round!
Peace,

[BradJacob]

Originally posted by Alex
I've got a couple of questions.

1. Are you pushing the bead or dragging it?

- Dragging

2. What gas flow rate have you set?

- Between 22-25 (specifically, which should it be at?)

3. Are you using your off-hand to steady your gun-hand?

- Kind of...

Weld on,
Alex

[Danny]

Brad,

Instead of dragging the weld puddle try pushing it. Pushing the weld puddle helps it wetout better. Plus, it produces a more uniform penetration into the basemetal. I know dragging the puddle is advertised as producing better penetration However, this is mainly to the root of the weld. When you drag the puddle it doesn t wetout very well, so there is tendency for the weld to cold lap along the toes of the weld.

When ever possible I prefer to push the puddle over pull it, and to this day i haven t had a weld fail.

Here's a sample weld (pushing the weld puddle) that i ran the other even checking out a new roll of Hobart HB-28 that i had just bought. BTW, this was produced with my MM 210 - awesome machine!

[JOHN1]

What does the term "WET OUT" mean.

Dumb Question but I don't know.

John

[ASKANDY]

John,
"wet out" is the term for how the puddle wets out to the toes of the bead. A bead with a high crown in the middle is said to not wet out well. This can be from machine settings or even the wire composition. I had a big problem with a wire brand not wetting out even though I knew I had my settings correct. Changed wire rolls and BANG...It was like a new machine. Even wire with the same specs like ER70S-6 can vary in performance due to the % of variance allowed by AWS in the make up of the wire. I have even had problems with small rolls of wire and just changing to the larger roll of the same brand made all the difference in the world. Some suppliers of wire will just respool from bulk rolls of cheap wire for their 10lb rolls. This cheap often imported bulk wire when respooled to the smaller rolls will usually not be wound smoothly on the roll causing feed problems too. It's hard to find a consistant supplier of small rolls.
Sorry, got off track there a little.

Hope that helps you.

Andy