Dimes - welding

[Steved]

Hi there.

Could someone please explain what "beads look like a dime" means.

It is used quite a bit and I do not know what it means.

Thanks,

Steve

[paulrbrown]

Today 01:02 PM
Steved
that should read ' a stack of dimes', what it refers to is if you laid out dimes on top of one another in a line, like overlapping circles. Paul

[Scott V]

Like this.

[dyn88]

are you a lefty?

[Scott V]

are you a lefty?

Yes but those welds are not mine,just some guy at the sheetmetal shop where I get all my free scrap. ( Brother in law's )

I thought everyone could tell I was a lefty form just by my posts!!

[Sberry]

I dont care for that look, I like it smooth so you cant tell the operator had any movement.

[INTP]

I agree with Sberry. It's an overused idea, that somehow welds must look like that to be good.

[Danny]

I dont care for that look, I like it smooth so you cant tell the operator had any movement.

Cary,

I like to use the oscillation for non-critical short arc welds on 1/4", because it gives me better control over the weld puddle, then trying to push a puddle with a high level short arc voltage.

[cope]

I agree with Sberry. It's an overused idea, that somehow welds must look like that to be good.

I agree also. Dan can make some excellent welds that have the stack appearance but it's an over-concern for most people. You have to learn to walk before you can run. Main consideratuion is getting a good weld.

[Teeps]

Miller recommends no movement, just moving straight down the joint with no side to side, or circular type movement.

[Sberry]

Dan, I usually use some movement too,, its just that you cant see it in the finished weld. Teeps, I think that there are a couple reasons they say that. One being if you are reading a "how to" they want to make it as simple as possible. 2nd, it helps keep the arc in the root of the joint. 3rd, it helps with some other issues such as undercut and allows the new operator to focus on puddle fill and travel speed. Its kind of like bike riding, there are a couple things going on at once and to start with you need to learn to make some of them automatically, without concious thought. Probably like most operators I dont think about making welds, its just something I do. I may look at it and think,, how big of weld do I want? But I dont think about how to make it big. That part comes on autopilot after a while. Really after a while even the size of the weld becomes instinctual.

[Sberry]

The position is something else I dont really consider either. It doesnt really make a difference to me if it is vert or overhead, just do it automatically.

[BradJacob]

Cary,

I like to use the oscillation for non-critical short arc welds on 1/4", because it gives me better control over the weld puddle, then trying to push a puddle with a high level short arc voltage.

Dan,

When you say that you like the oscillation for "NON-CRITICAL" - do you mean welds that don't "need" to be "safe" - or that don't need to be that strong? If so, does using a more straight-forward aproach to making a puddle make for a stronger weld?

[arcdawg]

i would have to think on thicker material movement would result in a better / stronger weld .....due to putting in more material into the joint and washing it into both pieces of material.... AND LETS NOT FORGET ABOUT OUT OF POSITION WELDING TOO !!

while i think on the thinner material besides looks it most likley is overkill.....

(AND IM ONLY TALKING MIG HERE)

tig and stick are two total diffrent set of circumstances......

gotta have a nice stacked dime look on a aluminum tig bead !!!

dawg

[Danny]

Dan,

When you say that you like the oscillation for "NON-CRITICAL" - do you mean welds that don't "need" to be "safe" - or that don't need to be that strong? If so, does using a more straight-forward aproach to making a puddle make for a stronger weld?

Brad,

Non-critical means there's no chance of death or sever injury if the weld happens to fail. Short circuit transfer by nature is shallow penetrating. When you reach the 1/4" (or above) material thickness level, the potential for lack of fusion with short circuit transfer greatly increases. So, if my life depends upon the weld not failing, when the material thickness is a 1/4" or thicker, in most cases Im going to either use spray arc, a high energy globular transfer, or a gas shielded fluxcore. Now, vertical up is an exception to this rule, because gravity works to your advantage, making it easy to stay at the leading edge of the puddle, and get a good burn into the basemetal across the entire width of the weld.

Brad, when using short circuit transfer on 1/4" (fillets), your going to need to use some type of oscillation to produce a properly sized weld. If you just try to travel straight, the weld isn t going to wetout quick enough, and your going to loose fusion to the root of the weld. On 1/4" material in short arc mode, I generally use the oscillation that creates the stacked coins look, because i feel I have better puddle control using it , which helps me guarantee that i have a higher potential for fusion to the root of the weld. Im attaching a sample pic, the red arrow indicates were i direct the arc when i come back around for the upward stroke of the oscillation.

Now, i don t always use the stacked coin look for non-critical welds on 1/4". Sometimes I just go with a slight side to side motion along the weld joint. My second attachment is a sample arc weld ran with an .030 and C-25 on 1/4" using a side to side oscillation.