Welding rounds to flat

[Reconfigure]

First, introductions. I've been reading this board for awhile now and this is my first post. I'm pretty new to welding, but I have wanted to learn it for as long as I can remember. So far I have built the usual first projects. See the obligatory pictures.



I live in a small townhome and space is at a premium, especially in the garage. I needed a table that could break down easily so I made the legs removable.



This cart was my first attempt at welding anything useful and I learned a lot from it. This was my first experience with heat warping of sheet metal. The shelf looks like it's not level, but that's just the camera playing tricks.



Currently I am trying to weld 1/2" solid rounds to a 3/16" flat bar as test pieces for an upcoming project. My main concern at this point is the lack of root penetration and what appear to be cold welds at the root. Are there any tricks to get better fusion of two pieces of this shape? I fear that in a few short months I have already exceeded the capabilities of my welder, and upgrading to a larger unit is unlikely at this point.

[Danny]

Is your Lincoln a 120V unit? If so my recommendation would be to switch to a self shielded fluxcore. Based on the bottle I m assuming you used solid wire, and I am also assuming the unit is a 120V unit until told differently. Also, don't try to weld that joint design out in one large weaving pass. Run a stringer, maybe with just a slight wiggle if needed, to get deeper into the root of this joint design. Then stick two more side by side over lapping passes over the root to weld this joint design out. Weaving back and forth acrossed this joint design , as I am assuming you did, causes the weld puddle to just bridge the gap between the two parts.

[Reconfigure]

Thanks Danny, it is a 120v unit. I tried it with fluxcore and it did fuse a bit further into the joint. There are still shielding filled voids deep in the joint. All of these welds were made with a single pass without a weave pattern. Can you explain what you mean by a stringer?

[Goodhand]

What diameter wire are you using?

[MAC702]

A stringer is a bead without a weave, just the forward progression.

I definitely saw improvement with the FC wire, but you may have reached the limits of that machine.

My first question is: do you NEED full penetration for what you are doing? Especially with the FC wire, I don't see that part failing because of the weld.

[Reconfigure]

I was using .030 solid wire and .035 fluxcore.

Mac, that's a good question. I'm sure the fluxcore would hold up just fine, I'm not sure about the MIG ones.

If I were to take these parts into a plating shop and have them galvanized, would the voids in the weld weaken the joint at all?

[MAC702]

...If I were to take these parts into a plating shop and have them galvanized, would the voids in the weld weaken the joint at all?

Depending on how you finished the ends of the long section, there should be no access to the voids at all. I wouldn't give it a second thought.

I build my hinges the same way, with a stick of 1/2" solid square to a 1/2" sch. 40 pipe. I'm quite certain the weld doesn't get full penetration to the bottom of that corner, but there is WAY more fusion than it really needs anyway. The voids are locked up for eternity, never to be thought of again.

[Reconfigure]

Perfect, thanks for you help.