Jump to content

Welding practice


white90

Recommended Posts

Ok

FWIW I think

Pics 1 -4 look not too bad at all, the main issue is in a few small places where I can see that you moved your body positioning / and therefore you broke the nice smooth continous movment with a change that shows up. This could be your welding helmet where you don't have a realy clear view of the pieces being welded, or possibly as above - you didn't have a continously "nice and steady " movement for ALL of the weld - thats called practise - bout 40 years my mate says helps :lol:

Lastly did you push or pull the weld ie did you drsag the torch towardsa you at the angle or away from you at the angle difficuly to explain - and I may have this wrong - just a guess

Pics 5-8 I would say the weld prep was too small, and the position of the metal poor, ie I would try to weld this maybe vertcially top to bottom or increase weld gap prep and weld - the weld is slightly "Sitting" on the surface rather than burnt in cos of this, again practoise and prep

Lastly I would say use a flap wheel to clean the surface a tad more and further from the wel, one of the secrets of a truly brill weld is ultra clean metal, the rust area being so close to the weld pool and gas sheild can contaminate so clean back more, flap wheel better than grinding wheel, then wipe over with a petrolly rag to ultra clean, and let evapoate ..............

HTH, all above said as positive feedback, but it 'aint IMHO too bad at all !

Nige :ph34r:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

then wipe over with a petrolly rag

Not sure I fancy petrolly rags as part of my welding kit :blink: , if you can't get it clean with a flap disc, attack it with a grinding disc.

FWIW I think it looks OK Tony. Just keep up the Zen meditation as per the teachings of the Stig ;)

Stig_Rainforest.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Getting there Tony ! Practice and experiment, try different power settings and wire speeds and different welds eg inside and outside corner welds and butt joints. For what you will weld, your welding doesn't have to be perfect, it won't need a tig root or multiple capping runs ;)

Mo

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Tony,

The first weld looks absolutely fine ………………they wont fall apart in a hurry.

The upper welds in the last 3 pics looks like not enough speed or torch at the wrong angle.

I have emailed you the AP Welding Handbook as promised…………It details the required techniques graphically together with wire speed and gas flow rates. ;)

Ian

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Practice Jase:)

Nigel I was trying the torch to and from me to try and get the hang of different methods.

Cheers Mo and the others

I have some really bad pieces but they were my first efforts.

thanks to To Roger for the excellent web site link he posted the other day.

and Nige the helmet is a hand held one that came with the welder and it is crud of the highest order! :)

thanks Ian I'll look at it and study.

ps the last welds was one ontop of another as I missed the gap so to speak :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

ps the last welds was one ontop of another as I missed the gap so to speak :)

That will be because of that crappy handheld shield you are using ( they tend to put a very dark shade in them) ............. a proper helmet is the difference between night and day.

I am another SpeedGlas user ;) , but mine is about 5 years old ......

Ian

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Sounds odd but a Speedglas welding helmet will improve welding quality , They are ergonomicaly designed for optimum view and comfort when welding , The one I have is fully adjustable on the shade department and if you cant quite see what your doing just knock it back a cog.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The welding plant makes a world of difference too. I can go into Paul's workshop and pull the trigger on his or Nick's welder (both pro welders, 3 phase IIRC) and a nice (nice-ish) weld comes out of the torch. Even professional, weld all day welders can stuggle to get a decent weld out of a mini-mig.

Chris

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Can we get these tools & fab threads moved to the tools & fab forum???

Anyway... I'm no pro, but I've got a couple of things I don't think have been mentioned:

1. If you are learning (or just anyway) I'd get that paint cleaned off over a much bigger area - Nige mentioned contamination, which is quite right of course, but I'd also say that when you can see the HAZ (heat affected zone - the rainbowy / bluey colouring offset from the weld) you'll really start to see where you got the heat into the material and where you didn't (big offset of HAZ means more heat input basically) - this is a great thing to see how your variation in movement rate etc affects the heat into the metal - which leads to point 2...

2. IF you could see the HAZ it would fall back completely to the join line at the start / end of each section of weld - these are really weak points in your 'project' there, there are whole 'gaps' where there is no weld at all. It might be an idea to look at trying to get more heat in at the start / finish, and also practice overlapping a new section onto the end of a cold older section (try starting a bit further on than the join, dragging back to where the last weld finished and then carrying on as normal from that point). The problem is that it takes a little time to kind of 'get hot' at the beginning - heat soak etc not helping - so you need to hang around a bit more at this time. Try doing this with well prepped material to see the effect on the HAZ, you should see a marked improvement in the offset from the weld axis wherever you re-start from a previously finished weld.

Just a couple of points - hope it helps a bit. (IMHO it looks pretty good apart from that, at least the bottom one does, I'd ignore the top one until you have a decent mask and are sure you are welding in the right place, otherwise it's just squeezing that pigeon all over the place, which isn't welding, it's just cake decorating).

Al. :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

and Nige the helmet is a hand held one that came with the welder and it is crud of the highest order! :)

Bin it - Period.

The go and buy an autodarkening helmet, buy / spend the most you can bring yourself to do, I have an ESAB which was around £80 new from a welding co I use, it goes 9-13, and is very nice.

If you can get your wallet anethestised enough then go for the best which would be a speedglas 900v or X, they are not at all cheap, but I didn't know of these when I bought my ESAB

If I had I would have saved and got a 9002, remember that a your helmet will last a very long time (Ooer) and you will be stunned at how your welding improves, if you did the above with a PITA handheld, then you get an extra point as nearly all decent welders I know use a auto darkening unit and have both hands free (Oooer again)

DO NOT underestimate the huge bonus a top quality AD Helmet will be....

Nige

Edited to say :

'Bottom'

Replied as soon as I saw you popst re hand held POS helmet, so just confirming wot others have said

When I can finmd one for decent money I will buy a Speedglas no doubt bout it, so if you find a really good price / supplier let me know ! :rolleyes:

Oh and everyone I can't move posts and threads TO the T&F Forum, only OUT of it :lol:

I am but a 'lowly' mod..... :P

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Unlike stick welding, mig welds can look ok, but may have poor penetration. So it is important, for a beginner to see how good the penetration is.

In those test welds, you would need to cut across the material and weld in several places to see what has happened internally.

Do some more test welds, but only weld on one side. Then break the welded joint. You will find much from doing this. Even expert welders have to do test welds.

I noticed some of your welds appeared to have a very short leg on one side of the fillet. Except where there is a part penetration butt weld under the fillet weld, this is poor practice, because it is the short leg which determines the weld strength. You may also find poor penetration on the short leg side.

Joint cleanliness (free of rust, paint, oil etc) is very important (as others mentioned), and because of poor penetration from mig, weld preparation and joint fit up (gaps are very bad when fillet welds are used), are important.

Hollow sections are more difficult to weld properly. Because you can't access the other side of the weld, to back gouge and weld. Getting a good root run is difficult because air is present on the inside - for this reason it is good practice to provide a supply of argon to the inside of hollow sections.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

all in all good effort Tony :)

real basic tips - just ideas to think of...

kit wise

bin the hand held visor also buy a decent earth clamp (a clamp on not a jump start type)

Prep wise

clean the living bejeeeeesus out of it all (including the earth point), depending on the weld/thickness of material set a gap between your workpieces and give the edges a prep, make sure the shroud of the gun is clean (home type plants typically have smaller guns and shrouds and these clog quickly causing the shroud to go live or massive gas turbulence - tip dip will sort that out)

Technique

Before you pull the trigger do a mock run - make sure you have visibility for the full bead and you have the stretch. Using a proper hat means you can use your free hand for a steady

book a college course! best money you will spend

Keep at it fella - it will all come together :i-m_so_happy:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks for all the tips/info and advice.

I'll get some more practice tomorrow trying to adopt the suggestions and cut a few welds open.

courses are a real pain around here I've been trying to get on one for bluddy ages now without success

it seems local colleges are happy to teach piano playing/painting but no bugger wants to teach welding.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

it seems local colleges are happy to teach piano playing/painting but no bugger wants to teach welding.

:( one to have a look for, I got a very good book "The Science and Practice of Welding" for 20p in the college library when I was doing me 'prenticeship, that was before I even got a welder and it's very good - explains how it all works and what's going on (and has pictures which always helps ;) ) just noticed it's still available on Amazon:

0521435668.01._BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-dp-500-arrow,TopRight,45,-64_OU02_AA240_SH20_SCLZZZZZZZ_.jpg

Amazon.co.uk

Could be worth a wander round the local library.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks saved a copy too, just been on the college website they should be doing new course next month.

Should I start with the basics or do intermediate?

You are lucky to find a course. I wanted to do a course on using a lathe, about the nearest in Oxon is Indian head massage

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

We use cookies to ensure you get the best experience. By using our website you agree to our Cookie Policy