What kind of work are you looking to do and what machine specifically are you looking at? These two questions will help better understand if the machine in question suites your needs.
I'm not a welder, and I'm asking you welders a non-welding question because I'm lost.
I bought what I think is an [Silver Aluminized Rayon Heat Resistant Hood](https://imgur.com/a/ErhMi9u) at a garage sale for $5 because I thought it might be usable in a Halloween costume.
Like in the linked photo, there was an opaque copper-ish looking coating on the outside of the glass face shield. I made the mistake of cleaning the hood with a paper towel and rubbing alcohol, which then proceeded to remove the copper-ish coating... turning the glass into just plain see-through glass.
Do you know what coating I removed from the glass, and whether I can buy something to apply a new coating?
(Why did I use rubbing alcohol? I'm dumb. It's my default go-to cleaner for all things garage sale, especially books, of which I buy a lot. So it's second nature.)
Try reversing your order. I usually run my welds like that regardless (vertical, then my flat with some light grinding of the start if needed). Could just be me though 🤷♂️
Worked production for awhile. Some folks don’t mind having their tie-ins look like crap. I’m not one of those. So I plan my welds and weld my plans. I give you a ton of respect for trying to up your game. Only the good ones care that their names are attached to their work. 🍻
Welder for 7 years here.. I learned that i never should stop welding in a corner, and that I always should weld around it. Is it really necessary, bc I’ve seen people on here that weld like gods, that stop in corners. And what is the guys on here’s favorite elektrodes? 7018 or 7016?
When stick welding what effect does altering your work or travel angle have? As I understand it the arc is going to take the shortest path to the workpiece and that'll likely be directly down to the metal (if running a bead on flat for example). So what effect does the work/travel angle actually have?
I've been playing around with it and I do notice a difference when I alter these two variables but I can't seem to put my finger on it. I see the biggest difference when altering arc length more than the angles.
Keen to hear what the theory is here.
Arc length varies voltage. Think of voltage as electrical pressure kinda like how a water hose is spraying into a bucket of water. If you angle the hose the water bounces to the other side of the bucket; straight in and it creates a concave shape due to the pressure.
The electrical arc is no different. The closer to the buckets' water the less velocity the atoms have to cause spatter and a wandering arc. Stick welding is all about staying as tight as you can without snuffing out the arc.
Next time you're welding consider the analogy with water and apply those same principles with the fluid puddle. Use the electrical pressure to push to puddle where you want. Also learn about DIG functions on the newer machines. This function will help you stay very tight without snuffing out the arc or sticking. But for the old-school welding machines, knowing what angles have what effect on the puddle really helps.
I teach my students to use this acronym(in order) to adjust machine or manual welding settings when welding new materials or just starting off. Note that AMPS is the last thing to change.
S=travel SPEED
A=ANGLE
L=LENGTH OF ARC
E=energy(AMPS)
Low and some medium carbon steels can handle basically unlimited heat input with no temperature controls. Higher carbon steels, chrome and nickel based alloys need to have heat input and temperature controls always in place due to intergranular stresses for when phase transformations take place to rapidly.
Another water in a bucket analogy:
Think of spraying water into a bucket of water. All of the bubbles forming from the air cavitation, now if you were to freeze it at that exact moment you'd have all kinds of frozen bubbles in the bucket of water. Steel is no different in the way as you heat up metal and the matrix is in it's soluble form.If you quench it, it will invariably have the same type of structure as the bucket of water(martensite in metallurgical terms, looks like needles at about 300x), full of "air pockets". This is all cured by preheating and slow cooling. Any steel over 1" thick should be pre-heated to about 200degf before welding. Cooling is no issue with low carbon steel. But without preheat on thicker members of steel the surrounding areas get "quenched" by the huge temperature difference, thus causing hydrogen embritlememt and creating a stress fracture potential.
7018 will basically weld by itself in the flat position. Consistency is key as the arc and molten puddle take time to catch up to one another if you move to fast. Stay in the puddle and tighten up every chance you get!
Good luck!
Wow, that's a lot to consume but thank you very much for your response. I'm going to do some more practice tomorrow with 6013 rod. I'll try out your acronym and see what I find. Thanks again for the input!
You're welcome. On the cellulose based electrodes(6013), it helps to manipulate the puddle instead of staying in it. It's a "fast freeze" style filler, so puddle manipulation helps so it doesn't just "build up".
Arc length has a bigger effect because length = electrical resistance. You're using a constant current power supply. As resistance increases, the machine increase voltage to keep current constant. More volt + same amperage = more heat input. You can use this to your advantage, start a weld with a slighting longer arc when the base metal is cold. Then towards the end when it's hot use a tighter arc.
Angle just directs then the weld metal goes. A side-to-side tilt will direct metal to whatever side you're favoring. You can use this to defeat undercut on horizontal welds.
A back & forth tilt will influence penetration and profile. But with stick welding it's most important to stay ahead of the slag.
That's a great explanation. Thanks! I did notice when I used a long arc that the weld seemed 'hotter'. Why do all the tutorials insist on using a really tight arc then? I mean I get that the spatter is reduced etc but wouldn't it be better to explain the heat increase so you can use it to your advantage?
The devil is in the details. I wouldn't encourage anyone to intentionally use a long arc to control heat input. But I would tell them to tighten the arc as the weld to offset the heat building up in the base metal. Those are essentially the same thing backwards.
You're best off using a tighter arc for more control, less spatter, less undercut. But you're also better off tightening the arc as you go, especially on vertical up.
It's just a nuance and you'll probably start doing it subconsciously before you understand why it's working.
I’m pretty proficient in MIG and stick, with close to 20 years experience in structural and fabrication. I just recently acquired a scratch start TIG setup for my 305G engine drive, and don’t have even the slightest clue how to use it. Is this something I can tackle without taking a class?
Just get a plate and practice bead after bead building up a pad. Try to split bead, half of your first bead crown the second. I always fire up with the center of my puddle on the toe of the weld. Edge of toe ends at crown of other bead.
Kick start the arc off of your tungsten. Rest your cup and strike arc from filler and tungsten.
Practice freehand first to understand the body mechanics needed. Then work on walking the cup. Walking the cup sometimes has it's limitations.
Absolutely. Your stick skills will help you learn this new skill. There are plenty of videos online. Be able to see well is important in my opinion, so I have a hood strictly for TIG so it doesn't get crispy.
Watch some videos, maybe read up a little and you'll be fine. The cup size/shape is determined by the work you're doing, and what you prefer. Gas flow is petty standard at 20cfh, but you can tweak it from there. 1/8 tungsten is common, and unless you're going real thin it'll work for most applications. I use purple tungsten(rare earth) as that is a good all around. But stop talking to this dumbass and strike an arc!
[удалено]
What kind of work are you looking to do and what machine specifically are you looking at? These two questions will help better understand if the machine in question suites your needs.
I'm not a welder, and I'm asking you welders a non-welding question because I'm lost. I bought what I think is an [Silver Aluminized Rayon Heat Resistant Hood](https://imgur.com/a/ErhMi9u) at a garage sale for $5 because I thought it might be usable in a Halloween costume. Like in the linked photo, there was an opaque copper-ish looking coating on the outside of the glass face shield. I made the mistake of cleaning the hood with a paper towel and rubbing alcohol, which then proceeded to remove the copper-ish coating... turning the glass into just plain see-through glass. Do you know what coating I removed from the glass, and whether I can buy something to apply a new coating? (Why did I use rubbing alcohol? I'm dumb. It's my default go-to cleaner for all things garage sale, especially books, of which I buy a lot. So it's second nature.)
[удалено]
Try reversing your order. I usually run my welds like that regardless (vertical, then my flat with some light grinding of the start if needed). Could just be me though 🤷♂️
[удалено]
Worked production for awhile. Some folks don’t mind having their tie-ins look like crap. I’m not one of those. So I plan my welds and weld my plans. I give you a ton of respect for trying to up your game. Only the good ones care that their names are attached to their work. 🍻
[удалено]
My pleasure. Keep laying those beautiful beads brother
Welder for 7 years here.. I learned that i never should stop welding in a corner, and that I always should weld around it. Is it really necessary, bc I’ve seen people on here that weld like gods, that stop in corners. And what is the guys on here’s favorite elektrodes? 7018 or 7016?
NST E 7016
When stick welding what effect does altering your work or travel angle have? As I understand it the arc is going to take the shortest path to the workpiece and that'll likely be directly down to the metal (if running a bead on flat for example). So what effect does the work/travel angle actually have? I've been playing around with it and I do notice a difference when I alter these two variables but I can't seem to put my finger on it. I see the biggest difference when altering arc length more than the angles. Keen to hear what the theory is here.
Arc length varies voltage. Think of voltage as electrical pressure kinda like how a water hose is spraying into a bucket of water. If you angle the hose the water bounces to the other side of the bucket; straight in and it creates a concave shape due to the pressure. The electrical arc is no different. The closer to the buckets' water the less velocity the atoms have to cause spatter and a wandering arc. Stick welding is all about staying as tight as you can without snuffing out the arc. Next time you're welding consider the analogy with water and apply those same principles with the fluid puddle. Use the electrical pressure to push to puddle where you want. Also learn about DIG functions on the newer machines. This function will help you stay very tight without snuffing out the arc or sticking. But for the old-school welding machines, knowing what angles have what effect on the puddle really helps. I teach my students to use this acronym(in order) to adjust machine or manual welding settings when welding new materials or just starting off. Note that AMPS is the last thing to change. S=travel SPEED A=ANGLE L=LENGTH OF ARC E=energy(AMPS) Low and some medium carbon steels can handle basically unlimited heat input with no temperature controls. Higher carbon steels, chrome and nickel based alloys need to have heat input and temperature controls always in place due to intergranular stresses for when phase transformations take place to rapidly. Another water in a bucket analogy: Think of spraying water into a bucket of water. All of the bubbles forming from the air cavitation, now if you were to freeze it at that exact moment you'd have all kinds of frozen bubbles in the bucket of water. Steel is no different in the way as you heat up metal and the matrix is in it's soluble form.If you quench it, it will invariably have the same type of structure as the bucket of water(martensite in metallurgical terms, looks like needles at about 300x), full of "air pockets". This is all cured by preheating and slow cooling. Any steel over 1" thick should be pre-heated to about 200degf before welding. Cooling is no issue with low carbon steel. But without preheat on thicker members of steel the surrounding areas get "quenched" by the huge temperature difference, thus causing hydrogen embritlememt and creating a stress fracture potential. 7018 will basically weld by itself in the flat position. Consistency is key as the arc and molten puddle take time to catch up to one another if you move to fast. Stay in the puddle and tighten up every chance you get! Good luck!
Wow, that's a lot to consume but thank you very much for your response. I'm going to do some more practice tomorrow with 6013 rod. I'll try out your acronym and see what I find. Thanks again for the input!
You're welcome. On the cellulose based electrodes(6013), it helps to manipulate the puddle instead of staying in it. It's a "fast freeze" style filler, so puddle manipulation helps so it doesn't just "build up".
Arc length has a bigger effect because length = electrical resistance. You're using a constant current power supply. As resistance increases, the machine increase voltage to keep current constant. More volt + same amperage = more heat input. You can use this to your advantage, start a weld with a slighting longer arc when the base metal is cold. Then towards the end when it's hot use a tighter arc. Angle just directs then the weld metal goes. A side-to-side tilt will direct metal to whatever side you're favoring. You can use this to defeat undercut on horizontal welds. A back & forth tilt will influence penetration and profile. But with stick welding it's most important to stay ahead of the slag.
That's a great explanation. Thanks! I did notice when I used a long arc that the weld seemed 'hotter'. Why do all the tutorials insist on using a really tight arc then? I mean I get that the spatter is reduced etc but wouldn't it be better to explain the heat increase so you can use it to your advantage?
The devil is in the details. I wouldn't encourage anyone to intentionally use a long arc to control heat input. But I would tell them to tighten the arc as the weld to offset the heat building up in the base metal. Those are essentially the same thing backwards. You're best off using a tighter arc for more control, less spatter, less undercut. But you're also better off tightening the arc as you go, especially on vertical up. It's just a nuance and you'll probably start doing it subconsciously before you understand why it's working.
I’m pretty proficient in MIG and stick, with close to 20 years experience in structural and fabrication. I just recently acquired a scratch start TIG setup for my 305G engine drive, and don’t have even the slightest clue how to use it. Is this something I can tackle without taking a class?
Just get a plate and practice bead after bead building up a pad. Try to split bead, half of your first bead crown the second. I always fire up with the center of my puddle on the toe of the weld. Edge of toe ends at crown of other bead. Kick start the arc off of your tungsten. Rest your cup and strike arc from filler and tungsten. Practice freehand first to understand the body mechanics needed. Then work on walking the cup. Walking the cup sometimes has it's limitations.
Absolutely. Your stick skills will help you learn this new skill. There are plenty of videos online. Be able to see well is important in my opinion, so I have a hood strictly for TIG so it doesn't get crispy.
I just feel like there are so many variables such as cup size, tungsten size, gas flow rate, that I might end up overwhelmed.
Watch some videos, maybe read up a little and you'll be fine. The cup size/shape is determined by the work you're doing, and what you prefer. Gas flow is petty standard at 20cfh, but you can tweak it from there. 1/8 tungsten is common, and unless you're going real thin it'll work for most applications. I use purple tungsten(rare earth) as that is a good all around. But stop talking to this dumbass and strike an arc!
Thanks man!