The Swirly

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A swirly is kind of like a smoogie, but much more assertiveI had a bit of a fitup problem today due to a bad cut, which led to a slight welding problemI thought about the dude that had some problems with burnthrough welding on his car the othere day..........forget the thread.  I suggested a swirly.Well, Lo and Behold  I found myself in the same boat today.This is for anyone who might face this, but hasn't learned how to deal with it in a simple way...................................................  ....................................FIRST PIC  I cut a piece of tubing too short, and didn't get too concerned.  Pretty easy fix.  Butt the opposite end up tight and tack it.  Put a wedge in the gapped end to hold it from trying to shrink when the tack shrinks, then tack it.  The tack will hold the piece from shrinking during the finish weld process...................................................  ..............................Now it gets interesting.  I was welding this particular badly fit joint at a lower wire speed, same voltage, and all was fine with the world. FOR THE FIRST 3 SIDES OF THE JOINT.  Just directing the heat into the solid metal, and letting the puddle build to fill the gap.BUT THEN IT HAPPENED  I was near the end of the day, had skipped lunch, and was getting a bit tired.....................and I forgot to turn the wire speed down when I came to the bad joint again,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,  ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,PIC TWO.  Look at this pic very carefully.  Obviously the left side of the screen shows a weld with a burnthrough.  Now for for the anatomy of the trainwreckI knew I was in trouble the second after I pulled the trigger.  Puddle was too fluid, and not filling the gap.  Then that bad "hollow" sound.  $%%&^@  Almost immediately the black abyss opened up ahead of the weld from the get go.  I start whipping like a mad fool  I'm piling metal like a madman, you can see it in the toes and crown.I almost made it too  But at the end of the weld, the metal temp had gotten so high that even BDSM whipping wasn't working, and the bottom fell out.  LOOK OUT BELOW.You can see signs of serious whipping in the weld if you look carefully.This isn't a pretty weld, it's on the edge of disaster from the get go.ON THE RIGHT SIDE OF THE SCREEN you see a normal weld, same gap, but lower wire speed(amps).  What a difference a few notches makes.PIC THREE  This is a Swirly  Turn the welder way down, and make either full circles from the outside of the hole towards the center, or in this case make rapid crescent shaped weaves to build the hole in.PIC FOUR  Grind it back to a flush surfacePIC FIVE  Complete the repair.Not exactly a Kodak moment, but better than a gaping holeMaterial.....14gaWire........030 flux coreIf this is able to give someone the remotest bit of help, I've done my good deed for the month Attached Images"Any day above ground is a good day"http://www.farmersamm.com/
Reply:And how hot do I normally like to weld?????Very hot.  Everything has to go right, or it's a wipeout.  But I do like good penetrationIf it wasn't educational, at least it was entertaining Attached Images"Any day above ground is a good day"http://www.farmersamm.com/
Reply:Isn't that always the way? Just as your looking forward to knocking off for the day (week). More time and effort. Nice save though Sam, looking at the completed weld, I would never know. Enjoy your weekend."SOUTHPAW" A wise person learns from another persons mistakes;A smart person learns from their own mistakes;But, a stupid person.............never learns.
Reply:Not too bad...              ... for a farmer.I see that little wire pusher in a few of your recent posts.You starting to like it more?
Reply:Nice save, Samm. Now just think back to how much fun that would have been w/ 3/32" stick.                        MikeOl' Stonebreaker  "Experience is the name everyone gives to their mistakes"Hobart G-213 portableMiller 175 migMiller thunderbolt ac/dc stick Victor O/A setupMakita chop saw
Reply:A swirly, huh. I never new therewas a technical name for that trick. LOL.  Mistakes are inevitable. It's good to know how to fix them. Nice work farmersamm.