Analize my tig welds please

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Here are a couple pics of some stainless i welded last night. The first 2 pics are just fusion welds, no rod. The last 2 pics are adding rod. I know i need practice adding rod (technique) but can anybody tell me why the welds arn't the nice golden color? The rod I was sold is "ER316/ER316L  1/16  D891478" I think, the bottom of the letters is cut off. Is this the right rod for welding 304L? Oh, this was done with my Econotig. Last edited by legendboy; 05-19-2004 at 03:12 PM.
Reply:Some of the best tig welds I've seen can be found at site: http://mywebpages.comcast.net/engloi.../workpics.html You can tell that alot of years have been spent getting that good.Common sense in an uncommon degree is what the world calls wisdom.
Reply:they look good but to getthem to look great you need to take your time develp the fee and being consistant....im trying to post some pics over the weekend and i will post some s.s. al. ti and chrome moly tubing  granted i have been doing it for 5 years now so i devolped the feel and a eye too!engloid however would smoke me any day......so i agree w/ brain and check him out.... a little envy can propel you to get GREAT !DAWG
Reply:Engloid has posted some good pictures, but you asked some specific questions about your welds.  First thing that is evident is your weld is off center toward the top.  Each weld puddle is spaced too far from the other when they form a vee notch between them. You have two thirds of each puddle exposed. One third should be exposed and two thirds covered by the next puddle. The vee notch is a potential stress riser. Keep the tungsten at a 45º angle to the top and bottom plate. The point of the tungsten should be kept at the joint where the two plates meet, not above it or below it.  If you are walking the cup you are taking too big of a step and trying to cover too much area. This will leave spaces between the puddles. If using a filler wire the tungsten point should be as close to the filler wire as possible without causing a short out or dipping the tungsten in the puddle. Some of the welds are getting too wide.  The color is from traveling too slow or having the amperage set too high for the travel speed. Are you left handed? The first picture says that you should be left handed. Standard operational procedure is that  the left handed weldor will start on the left and weld toward the right. If you are right handed are you pulling the tig torch? The torch should travel toward the filler wire pushing the arc. The 304 stainless can be welded with 304, 308, 316 and several others.
Reply:Thanks for the compliments guys.Stever has some good tips there.  You're obviously dipping the wire, and as mentioned, you're traveling too far between ripples (wire dabs).  I can actually see some fisheyes in there where your heat is going down so fast.  It looks almost as if you're using a pedal and hitting heat while adding wire, then dropping off heat, moving forward and repeating.  (Rapid cooling of the puddle is what causes fisheyes.)  If this is the case, stop it.  Keep more consistent heat and let the adding of wire create the ripples.If you look at the pics on my site, none of the welds were done by pumping the foot pedal.  I don't even have a foot pedal.  I use a roller on the torch, but I don't jack it up and down on heat.  It's the off and on adding of wire that creates the ripples.  For your purposes, you really don't even need to weave.  It looks like you may have weaved it a bit.  If you specifically want your bead that wide, you will need to add more wire and prevent undercut.  It's kinda hard to see for sure, but it looks like you have some there.As for the color...  I don't think it's really an issue for now especially.  Color brushes off, and the colors you are getting do not indicate improper heat or travel speed, just maybe not the best.  If you keep working on your weld bead shape, you will get a bit more used to the right speed and heat to get the color you want.    I know how welders are, and I know you'll ignore this anyway, so I'll go ahead and give my thoughts on the color  The darker color can be caused by too much heat or too fast travel or least likely, going too slow (based on the looks of the welds).  Look at it this way...the color is primarily a result of oxidation of the weld surface...  this oxidation is caused by losing the argon purge on it.  The amount of cooling it gets before the argon moves past it will determine the color.  If you've ever seen titanium welded in a closed chamber, it will shine almost like a mirror and will not discolor in the heat affected zone.  This is because it is shielded until it cools completely.You may also want to try just moving over the wire instead of dabbing it in and out of the puddle.  If you're going to dab it in, make sure that when it comes out that you don't pull it back so far that it comes out of your argon shield and gets contaminated by oxidation.Proud to be a UNION worker.  Better pay, better benefits, better work environment.  UA Unions = working for the working class!!
Reply:Hey! Thanks for the tips guys! You've given me lots of helpfull information! Engloid, you nailed it right on the head. I am right handed, obviously moving the wrong direction...also pumping the heat on and off! Thats amazing you could tell exactly what i was doing just from looking at thoes pictures! Thanks again guys and I'll post up more pics when i get more practice!
Reply:A picture is worth a thousand words...and often more than that.  It would have been really difficult for us to have offered much help without pics.  Your having a digital camera may have a good affect on your welding skills  Proud to be a UNION worker.  Better pay, better benefits, better work environment.  UA Unions = working for the working class!!
Reply:Engloid,I have a question along these lines on fillet welds. When heating the horiz. and vert. pieces I wait until the two puddles have joined before dabbing wire. When I move the puddle forward I notice kind of a keyhole effect where the two puddles haven't joined yet. I will wait again until the two puddles have joined before dabbing. I keep the torch right in the middle of the joint being careful about dissimilar thicknesses and keep a constant pressure on the foot pedal after I have established the puddle. Is this a good approach to fillet welds?   AaronTiggerAaronHTP Invertig 201w/ CK-20 torch and Bernard ChillerHTP MicroCut 300 plasma cutterLincoln R3S-325 w/ TA 17A Wire FeederVictor Super Range II O/A kitClausing/Colchester 13X40 LatheBridgeport 9X42 Mill
Reply:TiggerAaron:If I'm understanding you correctly, this is what you're doing:You melt the base metal to form a puddle, then add wire.  Then you move forward, melt base metal and add wire again.  This will work for dabbing wire.  If you're waiting moving forward and then waiting too long to melt the base metal, you may want to turn the heat up some more.  You optimally don't want to have to reform a puddle after every time you move. This is part of the problem with the pics above.  It's obvious that the puddle wasn't moving with the weld.  It was heated and cooled to form every ripple.   It's best to have enough heat that the puddle moves with you and the wire dabbing just increases the height of the puddle when you add, and moving forward decreases the height.  This change in height will form the ripples at the back side of the puddle.  Constant heat is fine, and you can use the foot pedal for giving more amperage to start a puddle, small adjustments along the way, and decreasing heat at the end of the plate where it gets so hot, and to slow the heat dropoff and eleminate fisheyes.Some materials are bad about getting fisheyes.  Aluminum is bad about this if you reduce heat too fast.  Aluminum is a very porous material anyway, and if you're doing any welds that will be checked with helium leak detection, you have to be really careful not to get fisheyes that may even be microscopic.  Copper nickel will get fisheyes pretty bad also.When welding, many people focus only on the front of the puddle and they have a hard time improving.  You MUST also look at the back of the puddle...  that's what you're leaving behind.
Reply:Thank you very much for the advice. I had a feeling that I didn't have enough heat in my fillet welds.  AaronTiggerAaronHTP Invertig 201w/ CK-20 torch and Bernard ChillerHTP MicroCut 300 plasma cutterLincoln R3S-325 w/ TA 17A Wire FeederVictor Super Range II O/A kitClausing/Colchester 13X40 LatheBridgeport 9X42 Mill
Reply:What would you say the best way to finish weld the top of this this would be? I am having a tough time trying to figure it out.
Reply:I would cut a piece of sheet metal in the shape of a maltese cross to fill the gap and weld it in.
Reply:good idea! don't know why i didn't think of that lol