lap and tee joints-what am I doing wrong?

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Actually I think I know what I am doing wrong, but appreciate any feedback. For some reason, when I haven't picked up the stinger in a week or so, I start out with a death grip on the stinger, get all the rod angles wrong and always use too fast a travel speed. These are quarter inch plate, lincoln excalibur 1/8 rod, running about 130 amps DCEP. Tacks were made with 1/8 6011, 90 amps DCEP. For some reason, the 6011 just wouldn't tack up these plates. I would tack them, then chip the slag only to find the tacks didn't hold. What's up with that??Anyway, the first two pics are horizontal laps. The third pic is a second bead overtop the first. I slowed way down on the top one and actually caught the top and bottom corners. The fourth and fifth pics are tee joints that were poorly tacked and ended up with a gap on one side. Had a fair bit of undercut on one side. too fast? wrong rod angle? both?On a lap joint, is it necessary to bring the weld bead all the way to the top edge of the top plate in a single pass? Or is it better to do quarter inch plate in multiple passes?Miller Multimatic 255
Reply:Actually some of them don't look to bad. You could work on your starts and stops, and consistency.When you start your weld, start ahead of the point you want to really start at. By about 1/2" to 3/4”. Then move back to the start point. This allows the rod to get up to temperature, and you'll get a nicer start. When stopping, close up the arc length, stand the rod angle up 90-degrees to the plate, if not a backward angle just a tad, and backup. This will fill in the crater.With 6010 / 11 arc length plays a big part in how the weld will turn out. Play with the arc length. You will see what I mean.Consistency comes in time. But you're doing really good! Don’t pay any attention to meI’m just a hobbyist!CarlDynasty 300V350-Pro w/pulseSG Spool gun1937 IdealArc-300PowerArc 200ST3 SA-200sVantage 400