Well this was harder than I thought

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I saw a vid from a member here where he started at the bottom of a piece of angle and welded it up solid with stringers. So today I had my welder out so after doing some repairs to one of y garden tractors, I thought Id try to fill a pice of angle. I found I was NOT as steady as I thought! Heres some pic, feel free to tell me that Im doing something wrong, I know I need to control my speed, and get more comfortable, for sure. I started with 6013 and finished out with 7018  using a ranger 8. Attached ImagesLearning one rod at a time
Reply:Can someone tell me what causes the pin holes in the 7018 please Attached ImagesLearning one rod at a time
Reply:I cant help you but it seems like nice practice. How many passes did you do with each electrode? Im gonna try it.
Reply:Hard to say about the pinholes. Dirty metal can cause it, but I don't think that's the problem. My guess is that those are the moments when you raised the rod too far off the metal.-RuarkLincoln 3200HDHobart Stickmate LX235TWECO Fabricator 211i
Reply:Ive found that with 7018, if you restrike and you have a little flux missing, that portion will cause porosity until it starts to burn flux.
Reply:Those pin holes are called porosity. They are almost always caused by too long of an arc when welding with 7018. You have to be carefull at the start of the weld bead with 7018 and make sure you start the arc with a very short arc. Too long of an arc and you loose your shielding and you get porosity. Always use a short arc when welding with 7018.JasonLincoln Idealarc 250 stick/tigThermal Dynamics Cutmaster 52Miller Bobcat 250Torchmate CNC tableThermal Arc Hefty 2Ironworkers Local 720
Reply:another thing that causes porosity is deep valleys and if you dont go slow enough to fill that in with metal and get the air out, as you keep welding the bubbles rise through the molten metal kind of like air bubbles though hair gel. most likely your first pass was the culprit just look at all the potential places where air could have gotten trapped.
Reply:RadI dont know how many rods it took but I burned almost a full rod in 5 inches Id guess. I found it harder to run the rods like this rather than on a pice of plate Ive been using. I guess the not being comortable take some getting used to.Learning one rod at a time
Reply:Using up a rod in 5" tells me you are going a bit slow. On average you usually get roughly between 6-8" of bead with a rod.Looks a bit like you are having difficulties seeing the puddle from the 1st bead. The toes aren't washed in to the sides well, possibly because the bead may be a bit humped and tall because you were going a bit slow. Another insidaction you might be having issues seeing the puddle is the "wander" I see in the beads. Doesn't look like you can weld straight and you are wandering down the road like a drunken sailor.Not that it really matters, but I noticed on subsequent beads, you tend to start in the middle, then weld the sides. You can certainly do that, but most find it easier to start multi pass beads on one side, then work across laying one 1/2 on the last. Most people I know usually lay the 1st bead on the far side away from them, then lay each bead coming slowly closer to themselves.Keep up the practice. This "exercise" does a couple of things. One it lets you get in a fair amount of bead practice on a minimal amount of material, especially if you use larger angle like 2" or 3". On a small piece of angle like you used, this mimics closely what you would need to do to weld up a v large groove type weld, with out the hassle of beveling plates. Again this allows you to do a fair amount of practice with minimal material/ prep. When we do bevel but joints 90% of the time the students spend prepping material. With this you can make your "mistakes" on something that doesn't require a ton of prep and when you get it down, then all you have to really work on with the real plates is the root pass to make sure you get full penetration on the 1st pass. Everything from there on out is pretty much that same.Good luck..No government ever voluntarily reduces itself in size. Government programs, once launched, never disappear. Actually, a government bureau is the nearest thing to eternal life we'll ever see on this earth! Ronald Reagan
Reply:If you plan in advance, You can use the piece of angle to build a bar for a break. Or if you are artistic you can weld one pass with stainless, one with 7018, one with Ni rod, etc. and keep rotating till you have a large bar built up and then slice it up with a band saw and make patterned steel knife blades out of it. Mac
Reply:DswWell I did spend 6 yrs in the navy and I too have noticed that I cant weld straight. That may have come from hanging out in the NCO club, LOL All joking aside, I do have problems seeing the puddle. I didnt think about starting away from me, then coming inword. I will pratice this somemore as I find it harder than just running a flat bead. I also find if I really "think" about running a rod, I tend to just not make it burn. If I strike off and just run it do my small circles or half moons I do better. I guess thats all part of the learning prosses for sure. Thank you !Learning one rod at a time
Reply:Originally Posted by Vince_oIf I strike off and just run it do my small circles or half moons I do better.
Reply:Jason, I was useing 3/32 rods at about that setting, Thank youLearning one rod at a time
Reply:Kinda hard to tell but it looks like you are welding this "out in space" meaning you have nothing around to prop your arm on. While this is something that you may eventually want to learn, I would suggest finding a way to prop or rest your arm while you practice. Once you get get the hang of running straight even beads and maintaining the correct arc length then try a more freehand approach. Also someone may have already mentioned it but when starting or restarting a 7018, pause for a second or so to let your arc stabilize before moving on, this may help with some of the porosity your seeing.
Reply:Dewey Yes I was in space. The next one I do Im going to put it in my vice where I can rest my arms on something.Learning one rod at a time
Reply:Originally Posted by LarryOIve found that with 7018, if you restrike and you have a little flux missing, that portion will cause porosity until it starts to burn flux.
Reply:Originally Posted by Black WolfEdit - If I have time tomorrow I will run some stringers on a chunk of 2 x 2 x 1/4 angle in a 1F and post them up.  3/32" E-7018 @95 amps.
Reply:Originally Posted by Black WolfSorry - Been busy - Family Health issues are taking priority over anything else right now.
Reply:look closely at your pic 5 and 6 in pic five see the deep crevas crack. In pic six your porosity is right on top of that. In pic five you have slag in that pocket, which on the next pass you got your pososity. The best way to fix that is not do it first, second is pick the hole out real clean and burn it out on the next pass ( which depending on what your filling means adjust travel speed and watching your puddle closely you can see that in your puddle as your laying down your bead.Advice watch your toes, they need to be even and straight and the jagged edge leaves inclusion points, when your stacking.I agree with black wolf that on 3/32 rod your running a little hot, go under 100 amps, and depending on your machine ( they are a tad different ) 85-95 is where I would initially set the machine, then tweak it after a bead.And listen to DSW he gives excellent advice, see his stacking comments, that deep valley your filling is a sure method of causing a inclusions.
Reply:FredI did somemore praticing this weekend, and lowerewd my amps and got some new ataom arc 7018 from a friend, much better! Im with out a comp so Ill post some more pics in a few weeks. I payed more attion to my edges and everything looks better. Still a long way to go for sure. ThanksLearning one rod at a time