1/16 Wire, Push and Pull

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Hello, I started working in a shop couple weeks ago, just graduating out of school I have yet to learn all of the techniques of welding. My question.We weld buckets. It's some kind of hardened steel. We use a 1/16th wire. The machine is hot. Really hot. Is there a difference between the push and pull technique on thick/hard steel?The shop workers say "push" only. Also, I use a "whip" motion when I weld. Most times it comes out nice, others I get cold roll for some reason... I can't figure out why.
Reply:You just got out of school and they didnt teach you the difference between pull and push MIG?  Pushing will give you a flatter bead with less buildup and less penetration.  Pulling is just the opposite, higher bead/ more buildup and significantly more penetration.If your hard-facing buckets it would make sense why they want to push everything.  Or even if your fabricating new buckets they might want you to push it to avoid diluting the alloys of the base material.Have we all gone mad?
Reply:are you running 1/16 dual shield? In my experiance with mining equipment we were only allowed to push it going vert up. no pushing, no weaving, no whipping, no circles just straight stringers were allowed. All the welds had to pass UT and to my knowledge we never failed once by following those rules.
Reply:yah I'm guessing you're running some sort of flux cored wire as they don't make a lot of hard facing type alloys in solid wire.i wouldn't be able to say. In flux core you mostly pull and I usually do a circle or triangle or crescent depending on how it freezes. if it's cold rolling I might try running narrower stringers. If you're going uphill you'll be pushing though.
Reply:Here is a thread I started specifically on this subjecthttp://weldingweb.com/vbb/showthread.php?t=24000
Reply:Duh, I dont know why I said MIG.  1/16" hardfacing solid wire is not something Id like to run.Have we all gone mad?
Reply:Dont mean to hijack the thread, but what is "cold rolling"?
Reply:Originally Posted by jdl95stangDont mean to hijack the thread, but what is "cold rolling"?
Reply:I have never found the need to manipulate when welding with dual shield/fluxcore. just drag it, push it whatever your told to do and let the wire do the rest. personally I will drag every pass that wont be visible when it is done. The thought being if I can get more penetration and a little more height the better.what kind of weld joint are you doing? If you are rolling you are probably going to slow.