Overhead groove weld

admin

How should I weld it ?  Lincoln reccomends 1/16" land and gap and a 1/8 6010 at 110 amps.  Im running 6011's.  I get a concaved bead on the other side of my root with 6011's at 90 amps.Any tips or advice ?Thanks
Reply:What's your travel angle and technique?  What polarity, or are you running AC?  You didn't mention how thick the base metal was either.  This makes a difference.  90amps on 1" plate will run differently than 90 amps on 3/16" plate.Where I welding the joint you describe, I'd maintain about a 10-15° drag travel angle and use a whip and pause technique.  Whipping forward allows the molten puddle to freeze and pausing allows the molten metal to build up.  Whip forward 1 electrode diameter, and then move back 1/2 electrode diameter and pause to allow metal to build up.  Maintain a constant arc length of about 1 electrode diameter.  Long arcing will cause the arc voltage to rise, increasing the heat input.If you're already doing these things, try making your land or root face a little larger, closer to 1/8".  Or if you'd rather not do this, try turning down the heat to 75 amps.  You could be overheating the edges of the bevel with that much heat, if your travel speed is too slow.  Too much heat makes for a large puddle and incorporation of a lot of the base metal in the weld puddle.  A large puddle is more likely to sag before freezing and will take longer to freeze.  This is even more likely when the root face is very small.  To compensate, you've got to travel at the right speed and get just the right balance of buildup and penetration/tie in.When I've run these, I've run them as cold as 60 amps, with good results.  You've got to have hot start or arc force control to get the rods to start at this low a heat setting.  But if you've got arc force control, you can keep the rods from sticking, and stack metal from the rod without overheating the base metal.  Play with the arc force setting if your machine has one, and use as little as you can without having sticking problems.  It's all a matter of personal perference.  I've seen guys run at 60-70amps using 6010, with no arc force, or with the control maxed out.Without arc force control, your amperage has got to be at least 75amps or I think you'll get frustrated with rods sticking.Last thought.  All of what I've said applies to the root pass only.  The amperage will be higher for fill and cap passes.Give this a try and check back if you're still having troubles.Benson's Mobile Welding - Dayton, OH metro area - AWS Certified Welding Inspector
Reply:yeah the machine has arc force adjustment.  So what does the arc force adjustment do exacly ?  Our instructor has told us to use the whip and pause technique but im not a fan.  Id rather just burn it together with a stringer with a slight weaving motion like I have done with all of the other positions.Thanks again
Reply:Arc force has to do with how it clears the short (many shorts in a row)Turning it down to smooth makes for a wetter flatter bead.  It is slower freeze, but easier to put the arc out.High arc force makes for more spatter, more POPs , digs a little deeper into the base, freezes faster and makes a taller narrower bead.If your machine has it, play with it and learn what it does to your arc and bead.  It will be a help in the long run once you understand it.With my V350 and arc force turned all the way up, I can burn straight through 1/2" plate with out snuffing out the arc.  Cute demonstration, but useless for welding.  GREAT for gouging.7018 runs best on smooth and 6010 runs best on crisp.  How smooth and how crisp is up to the operator.More crisp helps with out of position.  Faster freeze.DavidReal world weldin.  When I grow up I want to be a tig weldor.
Reply:Lincoln recommends 6010 because it is easier to run a stringer with. In any position.
Reply:umm oh yeah 3/8" plate my travel angle is about 15 degrees and working with DC.  We're only allowed to use 6011's
Reply:I'm curious why you are only allowed to use 6011. Instructor or some goofy engineer?
Reply:Im pretty sure in my province 6011 is the standard for root welds...  We dont run 6010's at all in school
Reply:Weird. The two rods have the same mechanical properties. It is just much easier to do the job with 6010 when running stringers.
Reply:he told us we could weld it using whatever technique we want we can whip and pause I just dont like it !
Reply:Originally Posted by Newfie_1986Im pretty sure in my province 6011 is the standard for root welds...  We dont run 6010's at all in school
Reply:Originally Posted by tresiThat's not all that unusual for schools to have a limited choice of rods depending how advanced they get. They buy their supplies  once a year and try to limit the the number of choices of rod so they can get better prices by buying more pounds of fewer rods. When I was in school all we had was 1/8 6011 and 6013 and was told if we get good with these 2 we'd figure out the rest.
Reply:I got the root pass down pretty good now.  How do you all suggest I run the hot pass and cap ???