309L stick welding. Help.

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hey everyone i did some searching on here but couldn't find what i was looking for.let me start by saying i hate any form of 309L welding. can i tig weld it yes and make it look good. but no matter what i've been told on how it runs when you weld it or how it similar to stainless or carbon, in my opinion is weld nowhere near it. it has a very small sweet spot to weld and if you go to fast or to slow it just runs blah. i am on a job that there is no procedure for tig out a monster coupon with 309L wire to certified you infinite on stainless. instead you have to tig root, tig 3 hot passes the stick out the rest. i failed and miserably. i did a 1" plate test as a practice piece just to see how the 309L stick would weld, it was slick, but when i welded it on pipe it was an epic fail, mostly on the bottom. when i reached from 9 o'clock to 12 and 3 o'lock to 12 it would lay down smooth as if i was welding 7018. but when i was on the bottom it was like no matter what i did or angle i try if i went a bit cold it would crown like if it was like cold lap and if i even went up several amps like 3-5 amps it would dig into the pipe like if my arc dig really high. i am i total lost any advice, pictures and videos would be helpful. i did not take any pictures because i must admit i was ashamed and it looked worst than my first year of welding school. on the good news, i was given a sch 80 309L weld test i passed but i'm only qualified to weld up to sch 40 and there a bit of sch 80 stainless on the job.so please any help would be appreciated.thank youremoit's trust and character I need around me. You know, who you choose to be around you lets you know who you are. One car in exchange for knowing what a man's made of? That's a price I can live with. - Hans
Reply:It is very difficult to do. I have find that some rod are night and days in terms of difficulties. I like the esab OK series. Be sure to always take a 3/32 -16 rod for out off position, as -17 are mostly made for flat and horizontal. The flux will help you keep the puddle under control.
Reply:thank you its a start in the right direction.it's trust and character I need around me. You know, who you choose to be around you lets you know who you are. One car in exchange for knowing what a man's made of? That's a price I can live with. - Hans
Reply:What rod do you use?
Reply:I had to put a 1in 316ss weldolet in a carbon black liquor heat exchanger at a local papermill, used ESAB arcalloy 3/32 309-15 they are a downhand rod.  Wish I had pictures but the plant man was watching me the whole time.
Reply:3xx-15 rods are a lot easier to use out-of-position but the weld is not as smooth or pretty a weld as the 3xx-16. Kind of like a stainless 6010. It takes a lot of skill and practice to use the -16 rods out of position but it can be done. (Not very well by me  )A few weldersA lot of hammersA whole lot of C-clamps
Reply:I took my P1 to P8 test with 309-16 rods but I liked the-15 better could go faster with it
Reply:weave it a little, makes it spread out and not lump up on you.