Win, Lose, or Draw

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I had a fight with gravity today, and I'm not sure who wonI got this little gap.........OkFigured I'd get fancy and fill it first, grind it back a bit, and put a cap thingy on itFilled 'er in without paying too much attention to completely filling it.  This is the fancy part  I figure on trying to concentrate on keeping the heat in the gap by using a small rod and pokin' her in there (3/32 at 85amps)Well, I get done, and I don't see daylight so I figure that's a pretty good sign.  Bunch of slag on the other side of the gap, figure that's pretty good too.  All's well with the world at this point.So I go schloooping on over to get the grinder (very muddy here right now, like walking with suction cups on the bottoms of your feet.......schloop)So I get the grinder, and start grinding away, thinking how marvelous this new AD helmet is.  Very cool, don't have to flip it up and put on the safety glasses.  Sometimes the grinder sparks trigger the crazy thing, but if you look a little off to the side and block the sensors with the body of the grinder it's ok.  Weird contraption.So I get it all ground down and real pretty...............THEN IT HITS ME  I GROUND OUT ANY TRACE OF THE ORIGINAL JOINT EXCEPT FOR A FEW LINES WHERE IT DIDN'T FILL IN THE PREVIOUS PASSNow I got around 11" of weld to make with only a few traces of a line to show the original joint. %^%$##%@With a heavy heart I go back over to the machine, set it at around 115amps and grab a 1/8 rod.  The wind shifts for a second, and I get a snootfull of exhaust gas.  Par for the course.Pop the rod on the metal, with a little fear in my head.  Still not used to this crazy AD thing, and don't put all my trust in it yet.  And away we go"Keep it straight, don't let the metal drip, keep it straight, WTF is the line, don't let it drip....................."About now I'm really questioning my decision to refuse to position this project in any position other than where it sits after the main frame was done.  I mean, it's not like I don't have the lift capability, I could flip this thing like a pancake.  But that ain't gonna make me any better at out of position welding.Pics one and two.....................Zee gapPic three...........the roooty tooooty pass (actually this is another of the 6 joints left to do tomorrow)Pic four..............the trainwreckTomorrow the sun will shine down on a new improved smarter me Attached Images"Any day above ground is a good day"http://www.farmersamm.com/
Reply:The finished product doesn't look bad at all!
Reply:Tough day at the office? Don't be so hard on yourself, it looks pretty good to me. If it don't kill ya, it only makes you stronger (or wiser)."SOUTHPAW" A wise person learns from another persons mistakes;A smart person learns from their own mistakes;But, a stupid person.............never learns.
Reply:Based on the specs you gave sounds like you were running 7018 or the like.  You would have had a much easier time running 6010 or 11 on that and whipping it.Have we all gone mad?