New welder, can someone check my beads?

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Hey guys. If we lived closer to my parents my dad could check these for me, but since we don't, can you all see what I'm doing wrong?  I know in a couple places the electrode angle was wrong, and in others my arc got too long. Thanks in advance gentlemen. 1-4 E6013 DCEP 1/8" @ 125 amps3/8" plate in a 90* weld with same E6013 settings. The little pockmarks in the middle are from my slag hammer. Guess I hit it a little hard while it was still hot?5&6 E7018 3/32" DCEP @ 95 ampsPay no attention to the x-ed bead. I don't know what happened but I messed up bad.
Reply:I am by no means a expert compared to the many here that are.  With that said it looks to me as your travel speed was a bit high coupled with your amps being a bit on the cold side.   Yes the arc length appears to be a bit long in a few locations. Just keep practicing running beeds side by side taking time to let the base material cool down in between strings. Don't get discouraged and I am sure someone else with much more knowledge than I will be along to give you more advice. Good luck God speed And happy welding Sent from my Desire HD using Tapatalk 2
Reply:Try some 6010 or 6011 on DCEP. There are 2 groups of rods, you have been using "filler type rods". The 6010's and 6011's are "penetrating rods", just for the experience of trying them, as always, pictures are welcome.   Attached ImagesCity of L.A. Structural; Manual & Semi-Automatic;"Surely there is a mine for silver, and a place where gold is refined. Iron is taken from the earth, and copper is smelted from ore."Job 28:1,2Lincoln, Miller, Victor & ISV BibleDanny
Reply:Thanks Glock. I am having trouble keeping my travel speed constant, which I'm attributing to inexperience. In regards to the first four being cold, my welder only goes up to 125 amps, so I was maxed out there.
Reply:Tangle, I have some 1/8" 6011, but had heard/read that a person should master 6013 before moving to 6010/6011. Not true?  I will run a few beads of 6011 soon just to see how they work.
Reply:Just drinking coffee, reading posts and commenting all over this morning.  Only thing I can say is in my welding classes we spent a lot of time learning on the fast freeze 6010/6011.  They "freeze fast" so you can run them in all positions.  The 6013 is a "fill freeze" rod - iron in the coating helps add more iron to the weld, "filling" it.  But it still freezes prety fast so you can still run it in in other positions.  A third group of rods is the "fast fill" like 7024 and they do what they say - fill things up fast.  The coating is thick because it's got even more iron in it.  Because they fill fast, they are runny and can only really be run in flat / flatish positions.One thing you'll notice.  Fast freeze looks like dimes, because you whip them and the metal freezes before it flattens out.  Fast fill look like smooth butter, the opposite of fast freeze, and you more or less drag them along.  Then your fill-freeze look kind of in between.  This is all other things being equal in your rod movement.For the thicker metal you are using and limited to 125 you might find the 6010 / 6011 a bit better as they are made to penetrate more.  The more "fill" the rod is, generally the less pentration.  My uneducated guess is because the more iron in the coating, the more power is going to melt that metal and the less can be used to heat the base metal. On all this I'm generalizing because I'm no expert but that's a Welding for Dummies kind of summary.
Reply:I learned stick in highschool and it seems like a solid way to learn.  Starting off with 6011  we would first start running stringer beads.   Then when we go the speed down we moved to but and lap welds on flatbar.  Doesnt need to be too heavy 1/2" or wider and 1/4 inch thick or so.  We would tack 4 pieces about  6" long together slightly overlapping one another.  Then run stringer beads focusing on a short arc length and consistant speed.   Welding lap welds also helped me learn how to control the puddle to get the desired width.just a thought“I'm going to do the thing that God put Galen Beasley on this Earth to do:Have Salon quality hair and weld.Nothing like a good cup of coffee and the smell of 6010 burning in the morning. 971-204-3444 cell API ASME Structural NDT and Repair