6011 beads for critique

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I am trying to relearn what little I learned in comm college class about 10 years ago with whip electrodes.  Any comments appreciated... please forgive the horrible restarts as I ditched my cheapo Miller autodark (it's their amateur version) for my fixed shade Jackson that i "upgraded" with the newer head gear and a hobart gold lens.  I can see the puddle better than with the Miller but the restarts were harder.The beads were run on a Lincoln 225/125 ac/dc machine on 3/16" plate that I unmercifully did not remove the millscale from.  The first photo shows the beginning of the stringers.  The second is a continuation.The beads on top /above of the electrode were run with 1/8" DC+ Lincoln 180 (6011) at 115 amps.  The solo bead was a quick run on AC at 120 amps.As you can tell, I tried playing around a bit with how far I stepped back into the puddle.Thanks for any comments.
Reply:Some of them have places that are pretty good. Personally I find it hard to make welds look real good on a flat plate. Butt joints with a little gap. Lap joint, or fillets look better to me.Don’t pay any attention to meI’m just a hobbyist!CarlDynasty 300V350-Pro w/pulseSG Spool gun1937 IdealArc-300PowerArc 200ST3 SA-200sVantage 400
Reply:There's potential there, Go a little hotter and check out and if to much heat back off.......Practice and learn ,practice and learn, practice and learn.......And as previous poster said try other than on flat plate.  Keep it up!!!!!                          gh
Reply:Why are they so rough? Are you trying to weld or trying to make an art project? Try holding it still moving forward slowly. Make your welds as smooth as possible. Only time you need to whip is when you are on some thin metal and it gets hot to quick. If you are welding pipe and such they want it smooth.
Reply:Originally Posted by WelderskelterWhy are they so rough? Are you trying to weld or trying to make an art project? Try holding it still moving forward slowly. Make your welds as smooth as possible. Only time you need to whip is when you are on some thin metal and it gets hot to quick. If you are welding pipe and such they want it smooth.
Reply:Originally Posted by WelderskelterWhy are they so rough? Are you trying to weld or trying to make an art project? Try holding it still moving forward slowly. Make your welds as smooth as possible. Only time you need to whip is when you are on some thin metal and it gets hot to quick. If you are welding pipe and such they want it smooth.
Reply:I completely agree. When I bought my Trailblazer last month I fired it up and ran 3 beads on a piece of 1/2 plate and was somewhat disappointed with its appearance. A couple days later when I had a few spare minutes I sheared a couple chunks of 3/8 strap and welded some fillets. WOW I was impressed with how smooth it welded!!! And I thought it was just me that had this problem. lol Originally Posted by CEPSome of them have places that are pretty good. Personally I find it hard to make welds look real good on a flat plate. Butt joints with a little gap. Lap joint, or fillets look better to me.
Reply:I've played around with running 6010 like I would 7018. Attached ImagesDon’t pay any attention to meI’m just a hobbyist!CarlDynasty 300V350-Pro w/pulseSG Spool gun1937 IdealArc-300PowerArc 200ST3 SA-200sVantage 400
Reply:Okey doke.  I tried just dragging along - actually not physically dragging, but what I thought was a short arc. I was getting very flat beads profiles.  I may have not kept the rod near the front of the puddle.  One thing different about most of these is that I was striking the arc and moving the rod toward me - not left or right.  Rod angle was trying to stay at about 20 degrees.  That may have been too much?Same electrodes as before (Lincoln 180 / 6011 1/8") on 3/16" plate:The three on the left are AC at 120 amps:The three in the middle of this are DC+ at 95 amps (not sure what the one on the far left was!)Here's a side view to get an idea of the profile.  The closest bead is DC+ at 115 amps, then the three are the AC 120amps, then the far ones are the DC+ 95 amps... and the mystery bead that I can't recall waaaaaay in the back.
Reply:I thought you always whipped with 6011.............................-RuarkLincoln 3200HDHobart Stickmate LX235TWECO Fabricator 211i
Reply:damn CEP nice wedding band. I'm not a pro like most of these guys but looks to me like u need to turn the heat up a hair and slow down a bit watch ur puddle when it widens out and penetrates the sides move and try to make next puddle the same and so on and so on. It may help u if u grind straight lines the width of two rods apart all the way across a plate and try welding between them when puddle hits the grind marks move rod and keep it going. Also looks like u r moving to fast slow down a little let it eat a little more metal, or if u can't pace urself slow u need to weld hotter. An old welder (bless his heart he is no longer with us) told me if u divide bottom number into top the answer is where u set machine for that rod EXAMPLE: 1/8 inch rod divide 8 into 100 and u come up with 12.5 take decimal out it 125 thats where u set machine to start then fine adjust up or down hotter or colder from there. Everyone welds diffrent some fast some run slow practice make perfect u just have to keep playing with it. Keep ur head up don't get discouraged never give up.
Reply:Oh and on the whipping motion not sure how u are doing it but when I "whip" I just roll my wrist back and forth not my whole arm the more steady and less u move the more control u have. Most of my welding is in the wrist and my whipping turns out looking like fish scales. But as I said before everyone is diffrent and if u weld left to right on plate rest ur free hand on table and put ur thumb in Palm od working hand and just roll back and forth as if ur working a joystick back and forth side to side. I'm not a pro and I probably have the lowest self esteem than anyone on here (don't think I'm as good as these guys) but I make a lot of extra money on the side welding just trying to help u from things I learned myself that helped me.
Reply:Originally Posted by WelderskelterWhy are they so rough? Are you trying to weld or trying to make an art project? Try holding it still moving forward slowly. Make your welds as smooth as possible. Only time you need to whip is when you are on some thin metal and it gets hot to quick. If you are welding pipe and such they want it smooth.
Reply:Originally Posted by Hoghunter74damn CEP nice wedding band. I'm not a pro like most of these guys
Reply:I'm not a pro, either, just an old farm welder, but this is the very first time I've ever heard of using 6011 without whipping.  Because of its high penetration, I always had to whip 6011 to keep it from burning through.  What's this all about?-RuarkLincoln 3200HDHobart Stickmate LX235TWECO Fabricator 211i
Reply:Hoghunter, my cajun friend, thanks for the help.  One of the problems (?) I have with heat is there's 15 amps between the taps on my little Lincoln and DC max is 125. For some reason these rods seem to run better on AC but I don't have the experience to know what it is that I like better.  Looking at my Lincoln book I'm wondering if I'm long arcing - that would tend to reduce the heat, too, and cause a wider flatter bead because of higher voltage.Going to go back to whipping / stepping these rods but keeping the forward progress slower and the whip shorter.Practice, practice practice.  Thanks everyone for the comments and help.  Practice is much better with feedback.