First post, with oxy/acet, SMAW, GMAW, GTAW pics!

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Hello everyone!  I've been lurking the forum for about 6 months, and decided today was the day to make an account and post some pics.  I am currently a welding student at my local CC taking a welding program that focuses on getting you ready for AWS certs.  After I finish that I will be following up with an associates in manufacturing technology.  I want to weld for a living.  These are some of my welds, let me know what you think!My first time welding two pieces of steel together.  Oxy/Acetylene, no filler:Trying to "mig like tig" and a lathe piece:Tig stringers, butt, and corner joints.  Did these all today.  My instructor said he liked the corner joints a lot and that he might use one as an example.  I think they could be better...:SMAW E7018 stringers:Please let me know what you guys think.
Reply:The 1st bead looks very nice almost a perfect textbook weld. The only thing I don't care for is that it's done without filler. Almost all the time you will want to use filler in real life. It's there to do several things with the weld, add allying ingredients, as well as help with removing contaminants. It's a bad habit to get into. As a teaching technique,I understand the reasons for doing these however. This is what I'd expect the other outside corners to look like.Skip the "mig like tig" look and concentrate on making good solid welds. Don't buy in to the "pretty bead" BS. Good mig beads often have a smooth almost rippleless shape to them. Learn to make decent consistent beads 1st. Then once you know and understand how to manipulate the puddle to get good welds, then you can work on aesthetics and fancy stuff.The multi pass fillet at the right in the pict with the lathe piece looks decent. Looks like the beads could have been tied together a bit better from the detailed pict on the right hand side, from what I can see. Looks like they might be a bit too low ( more weld on the lower plate than the upper one), but it's hard to tell from that pict. The lower bead however has a number of areas where the "ripples" don't look well tied in to the lower plate. In general that area looks border line. Tighten up your circles to get a more consistent ripple and avoid stress risers where the individual  circles don't tie together.The lap joint shows this issue big time. Tighten up your movements.Corner joints are fair. I usually suggest students run simple stringers or just do a small side to side movement when doing outside corners. What process ( mig), and what thickness material? If it's tig not mig, add filler a bit more frequently to tighten up the ripples.The 7018 beads look a bit cold. Looks like the edges aren't tying in as well as they could. The consistency looks good however. Either increase the arc length a bit, or turn up the amps some for more heat. Also looks like you started to speed up a bit at the end of a few of them.Last edited by DSW; 04-24-2012 at 08:15 PM..No government ever voluntarily reduces itself in size. Government programs, once launched, never disappear. Actually, a government bureau is the nearest thing to eternal life we'll ever see on this earth! Ronald Reagan
Reply:Thanks DSW, I was hoping I'd get your input.  I only go no filler if I'm told to, which I was on that particular joint.  That was the class's first time joining metal to metal (he had us running oxy stringers on plate first to get us used to pushing a bead).  When I showed it to him he called me a smartass, and told me to go back and do it with filler.  I don't have any pics of that, unfortunately.  In all honesty with the mig joints, I was just screwing around trying to see if I could do the pretty thing...I'm aware that pretty doesn't always mean strong.  For the certificate that my CC gives out, I'm taking Welding 1100, CAD, Machine Shop I, and some math for the first semester.  The other classes go more in-depth with each process.  I'll be taking the mig class this summer (followed by Oxyfuel welding/cutting, smaw, tig, pipe welding, and a skill assessment class).  After that Ill get into classes for my aas degree which include in addition to the welding classes: metrology, advanced machine processes, QC, CNC, electricity and electronics fundamentals, hydraulics and pneumatics, physical metallurgy, and intro to robotic technology.        ^^Sorry for that, wanted to let everyone know exactly what I'm getting into.  I'll take your advice and post some pics detailing how it went.The corner joints and stringers are tig.  1/8" steel.  3/16" rod on the corners, and 1/8" for the stringers.  Running a Lincoln Precision Tig 225 at 95 amps DC with a zirconiated? (brown color code) electrode, and 100% argon.  Straight stringers on the...stringers...no weave or circles, and the same on the corner joints except for a little weave to the sides to make sure that I properly tied the edges of the joint together (I beveled them slightly).Those 7018 stringers I did are garbage to me.  Just posted them to show a little of my stick welding.  Those were taken on my 2nd or 3rd day doing stick.  He wants us to get 100% penetration on a 3/16" butt joint USING 6013.  6010, no problem, but the 6013 full pen is killing me.  Some more pics, all 6013:6013 stringers:6013 butt joints front:6013 butts back:
Reply:Also just for the hell of it, (sorry, not trying to post whore here) a hook I smithed.
Reply:You're off to a great start!  I doubt that I can still even oxy/fuel weld!One little thing though, don't mig like tig!  Tig like tig, mig like mig!  I love that hook, One thing I want to do at some point is learn to work steel with a hammer and heat.Cheers!
Reply:Ok The outside corners with tig makes more sense. Again tighten up your ripples by making more dips as you go along. The 1st third of the one shown on the right in the 2nd pict is pretty decent and about what you are looking for. you could have used a bit more filler there, but other than that it looks good and if done the whole way along would get you a "pass" where I'm at no problem.6013, the 1st bead under the 3/16' and right looks real nice. With the butt joints one thing that might help is to try and hold a slightly longer arc. That will give you more heat, and help a bit with your penetration. Butt joints are usually the hardest for guys to get right. Make a careful note of exactly how the instructor wants you to prep the joints. One of the biggest issues I see with students doing our bevel butts is that they don't take enough care to prep the joints right. They are in too much of a rush to get to the welding. Too often they don't gap the plates enough and then the welds don't penetrate the way they should. If anything I suggest they go slightly wide rather than be too narrow. It's usually easier for them to work with a joint that's 1/32"-1/64" too wide, than one that's 1/64"- 1/32" to narrow.It's nice to see you learning machining as well. Around me all the tech schools have dropped their machining classes. The last one has discontinued it's day program this year and is dumping more than 1/2 their equipment this summer. They'll keep a few pieces as supplemental equipment for some of the other classes like auto shop and welding and will still run a reduced night program, but the real machining classes are done for good..No government ever voluntarily reduces itself in size. Government programs, once launched, never disappear. Actually, a government bureau is the nearest thing to eternal life we'll ever see on this earth! Ronald Reagan
Reply:Originally Posted by mb_welderYou're off to a great start!  I doubt that I can still even oxy/fuel weld!One little thing though, don't mig like tig!  Tig like tig, mig like mig!  I love that hook, One thing I want to do at some point is learn to work steel with a hammer and heat.Cheers!
Reply:Originally Posted by DSWOk The outside corners with tig makes more sense. Again tighten up your ripples by making more dips as you go along. The 1st third of the one shown on the right in the 2nd pict is pretty decent and about what you are looking for. you could have used a bit more filler there, but other than that it looks good and if done the whole way along would get you a "pass" where I'm at no problem.6013, the 1st bead under the 3/16' and right looks real nice. With the butt joints one thing that might help is to try and hold a slightly longer arc. That will give you more heat, and help a bit with your penetration. Butt joints are usually the hardest for guys to get right. Make a careful note of exactly how the instructor wants you to prep the joints. One of the biggest issues I see with students doing our bevel butts is that they don't take enough care to prep the joints right. They are in too much of a rush to get to the welding. Too often they don't gap the plates enough and then the welds don't penetrate the way they should. If anything I suggest they go slightly wide rather than be too narrow. It's usually easier for them to work with a joint that's 1/32"-1/64" too wide, than one that's 1/64"- 1/32" to narrow.It's nice to see you learning machining as well. Around me all the tech schools have dropped their machining classes. The last one has discontinued it's day program this year and is dumping more than 1/2 their equipment this summer. They'll keep a few pieces as supplemental equipment for some of the other classes like auto shop and welding and will still run a reduced night program, but the real machining classes are done for good.
Reply:Originally Posted by GregATrying to "mig like tig" and a lathe piece:
Reply:Haha, yeah.  I'm interlude27 on Reddit.