round and round, welding in circles by Brown Dog Welding, on Flickr Weldology by Brown Dog Welding, on Flickr Weldology by Brown Dog Welding, on Flickr
being in the welding trade since 1975 i have seen and read many articles and they all had something lacking. what was lacking? well for openers the contribuitors didn't have a clue as to what they were trying to put in what they were writing. when i see articles in magazines related to the automotive hobby everything is nothing more than an advertisement for the particular brand of welding equipment that is being used. what has been put here is the best examples and comments i have seen in i don't know how long. there are comments that should be in the articles that are published. the most important part of welding is; THE C.L.A.M.S. of WELDING. C is for current L is for length of arc A is for amperage or amps M is for manipulation S is for speed of travel with most machines the amps and current is a fixed part of the machine from there the length of arc, manipulation, and the speed of travel is the job of the individual. once the basic skills are aquired then the practice comes into play and that is where the skill level developes. the more practice the better one gets and with enough time the individual will be capeable of producing a quality weld that equals the ones shown in the pictures that are in the contributions. any questions don't be afraid to ask
Brown Dog that is just rediculous.... I'm amazed. Are you running a positioner? Sounds like Bernie has got some great knowledge for kids like me And I'm finally getting into the swing of things again! A welding mask you can actually see through does wonders. Pumped up about the way these bad boys turned out.... They had me running some MIG the other day, It was a bit tricky to set up the 3phase and honestly the hell with it and MIG welding in gerneral! 10 different kinds of burned, and sweaty, and sparks, and just... no! Haha
Ooo almost forgot about this pain in the ass! MIG welding tube... my god what a nightmare. These pictures here are the best out of like 50 welds! They are back stays for a rally cage... From the main hoop to the rear shock towers, if anyone is wondering
after looking at all the pictures of the look pretty welds. the main thing i noticed was under cut on the edge of the weld where the filler metal was added to the puddle. when performing the T.I.G. process the first thing that has to be realized is the base metal is be heating to a semi-molten state and the two pieces that are in the heat effected zone are melting together and forming a creator. in order to produce a proper bead compatable filler material must be added to fill the creator and the strength of the weld comes when an approperiate amount is added to the puddle to build up the surface and add strength to the area that has been melted by the electric arc. if not enough filler material is not added the edge of the bead will be shallow which is called undercut. when the semi molten area is not filled properly so everything is filled evenly and tied together, this causes a weakness in the base material that can and dose cause cracking and the base metal tears away from the weld and this is and can be labeled as incomplete fusion. this can also happen when M.I.G and F.C.A.W (flux core arc welding) and S.M.A.W. (shielded metalic arc welding or stick welding) are not performed correctly. like i mentioned before if the C.L.A.M.S. OF WELDING are not follower to the letter then an improper weld will be produced and then it is open for failure and the consiquences might, could, are, have, and will be devistating. i could write a book on stuff that i have seen and have had brought to me. i look at it this way, there are a lot of people that do know what they are doing, it is my advise that those that want to do their own welding get with someone that is proficient and work with them. do your homework, practice, practice, practice. i can safely say all this because i had to pass many x-ray certifications under MILSPECS, and also x=ray certifications to necular specifications, for the U.S. NAVY.
Those who can, do. Those who can't, teach. You knock these awesome welds with calling undercut and lack of CRABS, or CLAMS or whatever? Let's see some welds from you. Nuclear specs I can figure out. Is necular specs welding metal coffins or something?
How far should the electrode stick out of the collett...say 3/32 tungsten? I can't see my puddle like I think I should.....
Undercut is the quickest way to fail a welding test. I saw the consistent beads with undercut that was referenced in the previous post. Slow down and use a bit more filler and you will have a pretty weld that will pass a test.
Depends on the cup that you are using. Are you using a gas lense or a regular cup? I would suggest that you run the tungsten out a bit and if necessary raise the flow rate on your gas to properly shield your bead.
Which welds are you referring to with undercut? Don't really see much of that in the above photos. Regading the CLAMS, that's all good, but the two most important things are reading the puddle and penetration. And for certs, that's no big deal. It's just time and practice. I happen to work at a desk all day and weld on occasion for hobby, but I have three AWS certs, including TIG up to 3/4" for all positions except overhead, and an ICAR cert. But I can't do anything as pretty as what some of these guys put up.
I can lay some good looking tig welds but have not posted any. Under cut is BS, if you tig weld two pieces of 1/4" together, never is the tig bead a 1/4" thick. A small amount of under cut shows the temp was hot enough, instead of a taller bead with a rolled edge due to being cold....imo Here is a direct drive flange i made a few years ago for a pro four dirt car. I made the flange out of cold plate with a clutch disc center welded in. I would go into the corner at 8000 rpm set with the brakes and stop the engine, and then power out. I ran this for two years without fail, although it was close to failing, the splines are almost torn in half. The weld has minor under cut and was tested in brutal fashion, passed with flying colors Thanks for all the posted pics, keep them coming, a great weld is a thing of beauty
Look at post #601. It appears to have undercut on the vertical surface. It also maybe shadows that appear to be undercut.
It took a lot longer than expected, but this thread finally turned into every other welding thread. I've done certifications in tig, stick, and spray transfer for multiple positions and joints to ASME, AWS, and milspec standards. Visual, destructive, dye pen, x-rays, ect. I weld on proto-type military vehicles 12 hours a day, 7 days a week. I've been through many metalurgy courses and know first hand how important it is. I'll stand behind the statement I made. Passing a visual inspection isn't done over the internet. You've obviously got a lot of knowledge and experience to share, but I'm not sure most could even decipher that last post. There's a right way and a wrong way to give advice....telling the audience they don't know shit and are mostly ignorant would fall under the latter. I definitely agree with a lot of what you said. A lot of fab guys don't understand the dyamics of a weld procedure. Going through the certifying process and dealing with joint design can be an eye opening experience.
jdustu, thanks for starting this thread and inspriring me to slow down and concentrate on being a better weldor and not just welding stuff together.
GoJeep - I just got myself one of the cheaper speed-glas masks. It's a "chrome" 100 series. Really good deal for the money for sure! It's just the first time I've bought a battery powered lense, used to solar, so we'll see how that works out yet. I'll take the credit for the 601 post and yeah the weld might be a bit undercut, but the bigger issue I was having was getting my starts snd stop right with the torch angle ( I havn't worked much with small diameter stuff before) and then going too far between dimes turned into having a chunky filler look rather than a nice dime stack, which also gives taht shadow. So all in all it's not that great of a weld Like I said I've bein out of the welding buisness for 2 years now and only did it once in a while on a few builds within that time. Before then I've been welding since I was 17 for 3 years or so? If ya do the math it makes me 22. Look at the aluminum bits! I'm pretty damn proud of those, especially since that day I welded more aluminum than in my whole short life. In general I'm getting back into the swing of things with TIG welding, and my work isn't quite as good as it was a couple years back when I was under the hood for 6 hours out of a 8 hour day, but I think it's pretty acceptional. Speaking of which.... 12 hour days Brown Dog?! I hope thats 4 on 4 off man thats gotta be tough. Sounds like a very interesting job though! Mind to share some details? And those welds... no positioner... your crazy man haha.... those are some fairly small diameter pieces too. Thats some damn good work right there. I'm blown away. One of my old teachers used to weld for NASA and his work was also very very impressive. Said he used to make repairs on the foils of satalites.... Just wild. I gotta try welding a soda can one these days haha I will post pics of my efforts! Question for you guys. At my new job here I'm using a older model Miller syncrowave 200. It's a very nice machine and actually I learned on a newere model of it. Problem is that i can seem to run too much stick out with it or I get perosity in my welds. Building cages and tube chassis I really do need to run a bunch of stick out to get a nice weld in some of those jams. Back in the day I ran a Water cooled Lincoln, cant remember the model but it's a big bertha and I could run a bunch of stick out with that thing without the slightest problem. I have my gas flow right around 18 and using a #7 cup. I've tried increasing the gas flow but it was too much and resulted in perosity as well. Went to a larger cup, didn't help at all just made things worse because I chouldn't stick the torch into places. Any recommendations? And it sure is great to see that this thread sparked some intrest! Now enough talking and lets see some more pictures!!! Heres another contribution. Done a year ago, it's a saddle mount for a 327 for my buddys model a. There is a short build thread if annyone is interested. http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=538844 This one is just a fancy cover piece so I went with a stainless filler rod just for kicks Does my work qualify to be in this thread? Just wondering I mean if someone thinks it's garbage then I wont post... ?
Your welding is just fine. Seems there will always be critics picking holes in others work and not posting any of their work.
im not a pro welder by any means went to a quick night school course to be a better back yard welder , i weld like a qualified farmer lmao , i like arc / stick the best and mig for body metal , i enjoy the welding photos in this thread , and the information from folks who do this for a living , one day id like to tig weld but cant justify the machine cost right now , this is a good thread
That's awesome. Thanks. I didn't start the thread, but I love that it keeps going! I work 7 days, then they let me work another 7! But I love what I do. Not too many details...there's a reason most of the pics I post are of scrap I'm playing around with and not actual functioning pieces! The only time I've used a positioner was when an instructor demonstrated one while I was at the Chrysler tech center. I've never done production welding. All the pipe certs I've done were 6g, where the pipe is at a fixed 45* angle and must be completely welded without moving the piece. 3/8" OD .060 wall cm is one of the tig 6g certs I've done...THAT is a small diameter.
JDUSTU... if you don't mind me asking, where did you receive your training?? I apologize if this question has already been answered.
there are some really pretty welds here. im a cert welder but on high pressure boilers and tanks. that takes skill but what is done here takes alot skill and learning! solid9 the problem your haveing sounds like it can be solved be a gas lens in your heli rig its a little screen that allows you to pull the thungsten out up to an inch or more!!!! cheers
I'm still using the same flip down mask that I bought when I starting working as a boiler marker back in 1986! Only on my second gold lens for it as prefer the more natural color. I haven't liked the cheaper auto dark ones that I have borrowed a few times so far and can't justify the $500 ones as only weld at home now. Was hoping there was a cheaper one out there that would be alright as well. I take it this is the one you have? http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/3M-SPEED...793?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item4cf8b3d219
I started welding as a millwright apprentice at Chrysler. Basic courses were at Macomb CC, but the real training was from the guys I worked with. One guy had extensive experience in tig welding tool steels, aluminum, ect. A couple other guys had 20+ years of stick and mig field repair and fab experience. In the plant I was in we did all of the welding, so I got a lot of torch time doing a wide range of stuff in mig, stick, and tig. Before the bk, Chrysler/UAW had a really nice tech training center as well. I was able to go there quite often for welding and metallurgy classes, as well as certifications. There was a company called Weldtech that did the training, and those 4-5 guys were awesome. 30-50+ years of experience as boilermakers, CWIs, pipewelders, tool steel guys, ect. I tried to pick their brains for all I could. Now I'm working for GD doing milspec stuff. Still learning every day.
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