PICTURES! How are my welds?

[Kartracer55]

I ran a few beads tonight, these are 7024 on AC, so Id expect them to be better but Im just starting out. I know the machine is set up decently (done by a pro) but what about my technique? How to a fix how my beads end? Any special technique?

http://img463.imageshack.us/img463/4373/allbeads6fd.th.jpg (http://img463.imageshack.us/my.php?image=allbeads6fd.jpg)
http://img284.imageshack.us/img284/8025/closeupbeads5kl.th.jpg (http://img284.imageshack.us/my.php?image=closeupbeads5kl.jpg)
http://img376.imageshack.us/img376/8671/last3close3vl.th.jpg (http://img376.imageshack.us/my.php?image=last3close3vl.jpg)
http://img376.imageshack.us/img376/9048/anothercloseupbeads7uc.th.jpg (http://img376.imageshack.us/my.php?image=anothercloseupbeads7uc.jpg)

Thanks

Jim

[jeepcrazie]

Try welding two peices together, works better. That looks like caulking.

[Shorts]

Well my input is compared to several welding books I picked up, so no first hand opinion, so take with a grain of salt. It looks that your welding speed is too slow and the weld metal is piling up. Since you're using a 7024, its a fast fill type rod, shallow penetration and good appearacne. I think use a faster speed or a different (more general) rod.

[PAToyota]

Sort of hard to tell from the photos, but several of them look like they are sitting on top of the metal rather than penetrating. To end a weld, you sort of back up or circle on the weld rather than just coming to the end. That will give you more bead at the end rather than tapering off.

Looks like a good start, though. Just need to practice, practice, practice!

[MigMiester]

Yup, looks like a lot of metal piling up with very little penetration.

When you weld, you should be penetrating mostly into the base metal leaving only a slightly raised bead. Yours are just the opposite.

[cybergeek23851]

Try running some 7018 on a few joints such as a Tee and butt. 7024 is what I reserve for "capping" a horizontal only fillet.

When you run it on the plate trying stringer beads, the techniques is improved with practice but you still don't know how good your penetration is unless you weld a plate of stringers, some with and some without a 50/50 overlap. Then, cut the pieces across the welds, and check out the cross-sectional view.

[SquattyD]

take a picture of the backside of the metal. how thick is it?

[Kartracer55]

Thanks for all the input guys!!

Its 1/4 plate, and yeah, I warped the hell out of it lol.

I ground down to get a cross section of a weld and got it very smooth with some emery, now what should I use to etche it to check penetration?

I believe Im going to be shown how to run stringers tommorow night, either that or fillets... not entirely sure what was decided on.

I appreciate all of the input, thanks alot guys!

Jim

[Arya Ebrahimi]

Looks a little fast, which would account for part of why it's not sinking in as much. The lines in your welds should be semi-circular instead of pointed. When they're pointed it means you're going to fast. Now you can always CRANK your heat and go really fast to speed up production, but I don't think that's a good way to learn.

Also, to fix the divot's in the ends of your beads. Restrike the rod at the end and just do a small puddle weld. Do this after the initial weld but before it has cooled a whole lot.

Ary

[Shorts]

Thanks for all the input guys!!

Its 1/4 plate, and yeah, I warped the hell out of it lol.

I ground down to get a cross section of a weld and got it very smooth with some emery, now what should I use to etche it to check penetration?

I believe Im going to be shown how to run stringers tommorow night, either that or fillets... not entirely sure what was decided on.

I appreciate all of the input, thanks alot guys!

Jim


Just take your metal piece and chop it in half so you can see a cross-section view of the piece. Kinda like when you cut a piece of cake and you can see all the layers off cake and filling.