Carbon Steel Pipe Coupons & Welding

[erikmannie]

I won’t run 7018 downhill:

 

[Winegrower]

Eric, wow. This helps me understand why I am such a crummy welder! Thanks for the info!

 

[erikmannie]

Eric, wow. This helps me understand why I am such a crummy welder! Thanks for the info!

Let the fun begin:

 

[erikmannie]

I plan to weld all day, & I start my day with this mess. One wonders if I will see an arc today.

 

[aliva]

Let the fun begin:

View attachment 398780

I think you should up your price way too low.

 

[erikmannie]

I think you should up your price way too low.

Thanks, I will strongly consider it.

 

[erikmannie]

So my first “1G pipe” effort (I was welding from 9 to 3 o’clock with 3/32” 6010, & 9:45 to 1:30 o’clock with the 1/8” 7018) was rough.

Two of my four 6010 tacks failed as I welded almost 180° around of the root pass. For that 180°, I had a nice 1/16” gap (which was easy money!), but the tacks failing opened up the remaining 180° of gap of 3/16”!

I took the challenge and welded the 3/16” gap which I didn’t have a problem with. It was usually just 2 passes of 6010. I was between 70-80A with the 3/32” 6010 (Lincoln 5P+).

I was very happy with the root penetration, but the root pass was too high. I ground it down to where it should have been with stone, cleaned everything up with a wire wheel, and did a single hot pass of 7018. I was at 120A the whole time with the 1/8” 7018 (Lincoln Excalibur).

At this point, the hot pass was too high! I did not grind that down, and I made two cap passes with 1/8” 7018, & you can see that it turned out pretty awful.

You will see all 360° with these 4 pictures. Very humbling.

 

[erikmannie]

Here is a 360° view of the root pass which I am not at all proud of. There is also a 360° view of the back side of it.

This point, I am just uploading welding gore. It looks like I missed a spot on the root pass. Also, I see plenty of places where I did not get full penetration on the back side.

 

[erikmannie]

Back side:

 

[erikmannie]

This is how I grind it down for the hot pass. It is critical that *no* 7018 punches through the root.