Gas Welding Joints & Beads

[Charles scozzari]

Looking good! And dang, that's a big vise!

Having taught gas welding... you need a root gap on those corner welds if you want good penetration. IIRC about the filler rod diameter. With skill you get a clean but less pretty weld on the backside. And it will do a full reverse bend

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I think you're gonna need a bigger mill.

 

[erikmannie]

Here is my last bead of this practice session, a flat corner joint. I stopped because I have to switch out the oxygen cylinder. We see that the toe of the weld did not tie in.



The practice is paying off. Here is what helps me:

(1) welding hot enough. For one bead, I had to knock it out before I drove my son to work. For this reason, I turned up the #3 tip a fair amount because I was in a hurry. That bead was the best bead of the morning.

(2) I like my medium (100 Series) torch a lot better because it isn’t the huge club that is my large (300 Series) torch. I rotate the torch a lot, and the medium torch is much easier to rotate.

(3) I love preheating. It is about 40° F and windy in my garage. I really appreciate a good preheat, where the preheat is evenly distributed on both sides, obviously.

(4) I use fire bricks whenever possible. If I didn’t use fire brick, the weldment would lay on 3/8” steel plate. I don’t want to pay to heat up the table or have a big heat sink on the bottom of the weldment.

 

[erikmannie]

Continued:

(5) I will always clean the tip of the welding nozzle if the cone, etc. is not even. Working to get a nice smooth orifice is a great use of time.

(6) I will regulate the heat setting on the nozzle to get just the level of heat that I want. I *can* weld with too little heat, but the work unfolds very slowly. Similarly, I *can* weld with too hot of a flame, but I blow holes if I don’t pull the torch away. Having just the right amount of heat makes for a very nice time!

(7) Good tack welds. I had a pair of tack welds fail this morning. I had to redo them, & that was just a waste of time.

(8) I am never in a hurry. If I can’t do it safely, I won’t do it.

(9) COMFORT! If possible, I sit in a chair. If not sitting, I get as comfortable as I can while standing. Sometimes when I am preheating while standing, I will use both hands to hold the torch so as to apply even pressure to my back.

(10) I push through when I want to hang it up for the day. I take a break, & then come back out here & work at a moderate pace. When I do decide to finally quit, I tell myself “OK, one (or two) more joint(s).”

(11) I clean the shop before I start! It is much more enjoyable for me to work in a clean, organized shop. This is much safer, too.