Welding Tips and Tricks

That picture of the 3-crane pick was at the Hood Canal Bridge.
This is setting the 400-ton anchors for the Hood Canal Bridge.



Here is the Tacoma Narrows Bridge.

Shield Arc,
Very impressive! I thought I welded on impressive stuff I assume you are/were AWS D1.5 certified?
-Jonathan

Yes. At one time I had 24-active certs. AWS, and ASME.

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surely the first pic is mig?
If the second is a 6013, then it was welded poorly.it would have failed an inspection, and wouldnt have even reached the bend test.a 6013 root run on a fillet needs to be put in on the very edge of heat range, as hot as possible without undercut.for a 1/8 you could be talking 125,126amps depending on the rod, and a tight tight arc length.on the above example, you are able to see the straight edge of the vertical piece, which is LOF.
it is the most common cause of failure in a 6013 3 pass fillet, which is normally the first arc welding test people take in Europe.
the first time I took that test,about 80% of the class found an inclusion at the very root after cutting on a bandsaw.

No matter how good a weldor is,as im sure Shield Arc is better than most, you need to know a particular rods drawbacks, and how to work around them.

Yes the weld gauge is on a Mig weld. I didn't take a picture of the 6013 fillet weld with a gauge on it.
As we all know 6013 is notorious for lack of penetration. Guess that's why a lot of people call it a sheet metal rod. Strange how my 6013 welds passed a bend test with flying colors.

Its not strange that when run properly they pass bend and xray tests.a fillet weld needs a different technique though.
penetration at the root is the only weakness, every other pass can be done at lower amps if needed

Too funny !!

Nothing a bit of grinding couldn't fix

Guys,
Just about knocked this project out today.
Drilled a 1/2 inch pilot hole, than dropped the 1 1/4 thru.
Worked great.
Lots of pics.

Decided to open the shop doors, and set the bucket inside.

Welded the first pass with 3/16 8010 at 180amps, capped with 1/8 7018 at 140amps.
Tacked, tapped, cussed, cut, ground, welded.

Let the bashing begin.

More pics tomorrow....

~John

my experience using 3/32 6013 is for thin metal, not for 1/2 in. steel. I would recommend 6010 1/8 inch for the root pass and finish using 7018 1/8. or, use 6010 for the complete job.(METAL MUST BE CLEAN AND DRY IF YOU USE 7018 WIRE.)

steeldr. wrote:my experience using 3/32 6013 is for thin metal, not for 1/2 in. steel. I would recommend 6010 1/8 inch for the root pass and finish using 7018 1/8. or, use 6010 for the complete job.(METAL MUST BE CLEAN AND DRY IF YOU USE 7018 WIRE.)

John was just being sarcastic.
-Jonathan

Looking good - only thing I'd say is maybe make the bar in 2 pieces - one for each fork - same as JCB do & most tele handlers - & this applies to many pics on the forum - why not take the corners off the plates while it's easy - I know they're not sharp - but you always walk into them &catch bits on them - while the plate is on the bench & you have a center punch mark for drilling the hole just take the torch & run a radius from it on the end of the plate - I leave a circle cutting attachment on mine all the time slid out of the way up by the handle.

AKweldshop wrote:Let the bashing begin.

More pics tomorrow....

~John

Looks like it's coming along pretty good

Oh, almost forgot to follow instructions..."wrong rods", "wrong amps", "that'll never work".....

How's that?

Years ago I built a rotating table for burning circles and radius. Works really well!

That's a good idea on the table - I've been meaning to build one for years - had a big heavy trailer hub for it that eventually went in the scrap ! seems however much space I have it's always filled up & I'm tripping over stuff - never manage to clear enough room to have things like that.

MinnesotaDave wrote:

AKweldshop wrote:Let the bashing begin.

More pics tomorrow....

~John

Looks like it's coming along pretty good

Oh, almost forgot to follow instructions..."wrong rods", "wrong amps", "that'll never work".....

How's that?

Excellent!! For starters....

I probabbly will grind the corners down.
Neat idea on the circle burner. I have one somewhere.
I apologize for showing pictures of the slag.
I ran three passes on each of the sides, I'll get pics of those.
Should be interesting.

Don't think I'm fishing for compliments when I post pics of my work.
It's humble work. No need for bragging.

I'll have it done today, I'll make a video of it functioning.
Maybe I ought to grind the welds out. I just got a 5lb box of 3/32 6013.
What do you think??

~John