Welding Tips and Tricks

I am a beginner and have been using 7018 332 rod on 1/4"t joints with 85 amps and have been having issues with my slag totally covering up my puddle with a dull red color which is running out infront of my weld and running away from the joint. When this is happening I am really struggling to see the actual puddle to keep a consistant bead across the whole joint. Does anyone know what could be causing this to happen?

Hi and welcome. You need to crank the heat up, the more heat, the greater arc force to push the slag back to where it belongs. Go up to at least 125 amps.

i thought 100 was max for 3/32. maybe I will bump it up some and see what happens. Thanks for the suggestion

Sorry, I got the conversion wrong. You're right. 3/32 is called 2.5mm in australia. I got it confused with 3.25 which is 1/8. My apologies. Go a little hotter but not to much. Although cranking the heat up will give you an idea of what is happening. You are dragging the rod and holding a short arc right? Cheap ass rods are hard to run sometimes.

I run 3/32 right at the limit of about 95 amps, but that will depend upon your machine too. It sounds more like your travel speed is too slow that the puddle and slag are depositing on top of you when you should be moving ahead.

T joints require a pause at each edge, but skip the middle and allow the puddle to fill it. If you are loitering in the middle or simply dragging down the seam, the edges don't tie in, and you'll swallow up your puddle with slag. Should be about a "1" count to fill a 1/4" T on each edge, then moving along.

Nice tight arc, gently scratching the base material and a slight lean angle ahead with the rod. Any pictures?