Welding Tips and Tricks

I have tons of experience in structural welding smaw and fab shop mig welding . Long story short I'm getting ready to make a career change back into the welding / pipefitting area of things after 6 years in a manufacturing job .

I went and showed my ua local what I had for a day and they invited me back to come practice at some classes and work on getting some pipe certs before my time I can actually leave my current job in april of 2020 .

When I was there I was working on 6g 4"sch 40 .

I'm going to have to pass ua codes , and I'm not quite sure what the weld procedures or on then yet , but the main issues I was having was being massively hot when running my root and the key hole kept getting away from me . And being cold on my cap .

The ua shop has xmt304 welders , I need some recommendations on what amperage to run my roots at .

6010 5p 3/32 root
7018 3/32 hot/fill
7018 3/32 cap stringers

Fit up is 37 degree , 3/32 to 1/8th root face . Right now I'm just practicing . Any recommendations will be appreciated.

Thanks.

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If your keyhole is getting away on you, you can tighten up your root gap a wee bit or use a slightly larger land thickness. Other option is turn down the heat a little.

I have a few UA certs. If your having trouble with the root then it’s likely a fit up issue. IE uneven land or gap. I like a 3/32 gap and a 1/8 land. I run a 1/8 6010 at about 75-85 amps, depending on machine and travel speed.

Thanks guys , now I'm getting my roots in been working really hard .

Just not stacking the metal in the root , and getting alot of suckback

But did manage to weld out a 6" schedule 40 pipe last night with a 3 stringer cap on 6 g . And injust continued running stringers untill the pipe got too hot .

Yall be the judge ? Is it looking okay ? I know I need to stagger my tie ins .

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It looks pretty concistant. That’s good. From the pictures I would suggest checking those low spots at the toe of the welds to make sure your not below flush. Test day welds can be nerve wracking but those small details like no undercut or not just below flush but even excessive reinforcement can get you out on The lookout. There should be some gauges around to check this. I recommend using the gauges on every weld you do, after you think your ready to test until test day. Give yourself no mercy because the visual inspectors won’t or shouldn’t.

Poland308 wrote:It looks pretty concistant. That’s good. From the pictures I would suggest checking those low spots at the toe of the welds to make sure your not below flush. Test day welds can be nerve wracking but those small details like no undercut or not just below flush but even excessive reinforcement can get you out on The lookout. There should be some gauges around to check this. I recommend using the gauges on every weld you do, after you think your ready to test until test day. Give yourself no mercy because the visual inspectors won’t or shouldn’t.

Thanks for the words man. Being consistent and comfortable are my two main things I'm working in at the moment. I constantly find myself having to re adjust. Which is normal on pipe . Just need to work on my technique .

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