Welding Tips and Tricks

HEY FOLKS,
need your help. my instructor offered to grade my overhead 4 g plate , to let me move on to the plate with backing . since I have been stalled on this one for a few days, he thought my fatigue with this position, i would benefit to take a 75 without a bend test. he said there will be plenty of time to learn this position, with the next weld project,then MIG and TIG.
should i swallow my pride and take the mark, or press on and cut into my valuable time in the booth.l I am not sure,but I may be the last guy stuck on 4g overhead? thanks for your help.

Take his advice. If you can come back to it later, you can move away from the frustration, and attack it fresh.

Your grade doesn't matter as much as you'd think... Good marks will help you get an interview, but any reputable shop or project will "qualify" you with their own test, which is often less stringent than the tests you may be taking now.

Instead of beating your head on this obstacle, move on. Come back to it when you have more time and confidence.

Steve S

that was the instructors thinking too, get back to it later. my concern was, not finishing, i may run into the same issue again on the next plate with the backing strip. same 3/8 " plate but larger root with backing, but will still require the overhead(eventually). guess i can cross that bridge when I get to it. thanks for the post, . i will tell him YES ! grade it ! I will move on

I always found 4G with 7018 easy. Good thing cuz I had to do a lot of it! LOL Here's what always worked for me.
1. Tight arc. I always ran 4G at 5 to 10 amps hotter that 3g. Keep that rod in there tight.
2. Rod angle. For me a 5 degree pushing angle was best.
3. Narrow stringers and long runs. Don't hang around. Keep it in tight and go like heck. One rod should let you run the whole length of the test plate.

Usually when the machine was in the sweet spot I could get about 9-10" of run off out of a 1/8" rod. 5/32 " and 3/16" would put in about the same width stringers but a lot longer. No starts or stops in the middle of the test plate. Hot and fast seemed to dig in and penetrate. Just watch your heat input. Don't be afraid to take a break or two or three to let it cool down. Let it cool down well before you put the cover on.

Was your 4G plate an open root test? Did it require 6010 for the root?

Where were you having most of your troubles?