Welding Tips and Tricks

Today I struck my first arc in my welding program at school today. We used a 6010 rod set at 80 amps on 3/8 inch plate. Not as hard as I though t it would be but controlling the puddle and keeping it consistent I see will be a challenge and is going to take some practice. Any tips on puddle control for a noob?

That is awesome, welcome to your newest addiction. Follow your instructor's advice as you progress, it just takes some time and practice to get your hands to react and do what your brain is telling them about what it is seeing going on in the puddle. Then the comes on and magic happens.

I used to give my new guys a 7024, that almost welds by itself, to start out on and kept them running stringers until they started getting cocky. When those symptoms of cockiness showed up and they thought they were gifted with a golden arm, I would hand them an electrode with a magnet in the end(E7018) and have them run a few frustrating stringers with that to get them back down on the earth with the rest of us mortals.

Keep us posted regarding your progress...

jrouse wrote:Today I struck my first arc in my welding program at school today. We used a 6010 rod set at 80 amps on 3/8 inch plate. Not as hard as I though t it would be but controlling the puddle and keeping it consistent I see will be a challenge and is going to take some practice. Any tips on puddle control for a noob?

Assuming your instructor is having you use a whip and pause technique. You must learn how long to pause in the puddle and when it is time to leave base on what you see, i.e. read the puddle. The cadence for whip and pause is rarely consistent simply because if come back in the puddle to far you will not need to stay as long and if you do not come back far enough you will have to stay longer so forget about counting. Focus on the back side and the sides of the puddle, DON’T FOCUS ON THE ROD! In your peripheral vision you will see the rod to reference arc length and rod angle but in time the puddle will tell you if those things are correct. Focus, clear you mind of everything but what your are doing, get comfortable, hold the stinger don’t grab it, use your wrist to whip not your arm. Weld an inch or so, clean it thoroughly and examine it. What did you see? What were the variables, arc length, rod angle and how long you paused? Soon you will be better able to understand the effects of the variables on the puddle and deal with them as needed. Do not expect consistency, in the beginning if you get three or four whips in a row that are good you have done well. Consistency is the nemesis of every skilled welder. Don’t change everything at once, you will never figure out what the exact effect of the variable was.

So what are you looking for? Assuming you are running beads on a plate at 80 amps you should have a bead that is about 3/8” wide and about 1/8” high, the ripples should be about 1/16” apart and whip out about 1/8”. Typically you will get the correct height and width when the back side of the puddle is rounded. In the beginning keep your rod perpendicular to the plate when you have achieved some consistency you can start to experiment with the variables. At 80 amps you should be fine, leave that alone and forget arc force or whatever it may be called on your machine just set it to a neutral setting and leave it out of the picture for a while. When you make a change stick with it for a while to really understand how it effects the bead.

This pic of one of my students welds in the flat position. As you can see it really lacks consistency buy he had a good handle on what the variables were doing and the outcome on his weld. He was ready to move on to the next task.


Another weld from a junior student from last week, vertical up 6010. Note the beginning of the weld is somewhat cold, but the end looks acceptable. I pointed this out to him but I did not tell him how to fix it. Instead I asked him what he thought would be the best way to solve this problem would be. Longer arc he said, I said you’re figuring this out aren’t you! He is learning to read the puddle and the effects of the variables.


As any welder will tell you welding is a series of problems that need to be solved and what corrective action is necessary to solve these problems. Understanding/reading the puddle and the corrective action to solving problems is the key to becoming a skilled welder.

Remember it takes countless hours and many years to become a skilled welder, be patient.
Good luck and post some pics.
John

I'd like to take this opportunity to point out that here in AUS, we are not taught to use 6010/11at school for ANYTHING except root runs on plate. The only other time I used it at trade school was in a 4 way + joint penetraion comparison. Just an interesting note. (PS Wtfh, I thought those padded beads looked good HaHa)

Mick

weldin mike 27 wrote:I'd like to take this opportunity to point out that here in AUS, we are not taught to use 6010/11at school for ANYTHING except root runs on plate. The only other time I used it at trade school was in a 4 way + joint penetraion comparison. Just an interesting note. (PS Wtfh, I thought those padded beads looked good HaHa)

Mick

You're right Mick, in the world it's good for root passes and rusty nasty metal and that's about it. Most of my students will never use it again once they leave school. It has been my experience that the manipulative techniques learned and the clarity of the puddle make it an excellent teaching tool. I have done this for 30 years and It still amazes me how quickly students transition into other electrodes and other processes as well once they have learned to read and properly manipulate the puddle using 6010.

John

Wow John thanks for the informative reply! I will definitely take your advice and start working on each small problem at a time and not everything at once. I did notice today that waiting for the puddle to form and making smaller circles or whips made my passes tighter and more consistent as far as the bead width and height went, and being able to see more of the puddle moving along. I'll keep you guys posted on my progress and possibly post some pictures once I get further along. Thanks again for your advice!

http://forum.weldingtipsandtricks.com/v ... f=4&t=6701
Link with a post updating my progress in my welding program.