Welding Tips and Tricks

We are doing 3F T joints in class right now and its kicking my butt. I'm using the lay wire method and I either don't get tied in on the sides at all or end up with a good bit of under cut. We are welding 11ga. steel, I'm running a 3/32 filler at 125-130 amps. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Making sure you have good props seems too be the most important part of get consistent welds. I personally like dipping to learn but that's just me. It's seem to also help with consistency and timing.


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Those are both symptoms of moving a little to fast. Under cut can also sometimes come from not cleaning off all the mill flake.

I remember a lot of people in my class having issues with that as well. I think more than anything it was the people that couldn't see what was going on well that were inconsistent. If you are using one of the beat up class helmets, that is probably 90% of your problem.

If visualizing the weld puddle isn't the issue, I'd say try a larger diameter cup, a reasonable amount of stick out and then walk the cup. You'll need to free hand it to start but then you should be ok once you get the hang of it. I agree with Cbking though, dipping is probably better. Laywire is brainless for lap joints but you may be inconsistent with it in Ts.

-Sandow