Welding Tips and Tricks

Looking to practice my uphill MIG welds, generally it's 1/8", 3/16" or 1/4" thick, T joint. Sometimes butt joint. anything smaller than 1/8" I always go down hill because I'm not worried about penetration.

This is just me as a hobbyist welding in the garage, this isn't for any certification or anything. Just general garage fab work, if that makes a difference. I've been using .030 wire lately, I've found that it seems to be pretty good all around. I can do 16 gauge, 1/8" 3/16" and 1/4" decently with it.

I wonder would running uphill beads on a flat plate be of any help? I kind of hate to waste material making T-joints. Would a plate full of up-hill beads every now and then be good practice? Or is it worth it to actually make the joints? I usually avoid uphill welds, but I'd like to get good at them.

I had a few minutes free in the garage tonight, so I took two pieces of scrap and gave the "upside down V" approach a try. I'm actually quite pleased with how it turned out. MUCH better looking than when I just try to go steady all the way up, or when I weave back and forth. I also turned my machine down for what I would normally do with 1/8" tubing, I think that helped too.

When you stop and re-start a weld (like I did here, in the middle), any tips for getting it to look a bit more seamless? Next time I'm going to try starting a bit higher up, then dipping down back into the previous bead.


There isn't any under cut on the sides here, but it does look choppy. Is my V maybe to wide? Or not pausing long enough on the sides? Or maybe to much space (vertically) inbetween my V shapes? I'm only pausing slightly on the sides, and tracing the upper edge of the puddle. I haven't tried the triangle yet.

I don't like the way lincoln sets up their dials, but for the wire speed I was using 5.5, and amps was set to H. Whatever that means. Which is basically one step down from what the chart suggests for 1/8" material. I generally run hotter than what the chart suggests, but for this vertical weld, I think having less heat and moving slower seems to have worked out. When I try it with more heat and I move faster, I get a tall thin crown in the center.

Definitely penetrated well enough. it's popping through the back side a bit on both pieces (this is two rectangle tubes, not flat bar, left over scraps from a friend's project).

Looking good! Not bad at all, I generally try to use the upside down V technique most of the time with great results. The only critique I have is watch your tie ins. Still looks good.

yea, I definitely want to work on my tie-ins. I do start and stop alot.

I wonder would this upside-down V technique work for going up hill on round tubing intersections as well? I'll have to try that

danielbuck wrote:yea, I definitely want to work on my tie-ins. I do start and stop alot.

I wonder would this upside-down V technique work for going up hill on round tubing intersections as well? I'll have to try that

Watch this video Danial...

http://welding-tv.com/gas-metal-arc-wel ... ownhill-2/

Just stand on your head and run a downhand.

Antorcha wrote:Just stand on your head and run a downhand.

I've hung upside-down with my calves on the deck and co-workers holding my feet... Does that count?


Steve S

Antorcha wrote:Just stand on your head and run a downhand.

that made my morning


Or I could go to outter space and weld any direction I feel like. Wouldn't even need to bring my shielding gas! Though I might need to bring some oxygen.

danielbuck wrote:

Antorcha wrote:Just stand on your head and run a downhand.

that made my morning


Or I could go to outter space and weld any direction I feel like. Wouldn't even need to bring my shielding gas! Though I might need to bring some oxygen.

Well if it is space, is there truly a "direction"? Question is, would one really not need, say argon, in space? I know there is no oxygen but is it conducive to welding? Ha, got you thinking now

Your vertical up is looking good! As a personal preference in would tighten the weave up but you are doing great.
-Jonathan

Yep, you'd need gas in space....

The ionization of the gas is the current path. No gas, no current.

Electrons need a path.

Steve S

Without gravity taking affect, you could make some real nice welds in any position.

Sent from my SM-G900R4 using Tapatalk

I'm taking back what I said...

Short-circuit MIG "might" work in outer space without shielding gas....

Steve S

Heck in space everything floating just spin it around to where it would be flat instead of uphill

i use scrap pieces of angle iron to practice on, just fill it in till you have bar stock. eventually when everything is looking good make up some "t"s and bevels and work on those

So here is another thought about welding in space.
If one were to mig weld using shielding gas, when the wire comes out and shorts on the substrate, would that molten droplet stick to the metal or would it float off into space. Would there be spatter and if there is, it would probably shoot endlessly in all directions. And since there is no upside down or top or bottom, would a traditional weld penetrate into say a fillet the way it does here?
Are you thinking again?
-Jonathan

I "think" it would be the same, since the electron flow has a lot to do with it.
Who knows though.

Sent from my SM-G900R4 using Tapatalk

clearly, some testing is needed here

I'll join this clearly serious debate

Since in the overhead position (on Earth), the weld metal still goes where it is supposed to, the lack of gravity wouldn't matter.

I'll be happy to prove my theory, the next time someone asks me to go into space

That's going to be a bit tricky since they retired the shuttles ( which I think was a tragedy ) - besides do you realize how much space junk is up there without redneck welders dropping hammers / tools / bits of scrap!etc ! - that's gotta be even worse than working under water - don't ask how many tools I've lost ! - on the plus side you can probably leave your stuff " on site " without worrying if the pikey scum will be round that night thieving ! mind you I can't imagine how long the welding leads would have to be ! - not going to get a Ranger / Trailblazer to run with no air ! - maybe you could make some sort of mirror array & focus a beam to come out of a fiber optic torch - use it a bit like WerkSpace's beloved multiplaz thingy !