Welding Tips and Tricks

Hey all. I work in a payed by the piece situation and its a fast moving kind of welding. I weld anything from 1/8" to 1" but mostly around 1/4" to 3/8". All steel. My question is does wire speed and voltage equal faster welding? Which means more money for me in the end. I usually have my voltage at 31.5 and wire speed around 800. Needless to say it looks like a volcano when we're welding. I didn't weld this way anywhere else so it was new to me but I got the hang of it and am just wondering if I could fine tune my welding. This is how they have always done it even though it seems wrong its how we make rate and nothing comes back broken unless it been terribly abused. Thanks in advance for any advise or suggestions.

Greetings Mr. Jroark,
I too welded production at one time with jigs. We ran hot, really hot, just as you are. Just a straight pass with no oscillation makes for a nice smooth bead. I don't think running any hotter than you are you are going to gain anything since you are already in spray arc. Unfortunately about all you can do to increase your output is to "WORK FASTER YOU DOG - - - - FASTER I SAY". Sorry, I just couldn't resist. Just my 2 cents worth.


Jim

Haha! I asked how to weld faster not work faster! I'm trying to figure out how to work less for the same pay.

jroark wrote:Haha! I asked how to weld faster not work faster! I'm trying to figure out how to work less for the same pay.

And good luck with that. If you get it right, be sure to share your secret

TRACKRANGER wrote:

jroark wrote:Haha! I asked how to weld faster not work faster! I'm trying to figure out how to work less for the same pay.

And good luck with that. If you get it right, be sure to share your secret

Well, I can't quite explain it, but the less actual work I do, the more they pay me. They say I make them a lot of money, but I'm not sure how...

Steve S

jroark,
I'm not sure where I want to start with this one. I guess the first thing I should say is follow what your employer says above all else, unless it is a safety hazard of course. Those settings are extremely high for the given materials but I guess can work. Your wire speed suggests you are using .035 wire and I personally would recommend stepping up to .045 or .052 because your puddle will be a little more stable and can handle that current a lot better. The advantages to increasing wire size is the wire is cheaper, can handle more current and is more efficient.

I cannot recommend increasing your amperage above where you are at. There is a danger with to much amperage and trying to kick parts out like a mad man and that is LOF (lack of fusion) which can come in many forms. I will give you a personal example. There is a company near me that runs high volume products and they are running settings simplar to you, way higher than they need to be and .035 wire. Their employees are not all skilled enough to keep up with those settings and when you look at the final product you can tell. Welds that are undersized, missed the joint (which is the most common problem) and serious lack of fusion. Another company used .035 wire to build big weldments and they actually put double the heat input in the product due to undersized wire.

At the end of the day you have to work with whats given you but maybe you can suggest moving up in wire size and/or bring in a consultant or rep to help you guys out.
-Jonathan

Thanks for the input guys. We do use .045 wire and it did take a while for me to get used to the way they weld there. I was used to building stair and rail systems and structural steel but never welded like that. You can tell a difference in the welds of some of the guys though. Some are burnt out and don't really care as much about looks but I never hear of anything breaking or falling apart except for the rare instances when the equipment is abused or overloaded.
Personally the best thing that seems to make me faster is the time I take in between welds. My routine being the same. I wasn't sure if I could get much faster but using an even bigger wire like Johnathan suggested might work but that's not my call. Thanks again for the input and cracking the whip on me.