Welding Tips and Tricks

I did some practice beads this morning. The welder is a 10 year old Hobart Handler 175 with four voltage settings 1-4 and wire speed of 0-100. the first three photos are 11 gauge plates using .023 wire. The Hobart setting guides for .023 wire call for the voltage setting at 3 and wire feed at 90. I did these welds at 3 voltage and 80 wire feed. I think that a wire feed of 90 will be best.

That's pretty damn slick, for "first beads".

Well done.

Steve S

Thanks Steve. After looking at things I see some areas for improvement. I seem to be favoring the top of the lap joint and my speed is inconsistent. Also, there appears to be some undercut on the top of the bead. I'm thinking this is a speed issue. I'm just happy the bead is straight. As the morning went on things were not as straight or pretty. I was probably getting a little tired.

I'm a bit surprised the bead itself is not flatter. I see some penetration on the back side but, the bottom toe of the weld looks like it's just laying there and not "wetting out".

I'll cut things apart to see if I'm getting penetration.