Downhand welds on Edges

by Rob
(Moose Jaw, Canada)

Where I work, we run a lot of downhand welds... more so than vertical up welds. Never on anything thicker tank gauge, unless it has a wicked gap or requires more than 3 fill passes (3/8'' wall plates gapped about 3/8''). On gauge it works well because you can catch the edges and watch it burn in real nice, without warping the material. On the heavier stuff though, don't even bother... I've actually gotten a scraper behind a downhand pass and peeled it out of there. Like you said, the weld puddle gets out of hand and kind of 'floats' away from the penetration point.

Wearing earplugs while doing any overhead or enclosed spaces.

by Dave Selover
(Sacramento, CA)

I personally wear earplugs welding any position. I am still able to hear and adjust welder for proper amp range. I think it gives you more confidence when welding overhead or vertical. It speeds up production time when you need to use a grinder. My friend lost his hearing in his left ear while welding overhead on a exhaust system. Welding slag dropped right into his ear canal. Safety speeds up production in any shop and possibly lowers your insurance rates. SAFETY=MORE MONEY.
DAVE SELOVER SEPT. 2011

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I agree on the ear plugs. I have experienced a ball of fire in my ear once or twice and know I have lost some hearing over the years.

I also try to wear earplugs whenever I need them and when mig or stick welding to keep the fire out.

What's the best way to weld in a drilled hole.

Hi Jody, man great job on the site and everything. My question is how to best focous the arc at the bottom of a drilled hole in aluminum? The idea is to build it up to re-tap threads in it for a bolt. I was using a 2%thoriated tungsten on pulse I can't remember what freq now, but it was very hard to get a puddle at the bottom of the hole.

Regards Dave Reid.

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Dave,
a 2oo F preheat and a helium mix of up to 80 percent helium helps more than any setting.

i know what you are talking about. I once watched someone trying to get filler wire down in the bottom of a threaded hole with a skinny long tig cup.

he could fit the wire in, so he would puddle, stop, drop in bits of snipped wire, puddle again, and so on.

it was a slow go.

Welding Techniques

" Stick vs Mig ...smokey smokey? "

( ... having trouble viewing this video? click here to view it at Welding-TV.com. )

A TIG finger works for Migging Too

I lucked up and got a gravy job the other day so I took the chance to shoot video on welding techniques using both mig and stick.

The job was as simple as pie. Welding 2" round stock into 1" thick A36 hot rolled steel.

About 8 plates , 2 pins each, welded both sides for a total of 32 welds.

These parts were going to be dipped in a black oxide coating tank when done so the hot rolled mill scale needed to be removed so the black oxide coating could do its magic.

That is why the parts are clean and shiny in the video.

Its not often, you get to weld parts that are already cleaned, and tack welded.

Hey that brings me to a good tip....

I discovered a wheel for a grinder that removes hot rolled mill scale without loading up.

If you have ever used a sanding disc to clean hot rolled down to shiny bright metal, you know how quickly the sanding disc quits sanding . That oxidized mill scale is really hard to remove.

A grinding wheel works but sometimes the finish is just too rough.

The wheel I discovered, or rather that my machinist buddy discovered. is made by Norton. Its one of the "Rapid Strip" line.

Its blue and coarse and looks a bit like scotch brite except that its much tougher.

The part number on the packaging is

OKI-NRT 07660704015 T27 4.5X5/8-11T Rapid Strip Coarse

Just google it and you will find what I am talking about.

(this just in on July 1, 2011...one viewer emailed to say his experience with the norton wheels were very disappointing on hot rolled steel. They worked great for me on my application but I guess not all hot rolled steel is the same. So keep that in mind. if you are going to try them out, you might want to only buy one first to see how it works )

I am including a photo of the package so you can make sure to get the same thing if you need to. The Rapid Strip wheel worked great for removing the hot rolled coating and lasted much longer than sanding discs....and left a really smooth finish too.

OK, back to this weeks video and differences in mig/arc welding techniques

Since I already had a stick welder hooked up with some 1/8" 7018 stick electrode on hand, I decided to weld a few welds with stick before swapping over to mig. It gives me more to write about and makes for a more interesting video. I think.

To me , this was definitely a mig job.

... but its good to keep in practice with the old stick ... besides any mig is likely to be out of commission mid job...then what? you just stick weld, that's what.

133 amps was the setting on the machine but it seemed more like about 120 amps. At times, I thought about 5-10 more amps would have made the weld a little smoother but I also think that was mostly because it was hard to maintain a really good rod angle.

In the video, I try to demonstrate a way of holding the rod in the electrode holder that works good for going around round parts like this. It works for me, it might work for you to so you might give it a go.

I only stick welded a few welds before moving on to mig.

The mig nozzle was sure packed with spatter but since I did this job at someone elses shop, I made sure to bring a leatherman tool with me. A leatherman tool is a welders best friend. Not only is it good for snipping wire but can be used like mig pliers for cleaning a nozzle.

Once the nozzle was cleaned and adjusted for stickout, I made several dry runs with the mig gun to find a way to reach all the way around the part without stopping.

Honestly, I think it was easier to make it all the way around with the stick because mig is faster and its hard to change hand positions fast enough to keep up the travel speed.

Almost the same welding techniques can be used for a job like this no matter whether stick or mig.

Very small cursive e's will work on both processes.

A 7018 also works fine with just a smooth drag, but for me, some slight motion like small cursive e's hides my shakiness.

The cursive e welding technique has always worked for me for mig welding in most situations. I use it all the time.

exit welding techniques and See the Tig Finger

Porosity and lack of fusion in Copper welds

We have a customer that wants us to TIG weld two dissimilar alloys. The first alloy is Bronze 4640 (Nickel, Aluminum, Bronze)and the second alloy is UNS C10100 (Copper). We will also be using the UNS C10100 as filler material. We have done trials with a Miller Maxstar 200SD welder, AC voltage, 100% argon, and 2% thoriated electrodes. We have experienced a large amount of porosity and lack of fusion between the two alloys. Can you offer any suggestions to help? I have heard that DC voltage may work better. How about throwing in some Helium?
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Are you sure you used AC current? a miller maxstar is a DC machine. maybe you meant miller dynasty 200sd.

in any case, dc current will penetrate more. and yes helium would help tremendously. Either uhp pure helium, or a mix of about 80 percent helium, and 20 argon.

also a preheat of around 200-300f would help with better fusion as well as less porosity

X Welder & Instructor

by Ron Robinson
(Gastonia, N.C. 28054)

To sharpen tungsten electrodes, I purchased an inexpensive bench grinder and a 1/4" reversible electric drill with a keyless chuck.

Turn grinder on, chuck up a tungsten and grind lengthwise,reverse drill & unchuck. I can prepare at least 12 on both ends in less than 5 minutes. Saves a lot of time going back and forth to grinder especially if you are on production or working out in the field.

Grinder is for tungstons only.

Tip from old RON--Have a nice day.

Metalworking Hand Tools

Welding Videos will continue to be available here for free, but now you can also download them for cheap and watch them anywhere....and it will help me pay some bills too.

Click here to see the new Video Download page

This video is about organizing your metalworking hand tools, plasma cutting, some old school stick welding, and an explanation of the back step welding technique that helps avoid distortion.

A while back I posted a video showing a dead simple way to make a do-it-yourself portable bandsaw stand.

A reader emailed me some pics of one he had built and I thought it was about the simplest and easiest to build plan I had ever seen for a portaband stand so I thought I would send it out to everyone.

Later , forum member Kiwimike on my welding forum even made a portable bandsaw stand using a cheap harbor freight portable bandsaw.

you can see his plans here at ... DIY portable bandsaw stand

I got quite a few comments telling me there was a very well made portaband stand available at a website called swagoffroad.com...
so I checked it out.

I wound up contacting Troy at Swagoffroad.com about doing a video on some of his stuff ....and that brings me to the main topic of this video.

Swag Off Road mostly focuses on aftermarket accessories for off road enthusiasts but they also offer some very cool and innovative welding tools.

Here are the main three that caught my eye:

The Clutter Catcher from Swag off road

The Portable Bandsaw Stand from SWAG offroad

Plasma Circle Cutter

I am not the neatest guy in the world. In fact, I do some of my best work in the middle of a mess. Its not intentional, It just happens. I have to stop work sometimes just to put some things away because it gets out of hand.

Who better than a messy guy like me to show how well the "Clutter Catcher" works. So I figured I would make a video like the one at SWAG but with a few welding tips and tricks added in.

I got out 2 angle grinders, 1 air motor drill, 2 air grinders, many vise grips type clamps, a combination square, 3 sharpies, wire brush, grinding wheels, mig pliers, big freakin hammer, adjustable wrench, 2 third hand tools, and several other metalworking tools.

When its all laid out on the table , it looks like there is no way it will all fit in the Clutter Catcher....

But it does.

This thing is Awesome.

As I continued to work showing some outside corner joint welding on 16ga hot rolled steel, I found that I could find my tools fast... and get to them quickly and easily.

I just clamped my clutter catcher on the end of my Stronghand welding table with clamps until I decide where to mount it permanently.

A plasma cutter is a very useful tool.

It cant take the place of a sheet metal shear but it can come pretty close.

For cutting sheet metal with a plasma cutter, less than 40 amps is needed and at that amperage, the torch tip can be rested directly on the metal being cut which allows for dragging the torch against a straight edge.

The idea is simple. Figure out the dimension between the center of the torch and the edge, and clamp a straight edge that distance off where the cut should be made.

Its easy once you figure out the optimum amperage setting, travel speed, etc.

Plasma cuts are cleaner than oxyfuel cuts on sheet metal and it doesnt even matter what kind of metal you are cutting.

Of course, the dross needs to be ground off before welding, but that only takes a few minutes.

Did you know that you can get 1/16" stick welding rods that will let you weld thin sheet metal with a stick welder?

its true.

1/16" is pretty small. The rods feel like tiny sparklers.

but they run good.

these little 6013 welding rods run good downhill because the puddle is so small.

Normally, a 6013 welding rod is too slaggy to run downhill...the slag runs ahead of the puddle and causes all kinds of problems.

Keep in mind, 1/16" 6013 rods make a puddle that is only about 1/8" wide.

So if you have some thin stuff to weld and dont have a light duty mig with .023" bare wire and gas shielding, your stick welder might just do the job as long as you have some tiny little 1/16" rods.

What is the backstep welding technique?

basically, its welding in a certain direction, but the weld progression is in the other direction.

It limits distortion.

The backstep welding technique is best shown in a video so watch that sucker.

If you are looking for a holder for your metalworking hand tools, I cant think of a better tool than the "Clutter Catcher" from Swagoffroad.com.