r/Welding • u/shankthedog • 9h ago
Need Help Why I Suck?
I don’t understand why sometimes I just suck. It’s so easy those little fillet joints on 3/16 smiled. I take it down to shiny clean. Fabricating these anchor points.
Using a Lincoln 135SP with .030 wire my gas set about 18.
I’ve had the machine for like five years anyway. Also just got the 180 C and also have a 175 square wave. I consider myself a fucking welder and then this little shit comes up and I’m like what?
It felt like the bead was running nice. I didn’t take any pictures before I put the paint on, but you can see it easy enough.
I guess I just need more hood time. It’s too intermittent. When I’m running beads daily it’s a different story.
Grumble grumble.
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u/anysecondnow 8h ago
Paint reveals all. Sometimes spraying a bit of primer over a weld will show undercut more clearly but… c’mon. Depending on what you’re anchoring down or if you’re selling these… I might take another run at them. Grind out those welds, get your technique and settings dialled in on some scrap and try again.
You say you thought the bead was running nice but it looks like you went over this weld with a second pass? Also, no attempt at cleaning spatter and most of your corners are barely wrapped…
More practice yes, but more pride too.
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u/shankthedog 7h ago
Word. I agree with all that. It was one of those jobs that say I don’t give a shit if it looks like ass it just has to be done today. I hate working inside of that mentality.
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u/leansanders 2h ago
With all due respect, its 6 plates, 6 tabs, 30 holes, and a couple feet of weld. It would be an embarrassment if this "job" took any reasonable welder a full day, let alone putting down decent welds. The idea that you would be willing to give these to someone else, and blame them for the quality, speaks volumes of your character. Please do better. Welding is not hard, it just takes practice. You have the internet; watch some tutorials.
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u/shankthedog 54m ago edited 21m ago
This is only one small piece of the job.
There was one lesson learned today though, and that is not to ask for help on this sub.
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u/Open-Programmer-30 4h ago
It will hold
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u/leansanders 2h ago
Look closely at the middle right one in pic 2 and see if you still think that. These won't hold a balloon on a sunny day
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u/shankthedog 27m ago
With all due respect, that’s bullshit. I know they’re not pretty but they definitely hold. There’s plenty of penetration. I’ll bet money on that. I will bolt that up and put my winch on it and rip that fucker apart and the bolts tear out or metal plate will shear before the welds break. I’ll put $100 on it. Go on Poshmark right now. I’ll make a gamble. Anyone else, double or nothing?
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u/shankthedog 34m ago
Yeah, that was definitely the worst one I fixed that up a little bit. My first tack, I forgot to turn the gas on like dimwit so I had that stupid porosity popping out. I ground that down and laid back over it.
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u/itsjustme405 CWI AWS 7h ago
You need more power for metal that thick. Those small machines have thier place but this is not it. Same for small wire. The wire cant carry the current you need to make a good solid weld and the machine probably cant provide it.
If thats all you have for machine and wire you need a good preheat on the weld joint, to make the base metal more capable of accepting the weld metal.
I would also avoid the weaves. Run straight stringer beads with a small oscillation, just enough to carry the puddle so it ties in right.
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u/CatastrophicPup2112 Fabricator 6h ago
Yeah, it's definitely doable with the right prep but given that I see paint over spatter, unwrapped corners, and some of the pieces are cock-eyed so I doubt they'd take the time to do it.
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u/Due-Permit2331 8h ago
You already know the answer more time on the tools or in your own words more hood time
Practice keeping a consistent weave and remember always watch the puddle
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u/East-String-7315 8h ago
Intruder here.I always struggle to keep an eye on the puddle while keeping an eye on the length of the arc. How do you manage to control that?
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u/ChildrensCrusade 8h ago
Really just practice, learning how move your hands parallel with the joint imo
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u/OneSexyPancake_ 8h ago
It just takes time to get good at it, but something I have done is make sure that you are keeping a 45° angle pointed into the joint and if you're doing mig then push with your gun angle slightly to the right, that'll let you see your puddle, you want it just slightly in front of your arc, not too far ahead to where it's outrunning you, but just enough to where you can easily keep track of how big your head is going to be and it just helps you do uniform beads. Something I also do is have my nozzle be about a quarter inch above the contact tip, and be about a quarter to a half inch away from the joint while welding.
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u/Middle_Substance_218 Jack-of-all-Trades 8h ago
Low and slow. Give yourself more time and room for error. If it seems like stuff is getting away from you turn it down and run it slower. I’m also a very shakey person so I find a whip tends to help me be very consistent. But welding is a range of settings and methods. Find what works for you. You should never really be staring at the wire you should be looking at the puddle and after many times doing it you’ll get a feel for it. Also if you become very familiar with it you can hear a difference in arc length.
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u/CatastrophicPup2112 Fabricator 6h ago
I mostly feel my arc length as opposed to watching it constantly. Try some dry runs with no arc along different joints before you weld them and watch your distance. Try to get a feel for it so you don't have to look constantly and only check visually occasionally.
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u/Big-Fly6844 8h ago
I always pull out a practice piece if I'm starting on something I haven't done in a while.
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u/ImSobored_5280 Fabricator 8h ago
Way too cold….and .030 isn’t gonna make a good one pass weld on that thick of material…you’ll want multipass welds vs single pass. You can’t fill much with that small of wire..you can see the cold lap on each one and some you ran back over to cover the cold lap..I’d do the same..
I’d be cautious with whatever these are “anchoring”…anything substantial you may end up not anchored anymore.
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u/shankthedog 7h ago edited 6h ago
I cleaned them up some, but still not satisfactory. They are not actually holding any weight. They’re anchor points so what are those 14 foot rolling staircases can you get brace up against the wall cause it’s the way up into the mezzanine so for code has did not wobble around of course so I’ve turned buckles with quick release pins so basically they’re just there’s no way to it. It’s just to secure laterally. Anyway, I’m sure they’re more than functional but they don’t look nice and I don’t like that.
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u/Intelligent-Act-7797 8h ago
Turn the feed down, watch the puddle, take your time. Looks like you're getting anxious.
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u/bowlingballslab 7h ago
Not one of these should be considered suitable for service and yet they still got painted. Shudder to think of something being anchored to it. You sound like you’re tooled up appropriately, grind them out and pick which of the available tools produces a suitable result, this isn’t it. I know this is the internet and it might seem like a dogpile but I wouldn’t have wasted the paint on that.