SMAW Practice Makes Perfect...?

Stuart Ablett

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Tokyo Japan
So I've decided to pick up the stick welder again and get some time in under the hood. I used to be able to weld a bit with SMAW (Shielded Metal Arc Welding) but I never really put the time in to get halfway decent at it. I've been taking some advice from the fine folks at weldingweb.com and doing some practice welding.

The chunk of steel I've been welding on is about 12" long by 5" wide and it was 1/4" thick, well 6mm.

I padded it from left to right the 12" long beads, fairly poorly I'll add, and today I turned the plate 90 degrees and started padding over top of that mess the short 5" way.

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Burned up a few rods doing this and now I have a steel taco. :D

Lots more practice needed, but even if it still looks rough, I can feel that I'm improving, it is getting to be more of a muscle memory thing. I think I've burned through about 1/4 of my 5Kg/11lbs box of 6013 rods.

Hey, I'm enjoying myself, but I think I might move on to joining a couple of pieces of metal together now....

The goal here is to eventually take a test and get certified, I think this is a good idea, as I want to add welding to the list of things that I can do for work here, even if it is just welding for myself or customers.

Cheers!
 
Are you pulling your rod or using the crescent shape?
Compared to your welding rod diameter, what is the width of your bead? (i.e.:same size, smaller, wider,etc)
On to controlling distortion and making it work for you rather than against you.
Are you chipping each pass before running the next one?
 
Are you pulling your rod or using the crescent shape?
Just pulling it, I'm told the weave thing is not for what I'm doing which is called "Padding" it is a practice drill.

Compared to your welding rod diameter, what is the width of your bead? (i.e.:same size, smaller, wider,etc)
A bit wider

On to controlling distortion and making it work for you rather than against you.
I'm laying up bead after bead of weld, the metal gets HOT so I dunk it in a bucket of water. I had a 5 gallon bucket that was almost to the boiling point today, that water was HOT! The point of doing this exercise is to get more time on the stick, practice holding a consistent distance from the plate, learning to watch the puddle, restarting a bead halfway, etc, it is NOT to weld anything, just to run bead. I'm sure the plate is taco shaped because I was just pouring heat into one side and then quenching it, not good for welds, but good for practicing.

Are you chipping each pass before running the next one?
Yes, but the slag is coming off mostly on it's own, like this...
IMG_6879.JPG


Then I run a wire brush over the edge of the bead so I can run a new bead two thirds on top of the last bead.

Cheers!
 
Stu, I have a big desire to learn to weld well. My dad gave my brother and I a crash course when we were in high school with a stick welder and I've used one a couple times since. My dad recently picked up a wire fed welder and I hope to play around with it soon.

BTW, that "taco" looks really cool to me. I'd weld a couple post to the bottom, make a wooden stand for it and put it on a shelf. :thumb:
 
Stu, the pad weld is actually what blacksmiths and weldors used to do to plow shares and other wear bars in equipment. Using a hard surface welding rod, built up the piece of metal back to the original thickness. Your bead should be equal to one and one half of the welding rod diameter used. The crescent shape is the hardest movement to keep consistent and is the easiest motion to change from. The pad you are welding, what you should end up with is a flat top. Not looking like waves, so doing the crescent shape you can keep the top flat. Why dunk each time? For instance, if your first weld to get penetration you have to set your welder at 175, by not dunking the metal for the second pass you have preheated your metal. Probably won't be a factor until you get to bead 4 or 5, then instead of quenching the coupon, turn your welder down and continue on. Kind of like preheating an oven. Farther you go, you can continue the same amount of penetration with less heat due to the metal being "pre heated".
This is one of my students in Welding two assignment. They have to weld three complete layers and depending on the thickness of the metal and the diameter of the rods we are using, they have to work towards a specific thickness without grinding. Each layer is 90 degrees from the previous layer. What happens to them, divots in the first layer become huge holes in the end of they don't compensate with their hand speed and anticipation of the problem.

Are you using an E6013 welding rod? Here in the US, welding rods are stamped near the bare electrode end.
What does the bottom of the metal look like after a pass (heat line? penetration distortion?)

Let me know if my questions are bothering you.
 
Stu, the pad weld is actually what blacksmiths and weldors used to do to plow shares and other wear bars in equipment. Using a hard surface welding rod, built up the piece of metal back to the original thickness. Your bead should be equal to one and one half of the welding rod diameter used. The crescent shape is the hardest movement to keep consistent and is the easiest motion to change from. The pad you are welding, what you should end up with is a flat top. Not looking like waves, so doing the crescent shape you can keep the top flat. Why dunk each time? For instance, if your first weld to get penetration you have to set your welder at 175, by not dunking the metal for the second pass you have preheated your metal. Probably won't be a factor until you get to bead 4 or 5, then instead of quenching the coupon, turn your welder down and continue on. Kind of like preheating an oven. Farther you go, you can continue the same amount of penetration with less heat due to the metal being "pre heated".
This is one of my students in Welding two assignment. They have to weld three complete layers and depending on the thickness of the metal and the diameter of the rods we are using, they have to work towards a specific thickness without grinding. Each layer is 90 degrees from the previous layer. What happens to them, divots in the first layer become huge holes in the end of they don't compensate with their hand speed and anticipation of the problem.

Are you using an E6013 welding rod? Here in the US, welding rods are stamped near the bare electrode end.
What does the bottom of the metal look like after a pass (heat line? penetration distortion?)

Let me know if my questions are bothering you.

Bothering me?

You are kidding right?

THANK YOU for taking the time to explain and teach, I'm writing this stuff down and will try to do as you are instructing :thumb:
 
I tried a Horizontal Fillet joint today.....


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Well only one crater, more practice is needed.


I think I'll go and do the lap joints like you suggested.


Had one exciting moment today when I was concentrating on welding and all of a sudden my left hand felt a burning sensation, the top of the left index finger knuckle, huh?


IMG_7006.JPG

Dang that hurt, luckily it was just a small bit of splatter.


New gloves on order, so in the mean time I just CA glued the joint....


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Should hold for a few days.


Cheers!
 
That horizontal, is that a corner joint or a tee joint? Looks good on the face, what does the bottom and back look like?

Years back I chipped a weld and a piece of slag landed on my bottom lip, burnt like fire (imagine that!) reaction was to push it off with my tongue and then it stuck on my tongue! So I pulled my tongue back in my mouth and it stuck on my top lip forcing me to spit in the shop! Dang gone, less than a blink of an eye and I have three burns!!!!!! Students loved it!!
 
That horizontal, is that a corner joint or a tee joint? Looks good on the face, what does the bottom and back look like?

Years back I chipped a weld and a piece of slag landed on my bottom lip, burnt like fire (imagine that!) reaction was to push it off with my tongue and then it stuck on my tongue! So I pulled my tongue back in my mouth and it stuck on my top lip forcing me to spit in the shop! Dang gone, less than a blink of an eye and I have three burns!!!!!! Students loved it!!
On second thought, maybe I don't want to learn to weld!:eek:
 
OK, I snuck a little time in today and burned up more rod.


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First pass on a Horizontal Fillet.
B33 rod (6013) Amperage set about 130Amps on my machine which is a 200V/50Hz unit.


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I just kept overlapping welds, this is #4 I think


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#7....


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Dunno what number this is, lost count, could be #15 :dizzy:


Anyway, I'm still keeping at it when I can squeeze in the time, really busy at work right now, with it being almost New Years, a liquor shop gets really busy here in Tokyo.


Cheers!
 
Nice welds Stu, you have really improved in a short time. :thumb: Wish you were closer as I wouldn't hesitate to have you do some welding for me.
 
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