Critique my weld please

I've been practicing since I got my new mm210 a few days ago, and I know that I need alot more experience, so I am looking for some feedback as to what my welds look like, and what I may be doing wrong.

Equipment: Millermatic 210, using 0.030 Wire and Argon/Co2 Mix gas Setting: Wire Speed 30 -- Voltage Tap 30 Metal: DOM 2" tube, some ERW cold rolled 2" tube, and a piece of angle Iron Style: Push at 15degree angle.. ok maybe 20 :0)

formatting link
I appologize for the poor quality pictures, my camera is not the greatest. Thanks,

GDC

Reply to
GDC
Loading thread data ...

Hey everyone,

I've been practicing since I got my new mm210 a few days ago, and I know that I need alot more experience, so I am looking for some feedback as to what my welds look like, and what I may be doing wrong.

Equipment: Millermatic 210, using 0.030 Wire and Argon/Co2 Mix gas Setting: Wire Speed 30 -- Voltage Tap 30 Metal: DOM 2" tube, some ERW cold rolled 2" tube, and a piece of angle Iron Style: Push at 15degree angle.. ok maybe 20 :0)

formatting link
I appologize for the poor quality pictures, my camera is not the greatest. Thanks,

Reply to
GDC

Sorry for the double post, my news server has been flaky... Anyway, correction to my links below:

formatting link

Reply to
GDC

Reply to
Randy Zimmerman

I did not vee the joints, but I did leave a small gap. On the piece that I wrote "5" on, that was with my voltage tap setting on 5, so more penetration. Funny you mention that puttin the piece in my vise and banging it till it breaks.. Cause I did that last night, and I broke my vise... lol Not I got to weld that...:0)

Appreciated your comments Randy,

On the piece 5, is this not a good buildup? It's alot lower than the others.. Which were done at lower voltage. Thanks again,

Reply to
GDC

You'll probably want to braze it..

On the penetration issue, keep in mind that travel speed has at least as great of an effect on penetration as heat. All other things being equal, the faster you travel the deeper you'll burn (there's a limit to this, you'll find it once you get going quicker). You can see this on #5.. Running faster would have allowed you to reach the edge without it burning back, but as it is the heat spread to the sides, resulting in the wide/flat bead and the big burnback at the edge. Travelling slow spreads the heat to the sides, travelling fast gives it a chance to go down.

Looks like a lot of heat there, more than you really need.

Overall, you have some smooth travel going on- that's very good, I've seen factory welders who do worse at travelling smoothly. As Randy says, you've got too much bead height- this makes for a weak joint which will fail near the root, where stress concentrates in a region narrower than the thickness of the root metal, toward the opposite side, because of the tall bead. It can also make for a remarkable lack of fusion, to the point where the two pieces will fall apart under a bit of stress.

Travel faster, watch the puddle. You'll see, at the front edge of the puddle, the base metal eroding as you travel. Watch the sides of the puddle, that'll help show you how much the puddle is standing up as it freezes, taylor your travel speed to that. Listen to the arc, there's heaps of clues in the sound you hear.

John

Reply to
JohnM

Great info John.. Thanks, I'll try your advice I'm still practicing whenever I can into the garage after work ;-)

Reply to
GDC

PolyTech Forum website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.