Gentlemen!
A couple of days ago, after several years of being a self acclaimed "self-taught" (but taught by the pros in here if the truth be known), I laid down my first PERFECT sringer bead, while welding a fillet with a stick of 1/8" 7018 at or near the maximum (140) setting of my Maxstar 140 inverter welder.
It was a thing of shimmering beauty!!!
Even more surprising, it happened during the first weld I've made in a month or more.
And I'm not even sure I can do it again. But, like the little train that could, "I think I can... I think I can... I think I can...
WOOOOOOO HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!
This post is not intended to be advice to the pros among us. Rather, it is addressed to you struggling newbies out there.
You know who you are!
So, to the intended audience, I communicate below, HOW I DID IT!!!
Actually, I hope to communicate to you HOW I MENTALLY PICTURED IT!
Just as Einstein used simple mental images to UNLOCK THE SECRETS OF THE UNIVERSE, (and I'm no Einstein!) I used a simple mental image to UNLOCK THE SECRET OF THE PERFECT STRINGER BEAD!!!
Think of it this way:
The electrode is a rigid stick of spaghetti (hang with me here and NO EYE ROLLING!).
Your goal is to LAY IT DOWN HORIZONTALLY on the bottom of a pan containing a shallow layer (let's say 1/16") of boiling water.
The rules are:
a) You have to lay down the entire stick of spaghetti in a single step; b) You cannot stretch it but you can squish it ("upset" in blacksmith terminology)just a little; c) Once you start, you cannot deviate from an angle of 10 degrees off perpendicular leaning into the direction of travel.
Once you've inserted the end of the spaghetti (the electrode, dummy!) into the pan of water(i.e. you've struck the arc on the plate being welded) PUSH IT into the bottom of the pan.
As the end of the noodle gets limp (melts)continue to ROLL THE END OF THE NOODLE BY PUSHING IT FIRMLY DOWN onto the bottom of the pan, while NEVER DEVIATING from the angle of attack.
Thus, TRAVEL SPEED WILL CONTROL ITSELF. When you're done, you should have a PERFECT WELD BEAD (horizontal noodle!!
It should be no longer, and perhaps only slightly shorter than the original length of unmelted noodle (unburned electrode).
Since my magic moment occurred while I was running a fillet weld in two pieces of plate of identical thickness, the noodle was at 45 degrees to both planes, at 80 degrees to the line of travel and 100 degrees to the line of origin.
While doing the above, you MUST BE SOFTLY HUMMING "SANTA LUCIA" under your hood! Otherwise, IT WILL NOT WORK!!! and you will be IMPOTENT FOR SEVEN DAYS!
"Il Weldero Magnifico Virilo" Vernon Tuck
Then, when you're about ass-high in partially burned electrodes, turn off your welder and, one by one, rub the burned end of each electrode vigorously against the plate or whatever you're working on, (or any rough metallic surface other than where you're intending to weld next) while turning the electrode in your hand, until you've got the metal protruding from the coating, something like the end of a sharpened pencil.
Then, continue welding, and substituting a "newly resharpened electrode" each time you break an arc. Makes 'em way easier to re-light.
Gentlemen, start your welders! VT