Learned a weld test trick at the Local 374 hall in Gary

Went in for a bend test last month and the instructor showed me how to read the puddle better by turning my hood angle down. I had been fighting root pass for three years and that one tip cleaned it up. He said most guys rush the arc and don't watch it burn in. Anyone else pick up a small trick that fixed a big problem?

3 comments

3 Comments

the_mary4h ago

My buddy Dave had the same problem but with mig. He kept getting cold lap on his fillet welds and could not figure it out. Turned out he was holding the gun at the wrong angle and pushing instead of dragging on vertical up. Changed his angle by about 15 degrees and the weld started laying in like butter. Funny how something so simple can mess you up for years. What kind of metal were you running on that root pass?

faith273h ago

That 'funny how something so simple can mess you up for years' bit really got me. I used to be one of those guys who thought angle was mostly about avoiding undercut, never really connected it to cold lap until I saw a weld fail on a buddy's trailer and traced it back to a five degree push issue. Changed my whole mindset on how much the little stuff matters.

perry.jesse1h ago

@faith27 right there with you. Had a buddy chase a cold lap issue for six months over a 10 degree angle lol.