Anything welding

Your welds look good too

 

Thanks, I'm stoked with how they're coming out now! Amazing what a quality welder will do (surprise surprise)

 

Shocker!

 

This one of yours on the left is spot on. Good job !

 

LOL what's funny is Joe (owner of mobtown) told me the right one was much better but maybe he didn't look too closely. I like the left one more too.

 

The one on the left is burnt in better. The high crown on the right is a cold weld.

 

That's what I was thinking as well. Looks a little flatter and like it "flowed" into the joint better.

 

Consistency wise the weld on the right is better, the weld on the left is hotter but both would most likely bend.
My welding teacher would've preferred the weld on the right be a touch hotter, but would probably say that the left bead is a touch too flat.

 

So ideally I'd want my weld to look like the right one for consistency, but just be a touch hotter?

 

You don't get any more strength from having a high crown .It's wasted metal. Unless it's got arrows on it, it's not too hot.

 

What do you mean by this?

 

If you get too hot, you have to increase travel speed to stay past the heat. Instead of a "c" pattern as the metal stacks, it gets more like a "v" or an arrow type of look .

 

Oh yeah I've seen that before. Never knew it had a name.

 

Yep, look at the sides of the weld, you want them to be straight, it means your travel speed is consistent as long as you have smooth surfaces with no valleys/gaps to fill.

True, i think he taught that way because it made it easier to teach "toe on the crown" for filet welds with multiple passes.

 

I've got a good pic in a book of mine. I'll load it up for you. Has nice examples on how to trouble shoot welds to get them the way you want .

 

Yup. And that's the exact reason why you don't want a high crown. In a multipass situation any hard angle between planes is a risk for lack of pen/fusion

 

I can see it potentially being an issue but we never had any issues from it, my preference is slight crown on MIG and SMAW, flat for dual shield and spool gun.

 

Awesome!

My OPINION is there is a little too much wire speed.
I only use what is needed. After buying your own wire, you realize that if I can get an extra project out of the spool, then that is bonus money.

The welds look great, just offering my thoughts.

 

For now I'm just going off the recommended settings for the machine until I get better, but next time I'm practicing I'll definitely keep that in mind and give it a shot.

 

@EatSleepTacos honestly one of the best things you could do if you want to brush up on welding skills is save up to do a few classes at a community college. You'll progress light years quicker than you would on your own and you'll be able to tackle any home project without fear!