[AT] Welding Advice

[Indiana Robinson]

Steve and I have been talking foods, and drugs and shaky sources of
information for a little while now off list. We tend to agree.  :-)  My
only real food problem is that I like it so much.  :-)

Now, about welding... One thing that I failed to mention and I have not
seen talked about is penetration. Of course you don't want to burn through
(unless you are arc cutting) but you do generally want as much penetration
as you can get in most cases. The most pretty weld around isn't worth much
if it barely penetrates a thick piece of steel. If I'm welding something
onto a 3/8" steel plate I want to know it when I look at the back side of
the plate... If it is a new piece of hot-roll steel I want the "skin" to
scale off a bit from the heat of the weld on the other side. Many folks
starting out tend to weld a little cold.
On old rusty stuff I grind the rust off as best I can and use a high
penatration rod like a 6011. If looks are important I'll do 2 passes. The
first with a 6011 and a second with a 6013. The second pass with the 6013
is done as hot as possible to make it all one piece, not two separate
beads. Some things do require heat warping considerations. There are few
hard and fast rules that are not sometimes "adjusted" by other factors.



-- 

Francis Robinson
aka "farmer"
Central Indiana USA
robinson46176 at gmail.com