Offical Bead thread. Show off your beads

[SlowChild3]

Im curious why the width of the weld is exceding the material thickness by so much? By the width of those you would guess that is schedule 160 pipe. (more so your first pics)

I thought it was a weave bead but it looks like two passes.

 

[spoonman]

The welds were on Sch 40 pipe.

With a 6010 root, fill, and "bootlace" cap. Making a cap like that is much more difficult than other patterns, but it is stronger and more aesthetically pleasing, And shows our supplier union skills and abilities

 

[spoonman]

The welds were on Sch 40 pipe.

With a 6010 root, fill, and "bootlace" cap. Making a cap like that is much more difficult than other patterns, but it is stronger and more aesthetically pleasing, And shows our supplier union skills and abilities

You step side to side in a Z pattern

 

[wishihadatalon]

The welds were on Sch 40 pipe.

With a 6010 root, fill, and "bootlace" cap. Making a cap like that is much more difficult than other patterns, but it is stronger and more aesthetically pleasing, And shows our supplier union skills and abilities

No offense but they are lying to you if they told you that that type of cap is any stronger than another. One form of face reinforcement is not stronger than another since the strength of the joint is ultimately determined by the smallest cross section of material i.e. the wall of the pipe. So assuming that the weld is free of porosity, lack of fusion, and undercut, the weld will be just as strong.

Nice looking welds either way 6010 is one of my favorite things to run.

 

[spoonman]

You are actually 100% correct, I was trying to dumb it down.

The 'bootlace' is believed to be superior to traditional caps because it spreads out the puddle and recuses undercutting and does a better job of tying the top edges of the bevel together. The wider/spread out bead is used to reduce a heavily localized HAZ area

 

[Gamble97]

I switched back to red tungsten. I can lay a much better and thinner bead compared to orange

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[Pwrtrip75]

I used to do a ton of x-ray pipe..small stuff to 12" a lot of small high pressure vessels, sch 160. I tried to keep the final pass (cap) as small as possible because the more weld you have there the more things can show up on x-ray. And also exceeding the material thickness is not adding any strength. Like on a 6" sch 160 pipe, the weld would be like 3/4" wide... yet only stick above the pipe maybe 1/16 of an inch.

 

[Gamble97]

Anyone have good tips on how to tie in your welds so they all look like one continous bead?

 

[99gst_racer]

Anyone have good tips on how to tie in your welds so they all look like one continous bead?

Just don't stop.

I don't have any advice for your question. But I do know my buddy uses a welding lathe to do smaller round things. That way he doesn't have to stop and reposition the work. Prior to using that, you could vaguely see his start/stop points, but he did an excellent job at making them look good. I'll ask him how he does it when I see him this weekend.

 

[Gamble97]

I've been looking into a welding positioner but they are not cheap!

 

[Imback]

It's all about positioning your self to were your comfortable. Also if you want it to look seamless you need to start and stop at the same location. With more practice you should be able to weld a tube in 3 to 4 sections.

 

[92awdgsx]

This is overhead aluminum multiple pass.

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[Imback]

Your aluminum and stainless beads don't differ to much. Have you welded titanium yet?

 

[92awdgsx]

Not yet, I want to. I'm going to try Inconel too.

 

[snowborder714]

Not to get off topic, but what do you plan to use inconel for? I have a car that needs an exhaust, if you want to supply the materials and practice

 

[92awdgsx]

A turbo manifold for a certain car. Inconel is VERY expensive. The welding rods are around $100 a pound.

 

[snowborder714]

Oh, I'm well aware of the price...hence why I suggested you providing the supplies I'll be keeping my eyes out for more info on that manifold though!

 

[Anubis_4_99]

This is overhead aluminum multiple pass.

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I wish my overhead welds turned out that good!

 

[SlowChild3]

I've been looking into a welding positioner but they are not cheap!

Here's what I use at work.

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Its fun to learn how to weld with both hands and both feet.

 

[Gamble97]

A turbo manifold for a certain car. Inconel is VERY expensive. The welding rods are around $100 a pound.

Colin At Toxic fab made an o2 housing out of inconel.

 

[92awdgsx]

Cool.

 

[EclipticalGS]

Great welds guys, I'm still learning every day on a hobart 250a acdc tig I can tell you it definately relieves some artistic tension.

 

[99gst_racer]

Just tried out my new Pyrex cup kit today. It lights up the work area so much better. Really seems to help for a blind guy like me. I'm happy with this for being my thrid time at welding chromoly.

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[Gamble97]

I was just looking at pyrex cups actually. One day I'll go over to HTP and pick one up. Oh probably saturday, I'll be there for a class
I've heard you are supposed to heat "treat" or stress chromoly when your done. That true?

 

[99gst_racer]

I've heard you are supposed to heat "treat" or stress chromoly when your done. That true?

Nope, but that's a pretty common misconception though. There's a big difference between "heat treating" and "stress relieving", although both use heat in the process. Most any 4130 tubing that you buy will already be normalized (heat treated). If you were to use a 4130 filler when welding, then you would want to normalize the structure so that the weldment is equally as strong as the tubing. But this is why it's recommended to weld 4130 tube with ER70s-2 filler instead. That way normalizing won't typically be needed in a motorsports application. And regarding stress relieving; they say it's generally not needed on tubing with a wall thickness at or below .120". So it won't apply to the majority of the motorsports world.

Basically just keep the HAZ to a minimum, make sure the material is at least room temperature when welding, and use the proper filler (ER70S-2). If welded properly, it's ready to rock right out of the fixture.