5p bead and hp with 7018 fill and cap?
Section IX
Have a hard time passing visual on the cap. Bead only fair. Not uniform.
You need to to increase the heat and travel speed on the bead.
Increase the heat a little on the cap and slow down. Cap needs to be a little flatter. Let the rod do the work. Minimum weave on a two pass. Have the heat set where the puddle is about the size of the filled bevel.

I know this post is getting kind of old and I'm no expert on 6g uphill, but it seems like 1/8" 7018 might be trying to put a little to much metal in to a groove that wide. Maybe try some 3/32. 3/32 7018 fills like an 1/8" 6010 5p+, and 1/8" 7018 fills like 5/32 6010 5p+ in my experience. Please correct me if I'm wrong. Tom

Why don't you close up your gap, thin your land. Try a 3/32 land and gap. You get that gap set right and you can just stick the rod in and run it uphill the same way you would run downhill with a 6010. Looking at the pic it looks like you were fighting the root in there the way it is hanging down and full of muscles. Another thing you might try on the 7018 fill passes is crank her up a notch. When I did structural uphill I was comfortable and passed all day long running verts on 120. Got on 6g pipe and did not work out that way, ended up running in the 135-140 range. Don't know why but it just worked for me. Set at the 120 range seemed like I really had to work the puddle to get it to lay out in the groove, turned up the heat and it layed out nicely. On your cap you have to figure the pipe is already smoldering azz hot, so you may have to back it off a bit. I've found that when your doing the cap and your using a weave. It's about the technique, amperage....you and what works best for you. I had a young welder to be out on the job and when I was welding he was watching thru his hood. He said, "you do xxx type of motion on your cap?" Told him it depends on the situation, whatever seems to work best at the moment, zig zag, weave, upside down V or whatever else that works to get the puddle to lay and do what I want it to. Said he's never seen anybody run a cap like I do, said he was gonna try it. I've used a ton of 3/32 or "sissy rod" for the cap pass but most of the stuff I've been welding on has been 2", 3", 4" with a 1/4" wall so I don't see the need to throw all that heat to it running a 1/8" rod.

I'm thinking on the ASME pipe your bevel should be 37.5 degrees? Somebody correct me if I'm wrong. There is a plus/minus though, can't remember what that is, maybe 5*'s? When I'm running stringer caps I like to start with the root obviously. Then run single passes as long as I can contact both sides and get penetration. When I have to start stacking them I like to start on the lower side pipe, then work my stringers up. Once I have the groove filled to the height I like the my stringer cap will start on the lower pipe with my rod angle more towards the lower pipe and previous weld. I like leaving a bit of a shelf there, helps with gravity. I'll run that first lower stringer, then come back and do the same thing on the 2nd, then the 3rd. The first stringer pass is almost like doing a filet weld the way my rod angle is. Maybe this is weird as heck for other guys out there reading this, but it's my way, what works for me.

Hopefully this gives you something you can try, hope some of my mindless babbling helps out. I know the difficulty in learning when you don't have somebody there to ask questions. I first started out doing practice in my shop and could weld 3g verts like nobody's business, just could not get a good cap. Ended checking with a tech center, was poor enough to get free money, graduated and now I'm their first choice when it comes to a substitute teacher. It's good to have somebody there to physically look at your weld, point out stuff, watch what your doing and offer hints and tips. I would NOT give $1000 to a cwi for a couple hours. Check around for local community colleges, state operated tech schools. $1000 around here would get you a 4 month trimester here with an actual teacher who has most likely served his time in the welding trenches. You can gain tons from this website, I did and still do but when it came down to me and my shop and looking at welds you have nothing to compare to, or if you did something wrong your analyzing what you did to try and figure out did I move? Why is that there? You know what I mean......

Good luck keep busting out rod, that's 95% of the "training" anyhow.