Hello darren, thanks for the words of confidence. Here lately though, I have been on some learning curves on a few topics as well. Best regards, Allan

Hello again Carbon Arc Junkie, I do have a question for you first regarding the suitcase feeder and welding machine that you are using. Is your machine a CV output? If not, you may not actually have the correct set-up to operate within the code requirement of the welding that you are going to do. There are pre-qualified procedures which allow welding with FCAW gas-shielded processes so long as the current is being delivered from a Constant Voltage power source, if you are using a CC or Constant Current power source it requires re-qualification of the process and additional testing. So be sure that you've got your bases covered in this area. Now to hopefully address the second portion of your question. There is likely a WPS in the possession of the general contractor or sub-contractor that is responsible for overseeing the welding that you are going to be doing. If you are the sub, you might want to get with the general and locate this documentation. There should be an entry on the WPS which will spell out the maximum bead widths that are allowed for these particular connections/weldments. Personally, I would approach this in the same manner as you had mentioned for stick welding utilizing multi-pass welds, but verify this first.
     As far as using longer lengths of welding cable goes, try to use the maximum size that you can for any long run. I realize you may already have a certain size cable that you are going to be using so you may have to make your set-up and then get some scrap and go about setting the machine before you go up in the basket to make the welds that count. As far as the settings for the welding, look to the parameters that are recommended by the specific wire manufacturer for the wire that you have. These will be good starting points and you can adjust from there. You may likely find that the settings could be considerably different than those published by the manufacturer for one of the reasons that you mentioned, the length of your welding lead, a few other differences may show up as a result of the control dials on the machine and feeder not matching a calibrated group of settings. So check to see that you don't have the wire pushing too hard into the puddle as you progress uphill, if it appears as if this is happening either reduce the wire speed slightly or increase the voltage. The flip side of that, if the wire appears to not be feeding fast enough to fill the puddle and the arc is burning back towards the tip you will either need to increase the wire speed or reduce the voltage. You will also need to pay attention to wire stick-out, if you don't have enough you can end up not allowing enough preheat on the fluxes and this can cause worm-tracks or other discontinuities in the weld, if you have too much you may notice a bunch of wander in the arc due to the cast of the wire as well as the possibility of either losing the shielding gas coverage or causing a venturi or turbulence in this process and drawing atmospheric contamination into the pool. Typically I would use similar gun angles to those that you would use when stick welding a vertical joint. When things are adjusted properly the bead will have an almost flat to slightly convex face, the edges will not display any noticeable undercut or underfill, and the slag will generally almost fall off. Good luck on your task ahead. Regards, aevald