I'm from AB too, been a long time since I hit the 3/8 plate at school, but what you described,, I'd figure you might wanna heavy up that land so you'll be runnin' 1/8 gap and 1/8 land, heat sounds about right. I don't know what school you're at but I went to SAIT and our instructors taught us the same prep and fit-up that the old B-test inspector wanted to see,(I say old because he retired from inspecting the B-tests and is now a welding instructor) anyways he wanted to 1/8-1/8 or 3/32-3/32. Long story short, maybe make your whips a little longer to let your puddle cool a little more, and when you come back into your keyhole don't be shy about pushing that rod in there, cause in reality you're just putting a weld on the backside of that plate. P.S. especially over the bottom of a pipe or overhead plate you'll want to make kind of a heavy bead because the hot pass can sometimes suck it back a little bit, but that's another story for another day.
Good luck
jminers,
As pipeliner01 has said, don't be afraid of "jamming" the rod in.The 6010 runs great in contact (such as when "stoving"), it is not like a 7018 that will sometimes grab and stick if the arc length is too short.
The most common thing I have found with new (and sometimes not so new) welders is that when the keyhole opens up they will pull the rod away in the mistaken belief that they are taking away the excessive heat that is causing the keyhole to enlarge.What they are actually doing is increasing the volts which makes the keyhole bigger.
Try shortening your arc length, upping the amps slightly and have a slight drag (pulling rather than 90 degrees to the plate)on the electrode. This will hopefully help push more metal up on the topside of the plate.
Hope that helps,
Cheers,
Shane
you talkin about fred duffy ? Wheres he teachin at?
he's at SAIT now, he sent alot of guys out of the test hall swearing they should have passed, lol
P.S-it took me 3 tries to get it, and not ashamed to admit it, he was very thorough, and a pretty nice guy unless you were trying to cheat.
he sent me home my first time too.
Pipeliner01,
great way to put it. I would say it a little different by saying push the rod up into the keyhole. Keep most of the fire on the outside. If you do that you will have an above flush root bead.
Jim
Ill try and slow it down a bit and try to really push it in there my test is tomorrow so hopefully everything comes together, thanx for all the help.
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