I started today on some down hill stick welding I'm using 4 inch schedule 40 which looks like right at or a spec under 1/4 of a inch wall thickness. Landing was about a nickel thickness thinking maybe i should go a hair thicker, gap was the thickness of a clear big window plastic lens for a shield which was a real small gap. Tried 90 amps but was key holing to much with a 1/8 lincoln 5P+++ rod. I have 21 foot of 3 inch schedule 40 to practice on next. I'm thinking I'm gonna get me a machinist to cut the pipe and bevel it to a 37 1/2 degree bevel and it will help with a better fit up. What tips can you give me on this? Should i keep going with what I'm doing and just practice? I'd like to try and see if i can work maybe offshore or hell anywhere really welding pipe. Tired of driving miss welding. Will practice uphill as well but kinda wanted to play with downhand.
Thanks
Chris
Practise up hill or down hill depends on where u want to go work. Refinerys test u up hill. Every test i took has been uphill last 5 years. I dont know much about pipe line but they are down hill. More rods you burn the better you get.
I want to practice with both but was curious as to what people like when going downhill. What do you like as far as gap and landing going uphill?
Most of the welding i do is process water and steam.All of it uphill.A 3/32 gap and 3/32 land seems to work.
On 4 inch I like a nickel landing or less and a gap the width of a dime. I set my Pipe Pro at 90 to 93 amps. The last test I took the inspector said my machine was running a little hotter than it read.
I am pretty much self taught so take my advise with that in mind.
It seems to me the angle of the rod to the pipe, the amount of push in with the rod (arc length), and speed of travel are the key. If the key hole is larger than you like you can drop your hand down creating greater rod angle to push the metal up to the bead. Also gently push the rod toward the weld pool feeding more metal to the bead . Sometimes it takes a feather touch (right angle and feeding the rod) to keep bead going in proper. Or you can stop and turn your machine down.
If the gap closes up and you are not getting good penetration or a key hole, adjust the angle of the rod more towards 90 degrees to the pipe. Also more inward pressure on the rod to make it dig in. I had one old school pipe welder (RIP Z) tell me he sometimes put a bend in the rod pushing it in so hard. I would rather not get to that point of bending the rod and choose to either turn up the machine or take a quick pass with the grinder to thin up the land allowing easier penetration.
Save you money with a machinist. Cut the pipe with a band saw or cut off saw and grind the bevel. With a good size grinder and pressure you can grind a bevel pretty quick. You need the practice. Real world will not always be factory bevel. The perfect bevel is not your problem.
Or better take the money the machinist would charge and buy a pipe bevel machine.
Floyd
Thanks Floyd, my dads friend has a band saw he's gonna let me use which I just bought a new blade and coolant for. I do believe though a good straight cut is a must though and I could always bevel by hand but a true cut I feel is a must. After talking with him a while last night he told me he does have a lathe I could bevel the pipe on if i wanted to which I will take him up on or if anything just place the pipe in the lather and spin it at high speed and use a grinder to make my bevel.
When this dam rain quits down here i'm gonna try your tips you have given me. Thank you.
Chris
Chris, not sure where you live, but I can bevel your pipe for you. I'm 15 miles north of Lafayette.
Thats pretty far, I'm in Covington Louisiana about 45 miles north of New Orleans. Thanks for the offer I just picked up a bandsaw blade and some coolant and gonna cut this pipe up this weekend.
Go with a 30 degree bevel. also run your land and gap about the same. I like mine about the thickness of a dime. On little pipe, I tend to bead at about 3rd and 40... depending on how the rod is burning on any given day. (old, or stale rod tends to be a bit more wild in my opinion) Sometimes, I prefer to drop down a gear on 2 and 3 inch. It allows your machine to run a little higher on your fine current, thus keeping your arc from dropping out. The better your fit is, the easier that bead will go in.
Yes, Covington is a ways from me. Like others have stated, its not that hard to bevel with a grinder. Good luck.
Chris.... do the guy a favor and don't bevel with a grinder on his lathe .... it's really not that big of a job to hand bevel and the grinding dust thrown all over the lathe's ways / guides is not good for it.
Regards, DL
Chris
Miss welding dosent happen to be a girl in texas by the name of Jenn?
Also if you bevel by hand you learn how to bevel, you will know what bevels you like, you will know what you are capable of beaveling, there will not always be a beveler and they will have the dumbest person on the job trying to learn how to bevel. You can really mess one up but at the same time you are learning how to fix and what not to do. Do it by hand you will learn what kind of landings and gaps you like. Welders can tell you all day what it should be but thats only a basic minimum. Take that then fit it to your needs. Everybody has diffrent preferences. When you get out on a job you never know what the fight might look like.
I found a few pipe bevelers for sale on craigslist awhile back. (about 3 weeks ago) The one in Church Point, La. has 3, two big one's and has one that's 4" to 6" for $375.00, and there's a couple in Lawtell, La., one is up to 8" and one up to 4" and both comes with torch for $1250.00.
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