Learning to read your Weldpool & Control it!

**NewLou** · 20th August 2012, 12:06 AM

Gidday

As ive progressed as a Welder ive discovered that unless under controlled conditions no two powersources are exactly the same. For example in the last fabshop job I worked we were all using BOC Migs pretty much on the same settings............But all getting different results.

Indeed even where your rig was positioned in the Workshop had an impact on your setup and settings............operators positioned at the end of the Gas line for their migs often had to setup using more gas due to pressure drops at the end of the plumbing etc etc etc

As a a result of this good Welders need to learn the Art of reading and learning to control their Weldpool. This is 'THE' part of the welding process thats constant and enables the operator to dial in a great setting and adjust on the fly.

As an operator I prefer the TIG process and look at the Weldpool as being "FIRE" and the Fillerrod as being "ICE" Once you master being able to feed filler rod into the Weldpool at what ever rate desired you can manipilate it in quite dramatic ways..........

For example if I want a hotter Weldpool with more fluidity I add less filler rod. If i want a sluggish weldpool that builds up quickly I jam as much Filler rod into the Weldpool as i can. The Filler rod 'ICE' literally cools the Weldpool 'FIRE' and operators can use this to their advantage during different welding applications.............particularly when welding out of position.

So what do I look for in my Weldpool???? When im Tig Welding its a Dragons eye. Im not quite sure what it is or how it works but when you have a good setting you can see a red heat spot floating in the Weldpool. I first noticed this when I did my last pressure ticket....................

Also i find if my setting from a cold start creates a weldpool around 5mm in radius which consistantly follows my Arc and easily washes in I know Im pretty close to being on the Money...............

Would be great to hear other thoughts and comments ................. So feel free to chuck in ya 2cents worth!!!!!!

What do you look for in your Weldpool??????

Regards Lou

**Legion** · 20th August 2012, 03:36 PM

I'm welding up some stuff with my stick machine that is about ~2m x 2m x 2m and like you say, I find heaps of variability just within the frame, depending on distance from the earth clamp, and how poor my fitting was, and how dirty/rusty/scaly the metals are, and how much galv I didn't clean off the galv parts, etc. I don't generally play with the machine settings too much but it's amazing how much I have to vary the arc length and speed. I have read your thoughts on weld pool in the past and I do like to look at it and it helps.

**arose62** · 21st August 2012, 12:00 AM

Bit of a sidetrack, but timely for me...

I'm not a welder, but I'm working with a couple of guys who have a whole stack of welding tickets, years of experience, and one teaches welding courses at TAFE.

Anyway, today I noticed that one was making unusual sounds whilst welding.
Usually it's a bacon sizzling noise, with a slight surging to it, but after a while he kept getting pops and bangs happening.

Out of frustration (I presume - I know nothing about welding

he dragged me over to show me what was happening - at the same spot on each job, for about 2 cm, the welding was popping and sputtering. I couldn't provide any insight, so left him to it.

About 5 parts later he came back to tell me he'd solved it, but didn't really know what was happening - if he put the earth clamp on one side of the part, the problem didn't occur.
If the clamp was on the table, or anywhere else on the job, just that 2 cm played up.

Anyone able to throw an idea, explanation, theory etc. into the ring??

BTW, it was MIG, with some high-end fancy Kempii (sp??) machine, on mild steel plate pieces.

Cheers,
Andrew

**WelderMick** · 21st August 2012, 10:50 PM

With GTAW I try to be meticulous about making sure the sides of the puddle are wetting into the edges and not leaving any pinholes, so I tend do little circles with the puddle which means that I'm constantly watching the leading edge of the puddle as it's cutting into new metal.

Another thing I do is always to have in my mind what I think will happen before I do it. For instance, if the fit up isn't good, I think about the keyhole that's likely to form and make sure I'm ready with some extra filler (or back off the amps or whatever) when it happens.

With aluminium, I always watch the cleaning action and wait for the shiney stuff before ploughing ahead.

Cheers

- Mick

**Cliff Rogers** · 21st August 2012, 11:15 PM

Guess whose Mum has a weldpool.

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