Thread: The Tig Files - Voyage towards pressure level welding

Man am i lucky heres the internets Welding god himself laying down a 6G and passing on some pointers this will be invaluable as i just started my 6G Yesterday.................

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bBXjRS4e6PA&feature=plcp&ytsession=U7JbiV34rcVnSWyEFkWhmy5G9EMMLMpMRnkXr8g9hEvw-olV0sPZL8pPgjBaolG7r28-3Jr9Kgt7vbw4MsxT8JRjAB0hn0AaXFgQx3qfet1WWEjiqebR7mVAuxjxnv4d9YeRD5-xbjgmBnBnyyXPCjxB4nWv1blTl5jASaOUZqSs8JyXcd1e128mslHLvzat9guK5fHXnMFkdm9fY1eyoXMy1OW9eMIJGy5tmc_kORmEZWxZSZJmzFfQpbnlnxLlTorkMQ_iUfAaiZCKUCCQLGOHPA93Gv8jGAfiI6SJE5G0rciSR4BfWTwNuVzF0EiFSt9870BBf0SSqV4lhDiAuXyIab50m4w035HAWJhdjCN_HItB-H1ArogKiPzXNlisDO2z2dgbm2ovXxQ-cTM3xiQnJ2CDtgNvDhOI_jMk5AUAuhJvZIgGGAWVEffLlfY56OeVyoMBIR1VP8mgvlYePc1_Xr4QgLsBMV7e26L8qJjW4OGS3ti7Rii4GbfdfstYJoiZz-yoq2D8Hqo31tbq77W3rugqfxqK]6g Pipe Welding Test Tig Root - 2" Schedule 80 - part1 - YouTube[/ame]

Regards Lou

Man NickDanz is one smokin Welder...............Check out how this guy feeds rod and his hand/ body positioning throughout the weld awesome stuff!...................I so wanna learn how to roll like this!

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tbfGnA3KVlA&feature=plcp]PINOY WELDER nickdanz perth AUSTRALIA.mp4 - YouTube[/ame]

Regards Lou

Must be pumping some amps in, my arm would fall off going that fast.

Gidday

Is my second week into 6G training and so far have found it a difficult weld. Until today ive found that i have no dramas with Peno but my Cap consistantly wants to sag from the high side of the Bevel to the low side much as it does when you first start to learn how to weave on a 2G..................

If Any Forumites have nailed this weld It would be great to hear from you so we can pick up a few pointers............

Just to kick off heres Jodys PArt 2 on welding out a 6G:

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H9X30P6rrLQ&feature=plcp]6g Pipe Welding Certification Test Tips part 2 - Tig Welding the Hot Pass - YouTube[/ame]

Regards Lou

Initially i was using the following settings with mixed results

Root: 127Amps
Hot Pass: 127 Amps
Cap 107 Amps

As stated earlier ive been getting great weld reinforcement on the inside of the Weld within code ie: No more than 2mm n no suckback But its the Cap thats really causing the dramas..................once again sagging from the high side of the weld to the low side of the weld. More often than not undercut is present.

After a lot of fine tuning and suggestions from my TAFE teachers heres what started to make some major improvements to the appearance of the Cap ............

I bumped up the AMPS to:
137 Root Run & Filling run
150 Amps for the cap

I continually fed filler rod into the north side of the Bevel
I increased my travel speed and used a dip technique rather than the laywire technique. The improvement was dramatic n here are the results after one weeks practice:

Gidday

Theres nothin like pickin stuff up from the old timers take particular note of his Hand Body Positioning and Fitup recommendations

Some great technique to be picked up on here .............PRICELESS!!!!

TIG Time Episode 20: How to TIG Weld 6" Pipe in the 5G Position - YouTube

Regards Lou

G'day Lou, good to see some of the stuff you're trawling up again.

I don't weld for a living, but have a keen interest in the subject of this thread. I ended up doing a lot of pipe coupons at tafe because I reckon it was my favourite welding.

With this video though, I dunno... sure it's good to hear what he's saying, and he throws in a few techniques that make sense, (tailing off the end of a weld on the side of the bevel and restarting back a cm or so back from where you left off to tie in, etc.) but I've seen these techniques elsewhere too. This guy seemed pretty dodgy with his filler feeding; say at 13:16 he jumps the glowing hot filler out of the argon shield, in another spot at 12:55 he seems to start adding filler a tad early (looks to me the top edge of the tack isn't fully molten?). Maybe it's fine, maybe not... but I find myself not fully convinced about his pressure welding and xray credentials which he seems to talk about a bit.

I'm trying not to be negative is saying this - my motivation is more to spur discussion on good technique and sources of error.

Cheers

- Mick

Gidday Mick

Having tried to use this Technique my-self in training and I might Add I made a total mess of it.............I cant bring myself to Criticise another Welders Weld.............I respect anyone whos even willing to try this let alone do it X-RAY Spec!!!!!!!!

Add having to use mirrors being a contortionist working in dangerous conditions and the rest of it!..........................My hat goes off to anyone calling themselves a Pipe Welder across the World!

The Bottom line is its extremely difficult to consistently weld like this additionally in the field the operator typically has an assistant that carefully watches the Welder laying his weld and giving feedback eg:

Your looking good
Slow down
Burn in more
etc etc etc

So essentially this guy is literally Welding Blind and you hear him (Id say instinctively) asking his mate how hes going.................You'll see lots of this on U-Tube if you trall enough to find the GOLD!

All ive learnt thus far is that high end welding is all about putting the hours in behind the shield developing a rock solid foundation of good technique and practice practice practice practice .....................and then practice some more in your sleep!!!!!

Grahame Often talks about developing good foundations and technique so that they become second nature ................... and i couldnt agree more!.............This gives you the gift of Consistency and with time comes eventual Mastery................After doing many hours of frustrating Hard Yards!

Theres countless reasons a weld can go wrong but what works for me is thinking about it in terms of Risk Management:

* Operator Skill
* Technique
* Body and Prop positioning
* Settings
* Quality Consumables
* And Good foundation skills and Knowledge

And probably a myriad of other factors all work together to reduce the risk of defects ending up in your welds..........And Oh the Joy the Spiritual Experience the RUSH! of getting that weld pool to do exactly what you want it to at the End of a Tig RIg!

And Indeed at the other end of the Scale on those days that everything that you touch....... look at...... or talk about......... just dont wanna do what its told falls apart and turns to )^&^&*)^$@%&^&)@#$^%&@^@%^ there the days a beer tastes just that little bit better.

If nothing else Welding reminds me that life would be so boring if everything worked perfectly all the time LOL

Regards Lou

Gidday

Heres a few progress PICS feel free to slice dice and play pic the defect!.................If you can LOL

Ive gone through this weld n done a number of destructive tests am looking good at this stage just final tweaking of the Cap..............

First up My Root Runs

A few Hot Passes

And some Capping Runs..............All welds in 6G Position

little bit of misalignment in a couple of photos, but could be the way the photos taken? that wouldn't help the weld as you would know. Your walking the cup l take it, l just do a bit of a free hand weave, so l don't have any tips for you sorry. The good thing is if your nailing the root run, thats the make or break. You can use your heat to "fix" trouble spots on your hot and capping passes with tig. Looking tops but.

Nice work mate Cheers for sharing, some great material in this thread.

Gidday

Great to hear some feedback Fellas.............am getting there! Far from perfect at this stage BUT hope to have the weld nailed in the next couple of weeks!!!!

Some great spotting of some of the defects im presently ironing out! The biggest problem with walking the cup ive found so far is dipping the Tungsten. One of the first coupons i sliced and diced was full of Tungsten deposits well outside code............

Am also still a little inconsistant with the neatness of my cap!!!!

As i practice more Ive been dipping Less and Less................

1 in ever 5 or so of my root runs seems to suffer from suckback in the 5-8 oclock position.............N i think its because im running a little to fast and allowing my filler rod to leave the weld pool??? Need to take note of this and iron it out!!!!!

Also learning to freehand Brenton so any tips really appreciated!!!!!!!

Regards Lou