Finally got a clean weld on a thin pipe without burning through

Took me like 6 tries on this 1/8 inch schedule 40 steel at my shop in Austin. Kept seeing people online say to crank the heat way down, but the trick for me was actually keeping it high and just moving faster. Anyone else find that counterintuitive stuff works better for thin wall?

3 comments

3 Comments

rowan9691mo ago

Never really gave it much thought until last year when I had to weld some 16 gauge stainless for a railing job. I always babied it with low amps and slow passes, kept getting sugaring on the backside. Finally got fed up and tried the opposite, cranked it up and moved like I was late for lunch. Clean fusion, no blowouts, barely any cleanup. Still feel wrong doing it but the results don't lie.

the_diana1mo ago

So you're telling me I've been out here tiptoeing around thin stainless like it's a sleeping baby when I should've been treating it like a greased pig at a county fair? That's actually kind of reassuring because I've definitely done the whole "slow and careful" thing on 18 gauge and ended up with a warped mess that looked like a potato chip. I feel like welding has this weird rule where the stuff you think is wrong is actually the right move, and the stuff that feels safe just makes you cry later.

avery_jackson1mo ago

Haha right! Rowan's onto something. Welding's a lying bastard sometimes.