Glad I listened to that old timer in Baton Rouge

Met a retired boilermaker named Chet at a welding supply shop back in March. He told me to stop chasing amperage and pay more attention to my arc length on vertical joints. Tried it on a 3/8 inch plate job last week and my beads came out cleaner than they have in two years. Has anyone else had good luck with a tip that sounded too simple at first?

3 comments

3 Comments

victor77924d agoMost Upvoted

Calling bull on that, good technique won't fix bad metal prep.

skyler_jackson2723d ago

Knew a guy in Oklahoma who always said just run hotter wire and move faster for vertical. I tried it once and blew through the plate so bad I had to cut it out and start over. Chet sounds like he knows what he's talking about with the arc length thing though. My old man used to say the same thing about horizontal fillets and I didn't listen for years. Simple advice is usually the stuff that actually works once you stop overthinking it.

hannah40023d ago

That Oklahoma guy probably also says turn your radio up louder to get better reception lol. Blowing through a plate is the kind of mistake you only make once though, makes you real careful about who's advice you take. Hot wire fast for vertical sounds like a recipe for disaster unless you're running on some thick ass steel. Chet's advice is gold because it's something you can literally feel and see working, not some voodoo trick. Your old man was probably right about horizontal fillets too, dads usually are about that stuff even if we hate admitting it. Simple beats fancy every time in welding, you just gotta burn a hole in something first to learn that lesson.