7018 vertical advice

[turbo38t]

1/4" material 1/8" rod? Run stringers at 115-120 amps......no need for hardly any side to side movement....Dave88amps is way cold for 1/8"

[beamwalker]

that thin material you might try J s. or little U s. about 115-120 amps and stringers works very well. i dont have time to clean mine most of time but i run hot and slow enough to burn the garbage out. havent had one fail and my slag almost falls off. it splits and peels with lo-hy

[shorerider16]

1/4" material 1/8" rod? Run stringers at 115-120 amps......no need for hardly any side to side movement....Dave88amps is way cold for 1/8"

Depends if you are in Canada, or the U.S.A. Up here in Canada the schools and engineers lean towards running weave beads that are consecutively larger with each pass, while south of the border running stringers like you would in the flat or horizontal position seems to be the way to go. I have no idea why, and have never gotten a satisfactory answer from anybody I have asked.

If the person you are doing the welds for doesn't care, do it whatever way is easiest for you. However, there may be times when you are required to do it one way, so it wouldn't hurt to learn both.

[kcstott]

If you are doing 90% of your welding on dirty metal you are doing it wrong! Most good welders are going to hit it with a wire wheel or flap disk at a minimum. With todays modern power tools the only reason to weld really dirty metal is lazy. Joint prep is probably more important than whipping technique when welding. Try some shiny clean metal, then some old rusty painted junk using the same set up and see which one is nicer/better welds. You will find that the one with good joint prep went faster, is better looking and was easier to weld, every time.

So true. as with most thing it's 80% prep and 20% welding.

As for 7018 being wet that's a bozo no no. 7018 welds like s**t wet and unless you're a hot s**t welder it won't pass an inspection. When you stack the odds in your favor you will have good results. Clean well prepped base metal. Contamination free rod. Good comfortable position(relatively speaking). Machine set up correctly. etc. Remove one of those and you will start to have problems.
And if you want to weld dirty metal use 6010 "farmers rod" then the welds will look as good as they should, just like crap.

[turbo38t]

I use 1/8" rods on 3/8" and up....3/32" on 1/4". Once in a while I'll do stringers on 1/4" with 1/8" rods. There are several vert techniques but all resort back to knowing what the puddle is doing. It takes practice. Learn to keep the puddle just below the violent point and contrary to some belief don't move too fast, stick ain't fast. We just welded some 1.5" thick lock blocks on a crane (welded to 3/8" sheet and ran all 1/8" rod vert up with about a 3/8" tall weld. I used a nice side to side not climbing too much(small steps but moving faster with a very brief pause on the sides. I weld with my rod almost 90 degrees from the material. I run between 115 and 125 amps with 7018...I'll have to snap some pics tomorrow. Dave

[weldone]

I agree with you turbo .I also use a z-weave motion pausing at the sides.
Depending on the thickness of the material consistutes how long I pause.
Usually one -onethousand-two then move
Hey guys thats whats works for me..

Check the pic.Just pratice.
1'' plate 3/8 backing strip 1/8 rod 137-140 amps

[swyman]

Hey guys, today I did it. Ran the best uphills ever. They looked beautiful and I was finally proud. 4" sq.tube 1/4"wall 1/8" 7018 and around 115 amps! I used the "Z" , did the counting but ended up making adjustments on speed by watching the crater on my side to side and waiting for it to fill before moving.

Thanks to all. Took some advice, practice, and more heat... no prob!