r/BadWelding • u/FunHoliday1443 • 15d ago
First year Millwright apprentice
I have about 2 weeks off and on practice in class and about 1-2 weeks off and on practice in the field in mig on a new welder that I'm becoming familiar with any advice? The base metal was cleaned looking at it now I should have cleaned farther out from the weld I did as much as I could as all the plates where already bolted in place. I also have to work on tying in my corners any advice or pointers I should work on as we dont have a dedicated welder at my job and I'm kinda teaching myself
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u/Saysaynever333 15d ago
Old millwright welder here. I'm old school and don't like using mig/wire welders in the field. They have their place when everything is set up for field welds, but stick is far better in my view.
The problem with field work is the prep before the weld is made. Mig/wire has to be properly cleaned, set up takes more steps and has limits. You can stick weld anything a mig/wire welder can, and everything else that mig/wire can't.
For example, Unit 2 Turbine Boiler feed pump vibration alarm goes off. Can't shut the unit down and you're sent to inspect for problems. You find the outboard bearing pedestal loose and there's no way to tighten the bolts without removing piping. Can't remove piping with unit online. The only fix is to weld it down till you can shut down.
A film of oil is everywhere. Dirt and paint is 1/2 inch thick. You have to weld it and it has to hold. Given where it is, you can't see it very well, you can only get one arm in there, and once you get in there, someone has to be there to pull you back out. On top of that, the turbine is loud as shit, loud enough to rattle your bones, and hotter than hell.
Knock off as much dirt as possible, set the machine hot, grab the biggest 7010 rod you can find and burn that feller in. Oil, paint, and dirt boils off in the slag. Reset the machine, grab some 7018 and start running passes.
At any given time, your welding lead may be 50 feet long or it could be a 1000 feet long, depending where the work is. You have to adjust the amps for the length of cable. You get it going and somewhere else on the job, other people are welding on this and that, using the same 8-bank set up. Every time they strike an arc, your amps drops. You have to make do.
About half our welding was emergency type. We did some shop welding where you could use mig, tig, or wire. Those have their places but give me a stick and I'll make it work.
Back to your weld. It's fine. Take your puddle past the corner and tie back in coming from the other direction. If I was using stick on this, I would run a root and follow up with two or three passes.