SovXietday

Looks to me like impurity build up at the edge of your HAZ. Wouldn't worry too much about it.

Lugzilla

I do welds like these all day err'day with an orbital welder. My partner is almost at the point where his look nearly identical to what the machine does.

Second time picking up a tig torch and trying my hand at walking the cup. Trying to emulate buddys technique, he makes it seem so easy. Pardon the dirtiness.

Maikel

Yes it is certainly impurity build up but does someone know can these green scotch brite pads from 3M leave some dirt what is invisible to the eye to the surface of stainless? I did a little three inch v-band weld and did not use these pads..will see if it gets these dark areas or not after few days.

60 amps. 1/16 308l wire 3/32 2% lanthanated electrode and #14 toxiccup

CODE4

We need some pictures in focus.

beetledeuce

3" vband:



And some 1.2mm 3" 304 stainless:

Lugzilla

Don't know why they didn't work.... Looks fine on my comp, on my phone it went all screwy. Anyways.. once again, first pic is done by with orbital welder, second one is a fusion weld on my second attempt ever using a tig torch after watching buddy.
Both done with 2"dia .065"wall sanitary 316L tubing

Maikel

Keep this thread alive!!
3" 304 tube and 316 filler.

CODE4

Pretty beads. Post up some details such as amps, torch, cup size, filler diameter, etc. Pictures of the back side of the root too.

TannerS14

Interesting about that black haze, a buddy of mine recently experienced that except much more pronounced. Not in the weld area, but just outside of it. Im starting to think a wire wheel is the way to for for schedule piping. It takes so much work with scotch brite, and ive seen some great finishes from a wire wheel on sch. Austin @ stm uses wire wheel and gets some really nice finishes out of it. Instagram

For thin wall stainless/ aluminum etc, i would still do scotch tho, since the pieces dont come to you as porous as the elbows do.

Here's a random out of practice tube weld.

Gofastturnleft

These are my orbital welds. Around one inch wide 7/8th deep. All hot wire tig (orbital) takes me 4 passes to weld all the out. Total weld time is about 16 hours straight.

Gofastturnleft

These are just some random pics I have on my computer. most are from work. Thanks a lot guys. There are a lot of very impressive welds on this thread. Very nice to see the work of a skilled craftsman. keep up the good work. I will try to throw some pics up from the stuff I do at home.

aluthman

What exactly are you welding on there? The only time I think I've seen those thicknesses of stainless is in a reactor core/vessel, which your pictures resemble.

Gofastturnleft

Yeah its nuclear. I store the old fuel rods. Its a mock up of one of our units. Lids are 15 inches of stainless.

Caoboy

What are you certified in?

aluthman

I was close! I did 11 years in the navy working on nuclear subs and now I work at General Dynamics Electric Boat building them. Unfortunately, my trade is not welding. I'm in radcon.

Gofastturnleft

I am a jack of all trades. I work for a lot of different companies so they keep me on my toes. I hold a bunch of TIG certs ranging from fusion welding to 6g to unlimited thickness. I have a bunch of Mig/flux core certs (stainless, hastalloy, Inconel etc......) I do a lot of SMAW (stick welding) pipe welding mostly. I also have some cool ones like my hot wore automatic TIG, SUB ARC (which I freakin hate) and laser beam welding.

Gofastturnleft

lol yeah good call. I have worked with a lot of ex navy nuke guys. They work with us when we need under water construction done. They are the nuclear pool divers. They are also with me if I cant get my root pass in on time. They help get the canister back in the water as I hang my head in shame.

Caoboy

Sweet! How long have you been in the business? Since you work for a lot of different companies, are you contracted? Or are you working for a company that subs out to other companies?

Gofastturnleft

I have been welding for the past seven years now. I am a contractor and I work for about 7 or 8 different companies a year. I worked full time in a shop for awhile along with working as a contractor at night. I currently am taking it easy and I am back in school pursuing my welding engineering degree.

solpwr

Some of welds.

weiRtech

how about some fitup shots

98vtec

turbohatch96y7

iTrader: (15)

Can i get some tips on welding 16 gauge stainless? The thick stuff i can weld no problem. This thin wall is a bitch.

I also have no foot pedal.

The pipe is only 2" . I can get good color on one 1" pass then i think the whole pipe heat soaks pretty fast and the next pass shows too much heat. Do i need to let it cool down for a few minutes?

98vtec

Move faster. You can move a lot faster without the puddle falling behind with the thinner stuff. Get the puddle started immediately and get moving.

Not being able to vary your amperage does not help

that-guy

if you're getting good penetration and good coloration than what you are doing is right. most a bit faster may help a little bit to get more weld on there before it gets too hot and burns through. however not having a pedal is hurting you since as you go along, you will always need to back off the heat as the part soaks up more and more.