onionbargee Posted January 4, 2015 Report Share Posted January 4, 2015 What do you think of the welds on this over plate job ? sole and uxter plate, 6 mm plate. Done with a 150 amp MIG, by overlapping one tack next to another. No continuous welds in the entire job. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
madcat Posted January 4, 2015 Report Share Posted January 4, 2015 (edited) looking good . Edit to add , I now know better after reading the link further down the thread Edited January 4, 2015 by madcat Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Timleech Posted January 4, 2015 Report Share Posted January 4, 2015 I'm guessing the short runs are because the MIG set has a low duty cycle & isn't capable of long runs at full output? 150A must be a bit marginal for that sort of work. Tim Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RLWP Posted January 4, 2015 Report Share Posted January 4, 2015 How wide is that fillet? Richard Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John V Posted January 4, 2015 Report Share Posted January 4, 2015 Stitch welding is standard (good quality) stick welding technique to minimise distortion, I presume that's the reason here (Bit ignorant re MIG)......neat job by the way !!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sea Dog Posted January 4, 2015 Report Share Posted January 4, 2015 I'd be pleased with it if I'd done it! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike Tee Posted January 4, 2015 Report Share Posted January 4, 2015 (edited) Is that Tadworth getting some tlc? Not - apologies Edited January 5, 2015 by Mike Tee Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Geoff Taylor Posted January 4, 2015 Report Share Posted January 4, 2015 Hi, I assume that the welding was not done by a fully qualified welder, the best way to determine how good the weld is going to be regarding root and penetration is to make an identical weld on two offcuts and saw through it to see how the weld has performed. I have seen beautiful looking MIG welds that have achieved zero penetration especially when using an underpowered welder on thicker steel and even when done by "experienced" welders. They are often referred to as cold welds but still look good. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
the barnacle Posted January 4, 2015 Report Share Posted January 4, 2015 (edited) looks good but as said penitration is the key to a good weld - however i would prefer to see a continuous line of pulse/ whip welding and not as you say tacks. saying that a line of tacks if done correctly will never break, to do it correctly it is a series of small drags and you don't stop and wait for it to cool before you pull the trigger again. Edited January 4, 2015 by the barnacle Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xadmx Posted January 4, 2015 Report Share Posted January 4, 2015 please stop welding like an american its not good pratice and the penitration is not very good, its a sure way to kill your wire feed motor aswell. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
onionbargee Posted January 4, 2015 Author Report Share Posted January 4, 2015 This welder is reccomended by a well known boat yard, and works out out of their premisis. Here's a clue to just how bad it is.... http://www.mig-welding.co.uk/forum/threads/rate-this-weld.50931/ I should add its not my work. If it was I would shoot myself immediately. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bizzard Posted January 4, 2015 Report Share Posted January 4, 2015 It looks like someone without a steady hand who's got the DT shakes or something has done it as they had to keep resting the shroud on the job at every tack as they went along to do overlapping tack welds. Not the welds best welder. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
madcat Posted January 4, 2015 Report Share Posted January 4, 2015 Interesting, I followed the link too. It just shows how something that looks neat can be less than functional and a customer wouldn't neccesarily realise . I'd be the first to admit I know little about welding , a few afternoons at tech many years ago doesn't make a welder of anybody. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RLWP Posted January 4, 2015 Report Share Posted January 4, 2015 Ahhh, I did wonder if this was a boat yard bashing thread Again Richard Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
madcat Posted January 4, 2015 Report Share Posted January 4, 2015 Nobody has identified a yard , as a customer with limited knowledge of welding I consider the post as a good warning . If boatyards do a bad job then bash away is my view. There's too many rouges and chancers infesting the waterways . I've heard some horror stories over the years. This is not a dig at anybody on here before the shouting starts , just a general comment . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MtB Posted January 4, 2015 Report Share Posted January 4, 2015 So what is your point, given you know it is shite welding? MtB Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
madcat Posted January 4, 2015 Report Share Posted January 4, 2015 A salutary warning that neat may not be functional maybe . OK so Onion Bargee tells it straight and pulls few punches but I find that just fine , that's how I like things . Cat I may be but pussyfooting about just confuses me Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RLWP Posted January 4, 2015 Report Share Posted January 4, 2015 Nobody has identified a yard , as a customer with limited knowledge of welding I consider the post as a good warning . If boatyards do a bad job then bash away is my view. There's too many rouges and chancers infesting the waterways . I've heard some horror stories over the years. This is not a dig at anybody on here before the shouting starts , just a general comment . The OP has/had an ongoing dispute with the yard he moors at. If you have a dig he often puts up something about the yard and the welder there Richard So what is your point, given you know it is shite welding? MtB I know no such thing. I do know the OP has a running thing about the yard he used to moor at. That makes me wonder about the accuracy and objectivity of his post Richard Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MtB Posted January 4, 2015 Report Share Posted January 4, 2015 (edited) Changed my mind. Edited January 5, 2015 by Mike the Boilerman Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
madcat Posted January 4, 2015 Report Share Posted January 4, 2015 (edited) ....... Edited January 4, 2015 by madcat Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neil2 Posted January 4, 2015 Report Share Posted January 4, 2015 I too know very little about welding but I have met a lot of welders and one thing you can be sure of. Most welders looking at someone else's work will say it's rubbish. Then again you can say that about a lot of trades. But, most of the guys I've met in the boat building world seem to agree that MIG welding is not the preferred method "below water". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boathunter Posted January 5, 2015 Report Share Posted January 5, 2015 I spent 2 decades specifying welds for bracketry to mount whopping microwave dishes high up in very windy places (amongst other things) so this thread is interesting to me. That weld would simply not happen, the word "continuous" is all important welding thick stuff or it never gets hot enough. Now I actually weld, but never anything thicker that 2mm and tack-welding with a mig as shown in the picture works well because it does fully penetrate, though I'm up at about 150A to do it with overlapping tacks every half a second so it doesn't cool down. To try that with such thick plate and 150A is a non-starter. It would be interesting to try and whack it back off with a sledge hammer. If the boat suddenly floats higher in the water, then slowly sinks they'll know why. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John V Posted January 5, 2015 Report Share Posted January 5, 2015 I'm just glad I said I was a bit ignorant about MiG welding !!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boathunter Posted January 5, 2015 Report Share Posted January 5, 2015 I'm just glad I said I was a bit ignorant about MiG welding !!! It does look pretty though and that is actually important too, just not the main thing. I doubt it would leak between the welds but when a weld is "cold" it will have barely marked the steel. Enough of those blobs will have marginal penetration or it would fall straight off, but water will seep past where they are just sitting on the steel. I would not personally weld stuff like this even if I thought I could, because I am not a coded welder. I really think you should be for this kind of work and they don't all charge a fortune. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
onionbargee Posted January 5, 2015 Author Report Share Posted January 5, 2015 (edited) Your seriously criticising me for warning people about potentially getting ripped off for thousands of pounds ? Edited January 5, 2015 by onionbargee Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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