Mike,again,we agree,,[well].Concept,huh? one thing though,,you don't seem to believe that you can put a good a weld down as up?,,and we don't need to argue that,but maybe you want too,so,,, all I said was through experience. I've passed downhill tests on 6-8 sch 40 pipe in postion,[at 45 degrees],,open root,WITH MIG,that had 4 sections cut out for root and face bends and some for nick break and some for tensile,,all bent 180 degrees in weld,,the tensile pulls beat the pipe,[broke outside weld],,I know you may not have any experience in this,,but,I do.
Of course you can up hill mig,,I meant,and still do,,if you are mig welding it works better down hill,,kinda like taking a leak out side on a windy day,,you can piss into wind if you want,,but the only way is not too.
I've already wrote at least 4-5 times that mig is not my first or second choice for doing something like this,,,mig is for thinner stuff,,you add that to the fact that most backyard type welders don't have the skill and or experience to compensate for its problematic characteristics,[cold lap,lack of fusion]..making a good up hill multipass weld ain't easy with mig,,making a good multipass weld downhill ain't easy with mig either,,but it works better down for most,,but your right,if you don't know what your doing with mig,[or any other process],you make bad welds,guess I was talking about somebody who did know what they was doing..
And,I am an older welder too,been involved in it as a living for about 31 years now,so guess that would qualify me as "an older welder",,not that being older makes you smarter,have learned that,just makes you have more experience,,and stick with what I said about your older welder,,he might be a very good welder,,but on this up/down thing,he didn't know what he was talking about,,which is,for an older welder,,is not good,,he should have at least known that pipelines are welded down hill,and they are very critical welds,,he didn't have to know all the tricks to doing it,he should have at least been aware,,no need repeating myself,I already explained this back in a previous post.
In other words mike,you have some good basic welding knowledge,but welding is so broad that nobody can become an expert in every part of it,,thats where experience comes into it,,some guys work all their lives in a bridge shop,some all their lives in a power plant,some in areospace,,some in chemicl plants,some on pipelines,,and thats all they know,,some just weld with stick,some with mig some with flux core,some with tig,some with subarc,,and the lists go on,,,,you can be the very best at one of those in one of those areas,and be right down at the bottom in another,,,,,I am not an expert either,but I have worked in all the above. thingy
