Overhead welding

turbo466 · Jan 11, 2011

I am 17 and use my dad's old AC 225 buzzbox to weld all kinds of stuff on the farm. Everything goes great until I try to weld something above my head, then it turns out like crap.

Am I just a sucky welder or is it a tough job to make strong nice looking overhead welds with AC? I usually us 6011's at 100-120 amp on 3/16 steel.

gerard · Jan 11, 2011

I'm sure someone will post but it's not that you're a "sucky welder." Different rods have different results depending on up welds, down welds, or overhead. 6011 leaves a very fluid puddle so it's going to drip before it cools. Not good for overhead welding. Try a google search on the best ac rod for overhead. I can't recall off the top of my head.

Sandlot · Jan 11, 2011

See if you can get a couple rods of 7018. I haven't tried it in an AC machine, but I have used it in a DC machine overhead. Remember to where ear plugs when welding overhead, or a welding cap large enough to cover your ears. You don't want slag dropping in your ear canal. That is a sizzle you don't want to hear!

Mark @ Everlast · Jan 12, 2011

AC is not the best for overhead. You will want to try to whip the rod, not weave it. If you are not familiar with whipping (not the corporal kind), it is where your drag the rod in front of the weld, out of the puddle slightly and back into it as it begins to cool. Its a fairly fast movement. I don't know what size rods you are using. But on 3/16, try 3/32 rod and maybe about 80 amps. It sounds as if you are running it too hot to start with. Because you are welding overhead, gravity will work against you if you don't control the heat well.

Shield Arc · Jan 12, 2011

Practice, practice, practice, practice, once you get the hang of it overhead is no different than flat!

First thing you need to do is get over the fear of getting burned, trust me you're going to get burned, get use to it!:laughing:
I suggest you practice with some fillet welding first, before moving onto plate. Then I really hate to tell you this, but it will get you welding overhead faster, but it is a very bad habit to get into for more advanced welding latter. For now make your travel direction away from you, stand right under the puddle and let the sparks fall in your face. Once you get the hang of it, and your arms get use to it, stand back. Soon as you can, break this habit of traveling away from you, travel towards you!:thumbsup:

tb525 · Jan 12, 2011

Another bad habit that new welders need to break themselves of, while welding overhead, is the tendency to travel too fast. They see material dripping and think it is steel from their weld puddle, so they speed their travel up to try to compensate. What they are seeing dripping is just slag..

JerryK · Jan 12, 2011

Ah.....laying on a big piece of cardboard.....in an old T-shirt....welding a 4" I beam to the bottom of an old commercial wood chipper... Those were good times.......

Shield Arc · Jan 12, 2011

JerryK said:
Ah.....laying on a big piece of cardboard.....in an old T-shirt....welding a 4" I beam to the bottom of an old commercial wood chipper... Those were good times.......

Jerry the part I hate about welding in a position like that, my arms, chest, and stomach are all use to being burned. Two burns that will make me jump straight up, a blob down my ear, or on my rib cage!

Well there's another part but we don't need to go into that.:laughing:

JerryK · Jan 12, 2011

Shield Arc said:
Jerry the part I hate about welding in a position like that, my arms, chest, and stomach are all use to being burned. Two burns that will make me jump straight up, a blob down my ear, or on my rib cage!
Well there's another part but we don't need to go into that.:laughing:

And...if you are laying on cardboard that is laying on the grass..your body weight depresses the cardboard so all the slag lands on the cardboard, then quickly rolls towards/under you....as you squirm in agony...

[ not a well thought out job, but one you want to get over with fast... ]

jayste · Jan 12, 2011

A lot of good advice here especially the practice, practice, practice! Also, good stories all of which I can relate to!:laughing::thumbsup: Nothing like the smell of burning hair and I don't mean branding calves!

Slag and molten steel coming to rest on your belly role is pretty special! BUT it beats it going further if your wearing loose clothing!

Turbo, don't be set back by all of this. You can get it just keep all of this in mind and "button up". Some leather sleeves might be handy as well.:thumbsup:

Mark @ Everlast · Jan 12, 2011

A lot of times you won't remember how you got burned...but the really good scars you remember. I have this one on my leg while I was welding 309L overhead. I was welding a test plate in a seated position and a piece of slag hit my lap, burned through my jeans, boxers and ROLLED down to the inseam. Fortunately it extinguished before hitting anything more sensitive. I never broke arc and passed the plate. But that one left some deep tracks about 1.5 inch long.

JB4310 · Jan 12, 2011

Get real good at flipping things over and lay some 7024 in there LOL.

I've been welding for awhile and still can't weld out of position very well, DC makes it a little easier. Lower the amps a bit also and maybe try some 7014.

JB.

Gary Fowler · Jan 12, 2011

There is an old pipe welder saying that goes" If you want the bottom (overhead) to look like the top, screw up the top" which is somewhat true. With lots of practice, you can make a good looking overhead weld with a DC machine. AC machine characteristics dont lend themselves to making good looking overhead welds. An AC rod needs to have a slightly long arc to keep from arcing out (sticking). For overhead welding, you have to run a very short arc which reduces the arc blow somewhat and allows the metal to stick rather than just droop and fall. E7018 is likely your best rod for AC machine for overhead. As Mark said, with 6011 or 6013 AC rods, you will need to step in and out of the puddle with the arc shorter at the puddle and then long arc it a bit as you step forward. This allows the metal to cool slightly as you step forward then go back to the pudddle to add some more metal. You have to have the amperage set currectly to weld overhead. It has to be slightly higher amperage ( maybe 5-10 ams) than welding flat or vertical for most overhead welding. This is assuming that you are not running too high on the flat surfaces which lots of beginners do. If you set your machine to weld flat so that there is not a lot of arc blow and undercut but still have a fairly flat bead with slight convex surface, then to weld overhead, just raise the amps slightly. This is especially needed with an AC machine to keep the slag away from you rod so it doesnt arc out. With 7018, hold a very short arc and slightly weave the rod, do not step out of the puddle with 7018 like you do with the 60xx rods. Keep a very short arc, and slight weave or just drag the rod. Angle the rod so it is pointed 10-15 degrees toward the puddle and weld toward yourself so you can see the puddle. Keep the rod pointed straight in vertical position if you are welding flat V groove overhead, buy this I mean keep the vertical plane straight up and down but have the rod angle tilted in the direction of travel slightly. Some of this is very hard to explain and much easier to show which is why welding classes are good to go to if you have a competent instructor.

turbo466 · Jan 12, 2011

thank you my friends for all the tips...cant wait to try them out.

Yes even I have already got burned. The worst was when I was chipping some hot slag off and a chunk lodged on top of my ear. I heard the sound before I felt the pain...it sounded just like bacon frying

Shield Arc · Jan 12, 2011

When you're practicing overhead at first, set the height of the material being welded where you can keep your elbows tucked into your sides. This will help keep your arms from getting fatigued, and keep your hand steadier! Two weeks from now you should be good enough at over head that you can stand on the top step of an 8-foot step ladder on one foot, reaching at full arm extension to make a weld.

Mark @ Everlast · Jan 12, 2011

Turbo the older I get the less I worry about burning my ears. The extra hair I have growing out of them makes less of a worry.:laughing: By the time it reaches the ear canal, the spark has singed itself cold.