Stick welding question

[joeu235]

Its 95 and still the month of May. I'm stick welding and sweating my butt off. I've got a big shop fan going. Is there a wind velocity that can blow the shielding off a stick weld?

 

[Shield Arc]

When we built the Dillingham city dock in Dillingham Alaska. I ran self shielded flux core wire in 90-MPH wind. Couldn't hardly walk around, but I could set for 12-hour days and weld.

 

[joeu235]

Thanks, I'll keep my fan on 85 mph for a safety factor.

 

[Jeepnford]

I did some stick welding last night with my big shop fan about 4 feet behind me and my fume extractor running. The only way I could see anyone moving enough air to cause damage is you held a compressor blow gun at 125 psi pointing at the weld. Just my completely unscientific opinion.

 

[Shield Arc]

Here in the North West we have to weld in the rain. One time I was welding flange to web gussets in a beam laying on the ground. The rain water was damming up on the gussets. So, I got the bright idea to blow the water away with an O&A torch. That didn't work well at all!

 

[Gary Fowler]

While you may get by with welding in the rain, welding over water will break down the water into Hydrogen and Oxygen which some of the hydrogen and oxygen will combine with the weld metal. The oxygen might cause some porosity in the way of several round holes OR worm hole porosity that follows the whole bead from end to end.
The biggest damage is from hydrogen absorption which causes hydrogen embrittlement which really is bad for the weld strength.
Welding in high winds may cause the shielding gas to be blown away and cause porosity that may not be observable from the surface of the weld. It may be completely encapsulated inside the weld which also substantially weakens the weld. Porosity is the number one cause for rejection on welds that are xrayed, followed by slag and then non-fusion.

For you everyday around the house repairs, a little wind on your welding likely wont hurt a thing. I once just for the heck of it welded up a 6" pipe test coupon using 6010 for the root and 7018 for the remainder of the weld. I didn't clean the slag or grind my tacks or any other normal cleaning technique that is supposed to be done. I wanted to cut the test straps out and use them for a show and tell about slag and porosity. Darned thing bent without any defects showing outside the weld. I am quite sure xray would have shown some rejectable issues though.

My point being that it really doesn't take a xray quality weld to hold most pieces of steel together as long as you aren't looking for the weld to be as strong as the steel before it starts to deform or break. So a little porosity or cold lap on the weld metal might still work for you.

I tend to over do it on cleanliness, amount of weld metal deposited and wind/rain protection since I spent my career doing quality welds and inspecting welds for quality.

 

[joeu235]

I'm working on a cattle guard. I tacked it together with MIG and now welding it up with 7018.

 

[dragoneggs]

I'm working on a cattle guard. I tacked it together with MIG and now welding it up with 7018.

View attachment 556057

Just curious, why do you have those little slugs at the connection points? Is it to better the access of the MIG or stick end?

 

[joeu235]

All the cattle guard failures I've seen are at the weld between the pipe and beams. Since the pipe only touches the beam at a point, there's a lot of leverage on the weld. I'm attempting to make something like a saddle so the pipe is held by two welds. Will see how it works first time a cement truck runs over it.

 

[MinnesotaDaveChalmers]

All the cattle guard failures I've seen are at the weld between the pipe and beams. Since the pipe only touches the beam at a point, there's a lot of leverage on the weld. I'm attempting to make something like a saddle so the pipe is held by two welds. Will see how it works first time a cement truck runs over it.

I've seen your method used before and it makes perfect sense in my opinion.
Plus it's not easy to weld way underneath a tube anyway - your method makes it much more accessible.

If a cement truck breaks it, maybe a few cross ties would cure that?