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Joint Preparation

This document provides instructions for welding thick metal joints using arc welding. It explains that arc welding melts a crater in the parent metal to form the weld pool, allowing thick metal to be welded in multiple passes. It then discusses preparing single Vee butt joints, with a root gap and root, fill, and cap passes to fully penetrate and fill the joint. Accuracy is important, and techniques like weaving can increase fill rate but require practice. Blowing holes in the root pass is a risk but can be avoided by adjusting parameters and technique.

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Rajendra Choudhary

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0% found this document useful (0 votes)

56 views

Joint Preparation

Uploaded by

Rajendra Choudhary

We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.

Available Formats

Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd

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rc (MMA) Tutorial - Flat Joints

The principle of welding joints in thick metal differs slightly between MIG and Arc welding.
With MIG welding it is the heat of the weld pool formed by molten filler wire which melts the
parent metal to form the weld, so power needs to be increased with increasing metal
thickness to prevent the weld pool from freezing before it can penetrate.

In Arc welding, the arc melts a crater into the parent metal creating the weld pool and filler
from the rod is mixed in. This makes it much less prone to cold joints than MIG, and allows
thick metal to be welded in multiple passes without the need to increase amps or rod size.
'Flat joint' just means the work is flat on a bench and is welded from above. It's also known
as '1G' position. Horizontal and vertical joints will be covered later on.

Accurate joint preparation is very important in arc welding. It is very difficult to weld joints
with large or uneven gaps.

Square butt joint (joint without

preparation)

The photo shows a 6mm plate butt

welded using exactly the same
technique as in the video on
the learning arc page. The two
plates were positioned tightly
together, and 3.2mm 6013 rods were
used at 120 amps.

Penetration is poor reaching only

1.5mm into the plate. Added to the
thickness of the weld bead the total
thickness of the weld is about 4mm so
it will be a lot weaker than the
surrounding plate.

While it would be possible to increase

penetration by increasing rod diameter
and current, it is more efficient to
prepare the joint.

Joint Preparation

A "Single Vee Butt Joint" is a common

way to prepare thicker metal when a
full penetration joint is required. A 60
degree V (30 degrees on each side) is
ground into the two plates.

The V doesn't extend to the bottom of

the plates - a root face is left. This is
normally about the same height as the
rod diameter (2.5mm in our case) and
reduces the chance of blowing holes.

To aid penetration the two plates are

spaced apart. We've used a TIG rod as
a gauge to form a 2.5mm root gap
(again the same as the rod diameter).
Different welders will have their own
preferences for joint preparation.

The volume of filler metal required to

fill the vee joint is greater than can be
added in a single pass, so several
passes are required. These are
described below.

Root Pass

The first pass is the root pass. This is

intended to fully penetrate to the rear
face of the joint. We used 2.5mm rods
(these run at lower amps than 3.2mm
rods so reduce the chance of blowing
holes). Around 70 amps is a good
starting point, but if you find yourself
blowing holes try slightly lower amps
or adjust the root gap.

The root weld is easily the trickiest

weld we've covered so far. It's similar
to welding thin metal which is
something arc welding isn't well suited
to. There is a very fine balance
between insufficient penetration and
blowing holes. A consistent tight arc is
important as that will keep the heat
low, and a very controlled movement
is necessary, speeding up a little as
the plate warms up. A very slight
weave can help control the arc.
We ran out of rod halfway through the
root pass. The weld has been ground
back at a gentle taper. We started the
next rod at the start of the taper, so
by the time it reached the gap it was
hot enough for full penetration. The
transition was ground to the level of
the surrounding weld prior to the next
passes.

Root Penetration

It takes very accurate technique to

avoid blowing holes. (Spend a day
practicing root welds and the rest of
your arc welding will move on
enormously). Signs that a hole is
about to blow through are a little
keyhole that opening up in front of the
rod and a hollow sound to the arc.
Holes can be countered by reducing
the arc gap and then speeding up a
little to avoid new ones.

If you do struggle with holes then

reducing the root gap a little will make
the root very much less sensitive to
amps and technique at the risk of
reduced penetration.

We cheated and avoided blowing holes

by using a welding bench under the
work as a heat sink. We were running
a little hot so our penetration is a little
wide. Without the cooling effect of the
welding bench we would have blown a
hole. It is common to use TIG for the
root as it's a lot easier to control and
less cleaning up is necessary
afterwards.

Split Cap

The root weld needs to be completely

cleaned of slag before subsequent
passes, and any unevenness smoothed
out with an angle grinder, else
subsequent welds will also be uneven.

Our weld was finished with two further

stringers laid with 3.2mm rods at
about 110 amps. A stringer is a bead
welded without any side to side
weaving. These are a lot easier than
root welding as with the root in place
there is no longer much risk of blowing
holes.

The diagram to the right shows

roughly what we were trying to
achieve. After the root weld (1) was
cleaned up a single stringer with a
slight weave was made to form half of
the weld (2), then a second stringer
used to complete the weld (3).

The angle of our joint was a little wide

and we didn't quite fill the joint. A 60
degree joint would be easier to fill, and
we could have reduced amps a little or
weaved a little more to increase fill.

The technique can be adapted for

thicker material - had we been welding
12mm plate we would have added a
further 3 stringers on top to complete
the weld.

At the bottom of the 3rd pass there is

a slag inclusion. This is probably due
to slag not properly cleaned from the
edge of the root or second pass. A
good wire brush would have removed
the slag at the edge of the weld that
chipping didn't remove, or an angle
grinder could have been used to clean
the weld between passes.

Weaving Capping Weld 2.5Mb 46s Flash video preloads before playing and
includes sound.
It is possible to increase the fill rate of
the rod by using a weaving motion. In
the video a single weaving cap weld is
used to complete a single vee joint. A
slightly curved side to side motion is
used to widen the weld and increase
the fill. The direction is reversed when
the arc reaches the edge of the V.

The flux covering the weld will make

the weld appear wider than it really is.
It can be tricky to judge the width of
weave necessary. One trick is to draw
two chalk lines on some scrap, try to
weave between the chalk lines leaving
the weld at the edge, then remove the
slag and see how close you got.

An alternative motion is a "figure of

eight". This can help regulate speed,
concentrates the arc on the edges of
the weld, and tends to result in a
higher fill.

The Completed Cap

The cap weld is wider and lower than a

single bead. Had the other side of the
joint been prepared and welded in a
similar manner the joint would have
had close to full penetration.

The advantage of welding both sides is

it reduces distortion and reduces the
number of passes required for
complete penetration. The capping
weld will shrink as it cools and pull the
work into a bend. If the plate was
welded from both sides the weld on
the reverse would tend to straighten
the work.