DIYbanter - The secret of a neat fillet weld?

On Sat, 27 Aug 2005 00:16:48 +0000 (UTC), Christopher Tidy
wrote:

Hi all,

I've been using a stick welder for occasional hobby projects for about 9
years now (the welder is a Cytringan Bantam 180 amp oil-cooled unit).
I've mastered butt welds and can achieve an even bead with neat
restarts, but I can't quite get fillets right. I've tried varying the
current, moving the electrode slowly up and down, following the
instructions regarding angle in my welding book etc., but my fillets
still contain small slag inclusions. I'm using E 6013 electrodes and 3-5
mm thick 43A mild steel plate (these might both be British-only
standards). Now I find that I'm designing my projects so as to avoid
fillet welds. Can anyone suggest how to improve my fillet welds, or do I
just need more practice?

Late entry: Don't forget to play with the heat setting a little.

I burned a little 6013 yesterday. Geez, I haven't done any stick
welding for a while, but it came back quick enough.

I needed to stick a 1/2" dia rod to some 1 x 1 x 1/8" angle to form a
brace to quell a vibration on my air compressor. It was in kind
of an awkward place on a job I really didn't want to move to the
wirefeed but it happened to be near the TIG/stick machine. No way
I'd get in there with TIG but.....well, golly, I could reach it with a
stinger. Scrounged around, found a stick of 1/8" 6013.

Things weren't working well until I turned up the heat, running
pretty hot for 1/8" rod. I could see it really digging into the 1/2"
rod, but I didn't blow any holes in the angle. I focussed the heat on
the rod, carried the puddle near the angle and let the puddle (not the
arc) fuse into the angle.

Slag chipped off, it looks like it grew there. Compressor is back in
service. I'd had to cut that brace and move it a bit to clear the
new (slightly bigger) motor.