Fit Up and Tack Welding Five Joints GTAW 20200404

Hey, Folks! I'm going to do a setup.

All five joint types:

butt, edge,

lap, corner, T joint.

I've got my
stacked 1/8 inch mild steel cold roll--

I believe this is hot rolled material.

Preferably would be cold roll,

I get a little bit more flaking
of the oxides mill scale

when I weld on this,

but that's what I got, so here we go.

First things first
is get your machine set up properly.

I've got, uh, DC electrode negative.

I'm using the GTAW process.

I've got a CK worldwide slider

with a on-off switch.

I've got 3/32" tungsten

with a number 12 nozzle.

My CF is 25 cubic feet of argon.

Again, machine set at about 130 amps.

The five joint types

is something that we want
to all be very, very familiar with

and...

Fully aware of how
to tack them together efficiently.

I don't have full welds on these joints.

I've got tacks.

The tacks should be small enough

to hold the parts together,

but large enough...

other way around.

*Small* enough that when I incorporate them into the weld, you can't tell,

but large enough
that they hold the parts together.

One of the nice features of the switch

is I can turn the torch on and off,

leave my feet alone.

And I can turn it on

to the desired amperage
very, very quickly

without having to floor the pedal

and wait for a ramp up time.

It's a great feature.

First one I'm going to do
is that square groove.

One of the things I want to do
when I position my parts

is look for that sharp edge

pointed towards each other,

so each one of these sharp edges

pointing towards each other.

On the square groove, I'm going
to have a very, very slight gap.

The gap I'm looking for,

rule of thumb,
right around material thickness.

I'm going
to go slightly smaller than that...

Like so.

Position my torch next to my work.

Just touch it so I know where it's at,

and then back off of my joint.

Place my filler material in the gap.

Watch your eyes.

And that quickly,

we can
achieve a really nice little tack.

Now the part is not complete.

Obviously you need to roll it around

and get a consistent gap,

all the way down my part.

And put my second tack on there.

Start my shielding gas, purge my area,

and three, two, one.

Tack that part together.

So my square groove is done.

Pretty good alignment.

Another good way
to check your alignment,

just grab another piece
of sheared material

and set it down
and check your alignment.

You don't want mismatch,

from one side to the other.

Okay, so there's your square groove.

Next is my edge.

Again, put my sharp edges
towards each other.

On the edge joint, at least
this particular joint configuration,

I'm going to be
tacking each of the corners.

Purge my environment.

Purge my area
with some shielding gas flow.

Eyes.

And all for tacks there.

My edge joint is done.

Okay.

Next is going to be my lap.

You've got your replay on the screen.

You can see I rotated that part,

positioned it,

pushed down on the trigger.

Next is my lap joint.

I don't need the filler material

on these next several joints,

but I do need to have good fit up.

again looking for that sharp edge

towards the other part.

Okay, get your tungsten
right down to the joint

until it touches-- eyes.

Looking for that shine in the puddle.

As soon as I see the shine,

telling me
that both parts are connected,

then my tack is complete.

I can almost see the two parts
pull apart from each other.

That's why you got
to have enough amperage

to break that surface tension,
make sure your part is complete.

On the lap joint, I'm going
to put an itsy bitsy little tack

right in the middle of the joint.

Eyes.

That lap joint is then complete.

Next is my corner joint.

Grab my two parts again,

make sure my sharp edges
are facing each other.

Corner to corner.

Just like so-- eyes.

Again, touch the tungsten

right where I want it,
and then back off.

I can physically feel those limits.

Eyes.

The best way to get a good tack:

again, I didn't spend a lot of time
on that tack.

Just enough to hold the parts together.

Reposition those parts
to get the other side.

Okay, eyes.

I'm going to put another tack
right in the middle

of this corner joint

and set the nozzle down
right on the joint edges.

Touch the tungsten
right down into the heart

and, eyes.

Lift off and...

go.

Okay, got that corner joint complete.

Last one is my T joints,

and make sure my sharp edge,

and the face of the--
the bead I'm going to be--

facing the part
that I'm going to be joining.

Has a good fit up.

Eyes.

Okay, I'm going to
put a small little tack

in the center of this one as well.

Just touch my joint.

Back off and squeeze the trigger.

Nice.

Looking for that shine.

Looking for the shine.

Reading the puddle, I know it's joined.

Okay, there we have it.

Got our butt edge,
lap, corner and T joint.

Good luck, have fun.