Cratering in steel

So i had some 1" x 1/4 flat steel stock laying around cut 4 4" and tacked them into a tube shape. started welding the edges up. Right of the bat someing was wrong. I really didnt use much filler rod both edges were filling nicely into echother. but as i finished one side i went to the opisite side and weled that one up. But as i stoped and looked at both my welds i noticed there was cratering. I new to tig and did some serching but i cant figure out what causes this? is it becuase i wasnt useing rod?

Tallguy,

Exactly. Craters occur because there isn't enough metal to "fill" in the hole. Unless you add a drop or two of molten filler at the end of the weld as it begins to downslope and cool down, you will get a crater and yes even cracking at the end of a weld, in general welding conditions.

Well i knwo after doing some research and talking to some welder budies i know, i used the wrong term. I was talking more about piting or bubbleing along the way. And it was cause by my error, after doing what they told me to do i am doing alot better. Even welded acouple razors together really well :)

All i can say is EVERY thing has to be clean, metal, tungsten EVERYTHING lol

Pitting can also be caused by too low of argon flow rates or excessive mill scale or improper torch angle or standoff.

LOL yup all operater error =P the word of the day is CLEAN, make sure everything is CLEAN CLEAN CLEAN! and your welds will look awsome other wise your just wasteing your time.

Yep...done that.

Dirty material
To much gas flow or not enough
contaminated tungsten
Too much heat
all can cause that

Also, using something other than TIG filler material can cause the same issue. I found out a while ago that I cant be a tight-wad and use clothes hangers for TIG welding.

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Originally Posted by welderdude

Also, using something other than TIG filler material can cause the same issue. I found out a while ago that I cant be a tight-wad and use clothes hangers for TIG welding.

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HAHAHAHA Good one. When I as a little kid, my gramps got the brainstorm that he was going to save the world by using coat hangers for filler for torch welding. He brought in a box full of them you could fit a TV in! Needless to say after his "secret r&d" he figured that they wouldn't work for anything in the shop except a teenager holding up the muffler on his rustbucket of the week. I had a good supply well into my '20s:D

By the way, I was theachin my bro TIG a couple of days ago and we had the same trouble. As a noob teaching a bigger noob, this is good info to see. Our bigest trouble seems to have been not having the joint CLEAN.

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Originally Posted by hooda

HAHAHAHA Good one. When I as a little kid, my gramps got the brainstorm that he was going to save the world by using coat hangers for filler for torch welding. He brought in a box full of them you could fit a TV in! Needless to say after his "secret r&d" he figured that they wouldn't work for anything in the shop except a teenager holding up the muffler on his rustbucket of the week. I had a good supply well into my '20s:D

By the way, I was theachin my bro TIG a couple of days ago and we had the same trouble. As a noob teaching a bigger noob, this is good info to see. Our bigest trouble seems to have been not having the joint CLEAN.

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Way back, coat hangers used to be made of high quality mild steel and worked fine as filler, but during WWII they started going with cheaper steel due to shortages, now I’m not sure it’s really steel.

I remember oxy-acetylene welding with coat hangers for filler rod too. I never had any confidence in the strength in those joints! "butter soft"

By the way, Hooda - I've got a "purox" oxy-acetylene welding/cutting rig in my family as well, that I learned welding on! I think my grandpa purchased it originally a long time ago, to maintain a worn out used bulldozer he owned. I should ask my dad for the history on it. It's kind of a funny coincidence, I think "purox" nowadays is not a very common brand. I did get some replacement welding torch tips for it a few years ago for it by the way, they were sold under a different brand name, can't remember what it is called at the moment. But definitely still serviceable equipment. The acetylene regulator is really old too. The oxygen regulator got replaced once or twice along the road though I think, it's definitely not the original.

I inherited my Oxweld o/a too. Not to hijack the thread- Purox and Oxweld are brands that started out with Union Carbide, back when their Linde Division was welding products. So was Prestolite- I think I've seen that name around recently. It was top of the line equipment back in the day, but I don't know how the industry considers it these days. Union Carbide (also known for Ever Ready batteries, Glad bags, and Prestone antifreeze) sold Linde, which became L-Tec for a while, and now Esab owns the intellectual property. Oxweld and Purox gas equipment is still for sale under the Esab banner.

I noticed Purox and that thousand pound Linde TIG machine in Hooda's signature line, too, thought he might have gotten it all in the same trade he mentioned in another post.