Old timer told me my welds looked like pigeon tracks, so I changed my technique

I had this guy named Jerry at the hall look at a bead I ran on some 1/4 plate and he straight up said it looked like pigeon tracks. He told me I was moving the torch too fast and my angle was off by about 10 degrees. I slowed down my travel speed by half and tilted the torch to a 20 degree push angle instead of 30. Did a test piece right there and the bead flattened out and Penetrated way better. Has anyone else had an old timer call out a bad habit you didn't even notice?

1 comments

1 Comment

coleman.henry12d ago

Pigeon tracks sound like they'd have better fusion than half the production welds I see passing inspection these days. Slowing down and changing your angle might just mean you're making a pretty bead with a bigger heat affected zone.