Wasted years using the wrong rod angle on vertical seams

I had been a boilermaker for about 8 years before a old timer named Hank pulled me aside on a job at the refinery in Port Arthur. He watched me weld a vertical seam on a storage tank and just shook his head. He said I was holding the rod at a 20 degree angle when I should have been closer to 10 degrees on that gauge metal. I argued with him for a minute because I had been doing it my way since trade school. Then he made me try his way on a scrap piece and the difference was night and day. The slag peeled off so clean I felt like a idiot for not figuring it out sooner. Has anyone else had a basic technique change that totally shifted how you work?

2 comments

2 Comments

oliviapatel1mo ago

Even the slag peeled off so clean I felt like a idiot" - that's the part that hits home, @vera_sanchez. That little tilt change sounds like just a few degrees, but it really is the difference between fighting it and it working smooth.

vera_sanchez1mo ago

Wait, hold on. You're telling me you were holding it at 20 degrees? For 8 years? Man, I had almost the exact same wake up call but with my torch angle on bevel prep. I was cutting a 45 and swearing at it for an hour before a guy named Rico just walked over and tilted my hand like 5 degrees. The cut went from fighting me to smooth as butter. Felt like a total fool for all those wasted hours cussing at bad cuts. Sometimes the tiniest tweak is the only thing standing between you and a clean weld, huh.