www.weldingtips... taking a welding test is hard enough . here are some tips for a structural welding test aka plate test to increase your chances of passing. www.weldingtips...
Good video! Great speed, amperage, and angle. I'm AWS certified. To help some of your followers with answers, 3/32 rod 1/4 gap with backing strip, I passed my test at an AWS facility using 75 to 80 amps on vertical and 85 to 90 on overhead. Anything hotter is way to much! Also remember like this instructor is saying and doing, HOLD YOUR CORNERS! MANDATORY! 1/2 inch gap will cause for higher amperage though, always remember the wider u weld the hotter u must run your amperage so weld won't be cold once u get back to the other side. Certain tips you learn once you learn to weld pipe in 5g position for weaving hott pass and especially your cap. Hope this information is helpful as it is to me. GO WELDERS!
I used this video for advice on prepping and performing my limited D1.1 with FCAW. I'm happy to report that I passed it on my first attempt. I'd never welded before and only started this last February. Thank you for all the great videos and tips.
I use your videos when teaching my welding class. These videos allow me to show the entire class a weld at one time and speak to them with out a hood on. Very good camera work and info.
I have passed many structural steel certifications. DOT SMAW. The test required a 15/16 gap and 2 tips that help were always use warm rods and wrap the ground above the piece your welding I never failed passed vertical, overhead, and horizontal.
I don't think I will ever be in a position to take a structural weld test but I still find your videos very educational. They've made my welds better and have made me appreciate my everlast welders and what they can do.
thanks for the tips. i just graduated high school yesterday and now im looking for a welding job. so these tips and stuff you have shoud really help me with any tests i may face
When I first got my TIG welder I figured stick welding was for pipe welding. I didn't realize it was so fun. Thanks for the reviews on the Everlast welders too. Never would have known about them otherwise.
Hey Elijah I answered your question int other video. Jody has the arc force on his Everlast welder all the way up to allow him to have a really tight arc without sticking. Hope this helps.
hey buddy . im about to start workin for a railroad company in alabama and i take my test this mondy . i just wanted to thank you for your help . watching your video should help me out . thanks again . if you have anymore tips put em on
I really like your videos they are very enlightening ,to bad my fab/weld days are now cut short,still i do small jobs for fam,friends, its like a magnet can't get away from it.. but as you mention in your videos we never learn enough. technology keeps advancing. So we either follow or stay Iggie. I thank you for keeping my mind in the learning mode...
I worked as a inside machinist in a oil refinery for 32 years and machined a lots of welded up pumps and pipe flanges. The best welders were the ones that used grinding wheels and wire brush wheels to clean up each tie in and each pass. Keeping slag out with welding and clean up kept the re-welds and tool bit breakage down. I had no problem telling the welding foreman in the shop which welder in the shop I wanted to do the welding on my pumps and flanges that I was needing welded up. It did not take long for a new foreman to listen to the shop machinist on who they wanted to do the welding on parts. We had some very skilled welders that took pride in their work, only problem was that was the ones that they moved up in the company and it takes time to find the next good welder for repairs. Welding up eat up metal pumps and flanges is a lot harder than welding clean new metal pipes and flanges. A lot of prep, bake out, grinding to get to good mental. Not every welder wanted to take on those jobs, but the ones that were good at it saved the company many hours of machining and re-welding. Nothing worst than getting to the finish dimension on a 72 inch OD gasket surface and hitting a slag pocket on the finish cut and having to start over welding and machining the whole gasket surface.
Very informative thanks, funny thing is my profession was x ray testing you guys on major projects mainly pipelines. I was qual'd in ASME and AINDT depending on the project. It was always interesting to talk to the welders regarding test plates and production welds and I always did my best to comply welds. I did this by knowing the codes well and knowing what I was looking at on the X ray. I am also a self taught home welder probably with many bad techniques but my welds are very sound, many cut open to see penetration, gp's and slag. I will throw my "pecking" habit out and use the rake technique more!! thanks again hope you never run foul of a big head NDT tech as there are plenty out there and as a level 3 in ASME I did a lot of audit work and was a little shocked at some of the calls.
Most overlooked problem, let your test blank cool off after a couple passes you are not in a hurry, the heat doesn't have any place to disburse to so let that S.O.B cool off other wise your weld will roll back on you, slow your roll, the heat is your enemy welding a test coupon , on the job welding structural steel like say columns, Junior beams, haunches, stiffeners, stiffeners, cover plates etc etc, the heat has a place go through and disperse so it's not as hot, compared to a test coupon which will hold the heat just a tip
one thing to note. When tacking up your test plate, try to keep the tacks on your backer strip as small as possible. If you make them too big, the welds will draw and cause a gap between the test plate and the backer right at the root which will trap slag.
I was actually surprised when a grinder was allowed for CWB test, in school they never let us clean with grinder or wire wheel, files and hammer and brush only..... wire wheel is awesome when allowed.
Thanks your videos, they are very helpful. I have been on pipe on the past few months and decided to try plate again and struggled big time. Watching your videos made my brain spark and see what i was doing wrong! Thanks!
The welding Code AWS D1.1 is a structural welding code it sets specifications for welding structural steel. Some tests can qualify you under AWS, ASME, and API codes. In positions welding a 6G will not qualify you when a 6G R is required but a 6G R will qualify you in the 6G position.
Definetly let the ends of the backing plate go past the test plates. Start your beads out side of the plates so you can get a good puddle and bead going before you actually get into the test plates. It'll help with penetration too once you actually begin to get the plates together.
Also if you can use a wire wheel to clean up the welds. It really gets rid of the slag really well and will help your weld lay down. I wouldn't even use a chipping hammer if you don't have to.
+Kyle Watson I even use a mechanics pick set to get into any possible holes to get those slag entrapments out. it helps to have it just in case you end up with a low spot, or the weld build up is too convex. but definitely ask how far you can push it for cleaning up welds during testing day! this is all good input from everyone here! I love welding and welders!!
Old jockey saw blades are great for raking out the toes of passes especially when doing vertical passes, I use to use a rubber tube with a looped 4mm general purpose welding electrode to reinforce the the handle pushed over 6" of the blade with the first 3" having the teeth ground off and being a blade with sharp edge.
Great video. As far as the grinder, a guard is more dangerous than not using one in my opinion. I bet most that have worked in the welding buisiness probally likes no guard. Keep up the great videos.
Had to relate a situation that arose administering this test about 10 years ago. I was a certified welder/CWI for 41 years for a major railroad, and our guys had to qualify using the AWS D15.1 standard - unlimited thickness. We had several guys furloughed for a year and called back to work. I had to retest them on 3/8” coupons in 2, 3, & 4G positions. The first guy tested was a really good welder, but when I started bending his coupons, they were all cracking beside the weld bead and failing! Confused, I started trying to determine why his textbook welds were failing. The problem, I discovered, was the plates. Typically sawn on a bevel from 7” (I think!) x3/8” flat bar, these plates which we had just received were cut from 4” bar and the bevel ground on the SIDES of the stock! This caused the grain of the steel to run parallel to the weld instead of the 90 degrees that was specified in the code! The HAZ split right out! The vendor replaced the plates, and all was well again!
I have just got my interprovincial red seal millwright certification and I will tell any young apprentices that this is a very rewarding trade , it has opened my mind to all sorts of thinking , on the job and off. You will get a sense of pride in this trade like no other if you apply your self, and try to never become too negative if your company isn't all that great . Find a place that is right for you and enjoy it, everyone works differently .
I have a Kobalt auto darkening hood I got a Lowe's for about $120. A buddy of mine at work tried it yesterday and said he didn't see any difference between it and his $400 Jackson hood. Better yet, I smashed the lens real good one time, and took it back. They replaced it just like any other Kobalt tool.
Funny thing is I just had this test to pass my aws in the army I am a 91e just tested out of ait spent the last 20 weeks going through stick, mig, tig, oxy & exo thermic. The only thing I did differently was use a wire wheel to clean my passes and use two 3/32 for my root pass on 2g and 3/32 following 1/8 fillers and 3/32 again for my cap. and all of my 3G was 3/32. Yes I did pass and passed my bend test 3G & 2g thanks for the video
Not under mil spec. Its really different. It doesn't even recognize 6010 or any cellulose rods. It follows Sec 9 plate qualifications. Each position only covers itself. Unlike AWS which covers 1-3G w 3G and 4G covering only 4G.
Also most weld tests in the real world will force you to use 1/8" rods and in the field it will be 1/8" and 5/32" or maybe even 3/16" on plate. 3/32" is commonly considered a pipe rod.
Thank you so much for this video! It’s the most valuable and professional content on this test I’ve found! I’m gonna steel all thes tips on my test. Lol thx
I love your videos. I am in Tulsa Welding school and I love watch your videos because they help me when I am no completely understanding. Could you message me back if you have a T-plate welding video. Or if you don't have one could you make one? If not that's cool. Have a great day.
Bring a couple of fresh flap discs (60 to 80 grit) in your bucket. More precise than a grinding rock for removing mill scale. Start with new clear lens covers in your helmet and have spares with you. Many welders don't restart 7018s during a test or critical weld, though that is often done in school because consumables are EXPENSIVE.
I also like to use a cut wheel and a wire wheel (the twisted wire works better than the straight wire in IMHO), it lets me get in real tight on any undercut on the sides of my weld without changing the profile of the rest of the weld. Your right, during a test I never reuse a rod.
when i have one plate tacked up, i tack a 1/4inch piece of metal and soapstone to measure and mark the 1/4 inch gap and tack the other piece on the backing strip and put my root and intermediate and cover welds on it
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Yes this is usual with CWB. This video shows a 3G test. You would have done the CWB 1GF,2GF, 3GF and 4GF. CWB always use the GF (Grove-Fillet) joint. Also on the CWB tests your stops have to be in the middle of where they will bend it on both face and root.
Concerning the slag chipping... not necessarily great for plate, but a small reciprocating saw blade works wonders for cleaning up slag from wagon tracks or any other stubborn stuff on pipe.
Canadian CWB Test: One fillet side, one bevel side. No grinding, only wire wheeling. Weaving is not allowed on the fillet side weld, but is allowed on the rest. Gap is 13mm. Two tie in's are REQUIRED. One on the fillet side and one on the bevel side. The inspector administering the test will mark the spots and you will have to show them before continuing with the fill and cap. There are three bends, one on the cap side, and two on the root side where your tie in's are. Most people fail on the tie in's. 3G CWB test is very difficult. Practice!
The one I did was 6010 root with 7018 fill and cap. It was my best test out of mig/oxy/stick. I fubared my mig cause I was nervous. Haha. Usually my mig was better then stick, but was the other way around on test.
Great video(s). But how about some tips for us beginners? I'd love to know how to weld a sheet metal (about less than 1 MM) to an iron bar of 1 CM cross section. Do I set the Amps low for the sheet metal, or high for the Iron bar? If you've already covered that, can you please reply with the link? Thanks
@@Ryan_1997 Idk how you guys do it. I'm a student rn in a vocational welding program outta highschool, but running hot for me just doesn't work. lotta undercut. 105a works perfect for me in the vertical position with 1/8 7018, but my instructor can run up to like 128a and still get decent welds. I know a lot of the older welders always learned to run hotter, and i don't know if me being down to 105a is wrong?
@@torque2085 it's all personal preference brother! There is more than 1 right way to weld. They run hotter for faster travel and less chance of a slag inclusion left behind. If you clean your welds, feather those tacs, start and stops, you're going to get the same results.
@@torque2085 some people work faster with more heat and some people work a little slower with less. It'd all preference. As long as you penetrate and pass do whatever you want
I understand this video is very old now, but I have this test with 22.5 degree beveled plates and no backing plate. And I’m not allowed to give myself a gap. All 7018. I first have to run what the CWI is referring to as a back gouge weld, a pass on the backside of the plates after fitup in the flat position, and then you weld the groove in the vertical position. Same thing for overhead. Any tips would be greatly appreciated, it’s a very narrow valley to work with.
hello uhhm sir..I'd like to thank you for the tip regarding a horizontal run and how to continue the weld from the other end when the electrode runs out
I’m not great at math, I’m a welding student, do I need to get good with mathematics? I really admire how you can prop off of a pinky I have to use my whole body on a wall.
This is slightly different then cwb which is 30 degree and 90. and excluding horizontal there are 2 stop and starts which will both be on the root and subject to bend
Jody, any tips for a welding test done with 7018 3/32 rod, plates were gapped at 3/32 as well. Problem was getting the rod down low enough as you explained. But that's the way they set the test up. Thanks
I am having all kinds of problems with getting things to post tonight. You have know idea how much bad information my student pick up on RU-vid that I have to deal with everyday. Are you a welding student because I get that idea. I got on to post thanks to Welding Tips and Tricks for the videos and noticed that 6010 DCEN post.
LOL you answered one of the most important questions this guy never covers. These guys giving 4G G structural.. certification so-called tips are a joke..
I'm self taught and have much much muchhhhh more to learn. I live in Florida and I'm looking to take the first step in one day having a mobile welding/custom fabricating business by taking the arch welding cert test. Doesn't sound like much but it's the minimum required to get a business license for welding. I called a exam place today and for the life of me couldn't remember what size plate the men said. I'm looking to practice like crazy for several weeks/months until I'm confident but is it 5/8 or smaller as like a barebones first certification. Any help would be appreciated. He made it sound like it was easy. Bevel the edges then a root weld then I believe clean the root weld and then a second pass all with 7018.
I have a hard time taking a welding test because I'm not used to being comfortable with everything easy and right infront of me I don't do any shop welding I only field weld 90% of the time with 7018 1/8" I have the aws D 1.1 A and the N.Y. dot 3g I and hopefully the 4g at the end of the month
