How do you guys get a nice fillet weld on angles of 45 degrees or less when using a MIG welding gun. The tip seems to far from the metal joint to get a good weld. Should I switch to a smaller tip? Should I speed up the wire feed? Thanks in advance.

 

i guess i just let the wire stick farther out from the tip... a little more spatter due to less gas at weld, but I'm an amateur, so take my technique lightly

 

hmm ya those angles suck. I do the same as wjwerdna and turn up the gas a little. If you can turn the part so that the joint is vertical then run a vertical down weld, that or turn it to make a V with the parts and that way you are running a completly flat weld. That should help alot at least it does for me.

 

hit it a bit and let it cool, and hit it again

 

You can do one or a combination of things:

Increase wire speed
Increase voltage
Increase gas flow

Practice makes perfect.

A vertical down weld?

 

Why do you say that? I have had plenty of fine welds welding a vertical down fillet weld

 

Sure, they may "look" fine...but generally vertical down welding is suited for welding light gauge metal because the penetration is shallow and diminishes the possibility of burning through the metal.

From my experience in the ASME Section XIII Div 1 most specifications do not allow vertical down welding for this reason on pressure retaining welds.

Here's a good explanation I found:

Vertical Welding

Two basic techniques are available for welding vertically; ‑ up and down. The up technique is favoured in heavy sections and large fillets or where root penetration is of prime importance. The down technique is usually restricted to lighter sections and joints where penetration is not a problem (light sheet) or where excellent finish and minimum distortion is essential.

 

Your killin me Waskilly, pullin out the ASME guidelines on me HAHAHA. But you are correct and I guess I have to say its fine for me because all I really performed those vertical down welds with MIG was on .058 tubing.

 

Sorry, but I work professionally (my day job) as a fabrication engineer for an industrial manufacturer and I'm around ASME codes and many others all day long...so I see it in my sleep.

It only hurts the first time you admit I'm correct.

 

Its all good, and sorry to go off topic but can you maybe enlighten me on the fabrication engineer stuff. Once Im done with the military Im thinking about getting back into the welding scene and looking at the engineering, fabricating, mechanical, manufacturing stuff. So anything good to look at?

 

Very prime field to go into right now as we can't keep good folks who can burn metal, same with engineering and all those things you list. If you are interested in something more, email me.

 

Ain't that the truth. I was going to try the increase in wire speed first. How about taking an old tip and flattening it to get in there?

 

Like Wabbit said, increase voltage. Welding further from the tip is doable, but not as hot. If you turn up the heat, it will sort of account for the extra distance. Now wabbit, from my experience, welding farther away, while not as hot, does fill more. Wouldn't it not be as good to increase the wire speed? What do you think, most of my experience is with a flux cored wire feed (mig-like).