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Share your overhead welding techniques

Lil'John

Lil'John

Former #278
Joined
May 20, 2020
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488
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Title kind of states it.

My issue is with a "small" Mig welder. It is one of the 220v Miller Passport welders(dual voltage). I am welding on thicker 3/16" or 1/4" metal. I am running 0.03" Lincoln L-56 wire with 75/25 gas.

Symptoms: welding flat comes out pretty good. Welding in a joint going upward starts getting sketchy. Overhead butted to a flat vertical service looks like a pigeon was laying on its back and crapping; the weld spends more time running down that sticking.

Is it just running the welder too high? My experiment with wire speed didn't help the situation; 40 to 65 out of 100.
 
Give me fits sometimes too. Up wire speed a bit and push is my technique, seems to work the best.
 
i have never used a passport but looked into getting one awhile. its a little fuzy now... but i believe the inverter has somehow been 'tuned' to run on co2 and and running outside their specs makes them difficult.

but everyone syas they are the best welders out there on co2.

i even bought one only to find out the board was burnt. still want one.
 
overhead i use a push and pull technique and move faster, weld pushing forward then come back a little over your weld, rinse and repeat thats with stick and fluxcore though as its all i use
 
Gravy said:
Welding overhead for me is the same as flat, same setting and technique. Move faster
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This^ but steel cleanliness is more important. Also slightly less heat that flat wont hurt
 
Two types of MIG welding. Dip (low power) and spray (high power). Only dip works on overhead. You're likely running too hot to dip weld.

Get low power dip welding tuned in on flat and it'll work fine across and over. But if it's too hot it'll drip.
 
Gravy said:
Welding overhead for me is the same as flat, same setting and technique. Move faster
Click to expand...

This.

I don't change anything on the machine for different positions.

As for the vertical welds........run downhill.
 
tracyb I've been relatively happy with the Passport for 20 years :)

It sounds like I may be running a bit too hot on flat and it is being disguised. It also sounds like I'm running too slow overhead which I will admit.
 
Fuck you guys are good. For me it’s weld two inches drop a cherry red bb down my shirt. Run around screaming like a little girl while contemplating risking moving the bb and having it fall down your pants. Then repeat lol

This is how my overhead welding goes :homer:
 
I try to grind a significant groove in any overhead joint. It keeps the puddle where I want it.
 
Vertical downhill is my technique as well, just have to keep in front of the weld puddle to ensure root penetration.

Overhead sucks, but it's just a matter of torch speed.
 
Flip the work over so it's not overhead any more. Only took one splatterberry through my shorts to figure out I don't like overhead welding.

Honestly, same setup and maybe a little faster travel overhead, but not much. I have to concentrate on my weave consistency more overhead, it just flows more naturally for me in normal positions.
 
ThePanzerFuhrer said:
Fuck you guys are good. For me it’s weld two inches drop a cherry red bb down my shirt. Run around screaming like a little girl while contemplating risking moving the bb and having it fall down your pants. Then repeat lol

This is how my overhead welding goes :homer:
Click to expand...

Welding overhead with stick or flux core you will get alot of drips and slag falling. The secret that nobody tells you is don't stand under it. :flipoff2:
 
bdkw1 said:
Yeah, the inspectors love that.
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Not everyone welds in a setting that requires inspectors.

Yes, a proper uphill weld is better, but a downhill weld is better than a sloppy uphill weld with improper technique.
 
bdkw1 said:
Yeah, the inspectors love that.
Click to expand...

Lots of welds can be run downhill, even following code. 6010 on pipe is ran downhill on the root pass for example.

There is no problem whatsoever with running short arc MIG with solid wire downhill. You could get slag inclusion running a flus cored wire downhill.
 
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