Try putting a little more angle on the rod. That way it forces the slag behind the puddle.

 

I've always had better luck and still good penetration by turning the amps down by 10 or 15. If the whole rod is glowing orange by the time you get halfway thru it, turn the amps down.
Mike

 

i started 110 amps dcep and was SMOKING rods! so i looked up procs and turned down to 90. which was like pulse with stick because of the slag shorting the arc. so then 100 amps. then i switched polarity, then back up to 110 amps, which is the best i've got so far, without turning the rod into wet spaghetti

 

thanks cep, i'll give it a try.

any advice on polarity? i looked at the lincoln procs for their 309-16 rod and they specd dc+, and i hate to admit that i dont know if they mean dcep or not. . . . .maybe its dcgp? they also said ac would work, which reinforces the "maybe it doesn't really matter cause its gunna stink to run in a groove anyway" thought i have in my head right now. . . . . .stupid rod. i've run it up-hill before and learned its nasty sagging habits and was able to make decent welds. the easy flat one is killing me

 

I have run 3/32 310,316 50-65 amps .110 May be hot for for 1/8.

 

I’ve always run SMAW stainless steel on DCEP, (+).

 

I was on one job, pipe Welders couldn't 316 to run for crap farted around for 2 hours no good .Went back to shop got some out of oven ,all was good.

 

@ 92dlxman - strange. Excalibur 309L-16s in 1/8" run silk smooth at low to mid80s amperage with our BLUE inverters. DC+. Lower your drag angle and don't be in a rush to finish a line. The weld puddle in stainless is lagging, semi-sluggish.

You know your settings are dialed in when the slag almost self-peels. "-15s" have slightly more resilent slag covering that "-16s" in my experience. The 309L-16s run close to Lincoln's BlueMax 2100 hardfacing rods.

Will dig up a few photos of some "-16s" on straight 1/4" A36 and post 'em tomorrow.

 

Glad to see this mentioned. I sure was humbled as an apprentice several years ago by this rod. Had to put on some S.S. legs on a tank for temporary bracing. I hadn't ran S.S. SMAW before till that day. It was awful. :laugh: I ended up getting the tig rig out that day and finishing up. Haven't had to run S.S. stick since that day, always been wire or tig. I should prolly work on that.

 

typical joint fitup

 

That's generally called a "flare bevel" joint which are notorious for trapping slag. If the rods you are using are 309-17, they have a very heavy slag which will exacerbate the problem. 309-15 or -16 rods should be easier but arc quality seems brand-dependant. I have good luck with Lincoln and ESAB rods but I have used some no-name rods that run like crap.

John

 

I learned how welding mild steel picking eyes on manganese crusher wear metal. I tested the weld by hitting the eye with a hammer. If the eye sounded like a tuning fork the weld was good. If it didn't it would break off easy then grind down and start over.
Mike

 

Clarification re Post#9: DC+ amperages cited are for 3G. In flat/horiztonal, 105A is sweet.

 

Does it seem like only only one side of the joint wants to weld?

 

Take a rod in your off hand and reach in and drag that extra slag out of the way. It works.

 

now that is something i would like to try!!!! very interesting!

 

this is the best i got. just seems ridiculous to take 4 passes to make a relatively small weld. i wont show you the bad ones.

still 1/8" 309l-16, ran 93 amps today, with focus on more drag angle from helpful members above. i would like to try another brand of rod to see if it acts any better. just seems wrong that i can only run stringers as wide as the rod

 

I've done it many times. You just push it to the rear.

 

I'm surprised nobody has mentioned this. So what if the clips are SS? If the girder they are being welded to is plain steel, why are you bothering with SS rod? There is going to be a joint between SS and plain steel somewhere in there, so why not at the weld? Just use 7018, perhaps...or ER70S6 on MIG. At least that is the way I read it. Perhaps I missed something...

 

Depending on the dilution there can be cracking issues when welding SS with mild steel electrodes. Doesn't happen very often, the conditions have to be just right.

Using 309L filler metal guarantees no cracking issues. The very rich chemistry of the 309L ensures that the weld never ends up with the chemical makeup that's vunerable to cracking.

 

You can run beads wider than the rod. I've welded lots and lots of pipe joints with stainless rod, including weave caps.

The thing about stainless is that it has very poor thermal conductivity. This translates to a thick, sluggish puddle when you weld it. With stick rod, you also have to contend with a thick slag bath that easily encroaches on the puddle. The only way to deal with the slag puddle is using high enough amperage that it keeps the slag pushed to the back of the puddle. Well, that's not so easy with stainless rod, where an 1/8" electrode runs in the 80-85 amp range.

Yes, stainless and carbon steel can be welded together, in specific circumstances. Using stainless filler to weld mild steel works well. Using mild steel filler to weld stainless does not work well. It produces a weld with poor fusion and that is prone to cracking. Yes, somebody will inevitably come along and tell us about that one time they welded some stainless something or other with 7018 and it held. That's all good and well, but the fact of the matter is that there is a reason stainless filler on mild steel is an industry recognized and approved practice, while carbon filler on stainless is not.

Feel free to read up on the metallurgical differences as well, if the above isn't good enough for you. It's too much to type out on a forum post.

 

i got the f-its and welded stainless to carbon with 7018 exactly once.

could be called non-critical, just sliders to hold up a steam line.

but i only had stainless to make the sliders, and tacked to carbon pipe, of course.

7018 1" long little fillets, and got center cracks at every little weld. i'll never do that again