Technical Welding upside down-ish

So I'm working on welding the top half to the bottom half of my car together. The trouble I'm running in to is that the welds aren't staying in place. I'm thinking that if I make some small welds and kind of sew it together that might work, but I'd like to get your opinion first

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I can't TIG upside down worth a crap. And MIGing upside down is hard too. Practice makes perfect.

What system are you trying?

 

I have a little Miller sidekick 120v

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WOOPs stands for Welding Out Of Position and is the usual result in my garage when I attempt it.

 

I was trying from the inside, but there is a lot in the way and kind of tight

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Show me what you're working on. Is it sheet metal, heavier gauge, what? Whatever it is, it sounds like you're running too cold or not moving fast enough.

 

It's sheet metal, a lil on the heavier side 18-20 g.

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It might help if you cleaned the surface up a bit. Also what is holding it together why you weld???

 

I recall having the same issue once but don't recall how I rectified it, may have had the wrong wire speed setting or a bad ground.
By the way, you haven't lived until you have had a hot weld BB land in your ear.
The sound and smell of sizzling ear hair is hard to forget!
I have since made a pact with myself not to weld upside down anymore.

 

Well first of all, you have zero prep done...need nice clean metal to make it right...not rusted over stuff...

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One word - rotisserie.

 

When wire welding overhead, it always requires a little more wire speed. And always, the better the weld area is prepared, the better the outcome.

 

Yes your prep is poor.
Making the effort to position yourself in a comfortable position will help too.

 

It's all about practice and practice some more. When I took my certification, it requires a 1" test piece in overhead and a 1" test piece in vertical. I probably practiced for 120 hours in overhead alone. Of course the certification is only stick welding, TIG and MIG are a heck of a lot easier. It all comes down to practice! As mentioned your metal is very rusty and I'm sure most of your problem.

 

Also, pretend you're in welding school, and learn and practice on something besides the car...like some scrap metal, clamped in the upside down position. Then when you've developed the technique, move on to the real thing.

 

I second the faster speed. I've been welding for 30 years and tried it all! Little faster on the wire speed helps when overhead welding

 

I'm no expert, but as has been said, you want bare metal where you're welding, and bare metal where you're making the ground connection. Also, those gaps in the unwelded portions are too wide, but presumably you have a plan for that.

 

gotta clean, need snug fit clamped well , might wanna run short beads in several areas, Iow skip around to prevent warping and try higher wire speed as suggested, perhaps some of that upper part can be welded from inside. Welding out of position is already difficult so don't increase that difficulty by welding rough and unclean material.

 

First stop is prep. No sense welding dirty rusty metal, 2nd, if youre outdoors and theres any sort of breeze its taking away your shielding gas, either get out of the breeze or crank up the gas

 

Big gaps = big trouble, not clean = trouble, trying to run a bead = trouble..
Look on U tube for welding help. Extreme amounts of info.!!

 

Clean your metal on both sides, get the rust off. Be sure to do this on your ground as well, put ground as close to weld as possible. What size wire are you using, and is it name brand or chinese wire?

 

Welding up-side-down is also the hardest for me, also. But like said, clean the metal and close the gap. I find that short bursts of weld work for me. If I hang in there , it will fall out! But my brother-in-law, an expert welder, always said I weld too hot! Lol






Bones

 

Way back when I was learning to weld it was called Overhead and if you couldn't run a good bead there you wern't going to get a job welding. That was Stick Welding, I don't even know if Mig was invented yet. And Yes, get things cleaned.

 

I would gas weld that.

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I used to be able to stick weld overhead, but the last time I tried it was as many boogers as it was weld. That's what being out of practice will do for you. Tried a little with my flux core mig, did fair, but actually did better with a 6010 rod. Got enough weld on it it won't come loose for a while, even if it was ugly....that's what grinders are for!

 

Another thing to pay attention to. What are plugged into? See your welder where it says "20 amp circuit"? Do you have one? Anything less and your machine will not work right. Are you using an extension cord? If you are you lose even more oomph. Lots of factors. Prep the metal and go from there.

 

A lot of good info thanks again for the help.
And to recap

-I was grinding on that damn thing all morning and it only seemed to spread it around
-yes I know I have some horrendous gaps.
- I've been keeping to small spots to prevent warping
- I got the wire from a local welding supply store .023


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For the wider gaps, if possible, I would use an aluminum, brass, or copper backup strip on the back side, while welding. Anyway you do it, it's not a simple job.

 

Maybe I'm not looking at that photo right but it seems to me that if you were inside the trunk space you could weld 80% of that seam in top position.

 

maybe you need a few days then , huh?
Should take about 30 mins. And Should be done before the fitting took place. but it needs de rusted, at least knock the loose stuff off