Welding Positions

In application, there are only four basic welding positions. Often, welding must be done on the ceiling, in the corner, or on the floor. In view of this, some techniques were developed to allow welding in any position. Different welding positions are:

• Flat position: In this position, the filler metal is deposited from the upper side of the joint and the face of the weld is approximately horizontal. In welding terminology this is also called the down-hand position for both groove welds and fillet welds.

• Horizontal position: The position of welding in which the weld is performed on the upper side on a horizontal surface and against an approximately vertical surface.

• Overhead position: The weld is deposited from the underside of the joint and the face of the weld is horizontal.

• Vertical position: The weld axis is approximately vertical. The welding direction can be changed up and down.

Welding in the flat position is the most simple technique and the most convenient. The highest deposition rates can be provided and it can be adopted easily to mechanised or automated welding techniques. In these positions, the most difficult position is the overhead that needs special skills for the welding application. In industrial applications the manipulators and positioners have been developed and used for holding a joint in as flat a position as possible.

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Flat Position

The recommended weaving patterns, the welding gun motions and the bead sequences in flat position are illustrated in the illustrations opposite and overleaf. In MIG welding light gauge materials in a single pass, a slight back stepping technique is used in butt joints. Root passes are performed with small, pendulum-like weaves. Cover passes are also carried out in the same manner but with wider weaving in order to adjust the preset weld width. The welder must take care of pausing at the side walls to obtain an adequate tie-in to the base metal. In the flat position, the inclination of the work surface with the horizontal strongly affects the weld bead shape and penetration. In the case of uphill welding, when the weld axis is inclined 15E to the horizontal, both the reinforcement and the penetration depths increase but the weld width decreases. On the other hand, in downhill welding the penetration depth and the reinforcement decrease and the weld width and the welding speed increase.

Horizontal Position

The recommended weaving patterns, the welding gun motions and bead sequences in horizontal position are illustrated in the two illustrations below. For butt weld root passes and fill passes, a zig-zag motion like a saw tooth is used with bead width adjustment as required. The operator must take care of pausing at the side walls to obtain an adequate tie-in to the base metal or to the previous weld bead. In the horizontal position for fillet welds a circular motion of the electrode tip is recommended.

Vertical Position

In the vertical position, a back and forth weave is recommended for the weaving patterns, the welding gun motions and the bead sequences for light gauge material with a square edge butt joint. In a bevelled multi-pass joint, root passes are performed with small weaving in a U pattern like a pendulum, cover passes are carried out by using a side weave with a backstep in the size of the wire diameter at the walls. For vertical up fillet weld a Christmas tree pattern is recommended with pauses at the side walls. In the vertical down welding, an upside down U pattern with pauses at the side walls is used. In vertical down welding the weld puddle tends to flow down ahead of the electrode tip and therefore the travel speed must be high enough so that the molten metal flowing down does not take place between the electrode tip and the base metal. In this case it is possibile that the arc can not melt the base metal to obtain adequate binding to the base metal. The welder must take care of pausing at the side walls to obtain adequate tie-in to the base metal. For vertical up fillet weld a Christmas tree pattern is recommended with pauses at the side wall.

Overhead Position

The recommended weaving patterns, the welding gun motions and bead sequences in the overhead welding are illustrated in the illustration overleaf. Overhead welding of butt bevelled joint is performed with a regular zig-zag pattern with pauses at the side walls. For the overhead fillet weld as well as in the vertical up fillet weld a Christmas tree pattern is recommended with pauses at the side walls.