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A 30 year hand told me my rolled tube welds looked "machine made" and that was not a compliment
Back when I was a second year apprentice in 2016, I was proud of how clean and uniform my rolled tube welds looked on a boiler job in Gary. An old timer named Walt watched me finish a pass and said, "son, that looks machine made, and I mean that bad." Took me a while to get it, but he meant my bead was too perfect and stiff, no real tie in at the toes, so it would crack under heat cycles. Started slowing down, watching my puddle instead of chasing a pretty stack of dimes, and running a bit hotter at the edges. Any of you run into the same thing, where looking clean was actually hiding a weak weld?
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valpalmer6d ago
Wait, a 30 year hand watched you lay a pass and still said it looked too clean? That part blows my mind. I would have taken that as a compliment at 2nd year too, no question. The toe tie in thing is real though, a pretty bead with no bite at the edges is just a crack waiting on a heat cycle. Gary boiler jobs don't play around either.
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