Please critique the weld quality (photos enclosed)

[Rockbadchild]

My instructor in High School always said the ground has to be good In order to get good welds . He taught me to find a good place clean it down to bare metal. Then place a piece of copper grounding wire In between my clamp and the cleaned spot to make better contact. Then prep both pieces your going to weld and you will have better results. That tip was 45years ago. And I still do that way today . Any other tips people can pass along ??

I always grind to bare metal where I put my ground and even move my ground back and forth to ensure propre contact having the ground close to the weld is also a good idea... welding is 90% preparation and 10% welding, the cleanness of the welding areal is paramount... also if the metal is tick I pre heat...

 

[flyerdan]

What I'll do sometimes on finished stuff if I don't want to sand off a big patch for a ground is do a small circle and clamp a rem of truss rod in the ground clamp and tack that right to the work.
Another copper trick is to use a strip of flat stock as a backer for filling holes or butt welding thin stuff; it acts as a heat sink to prevent burn thru and the weld won't stick to it.

 

[Rowalker]

started welding in 1966, I did better than this on my first day

 

[Millwood]

Jokingly I say your welds look like Crow poop on a fence post! I am retired from building power company line trucks and have welded for over 30 years. Guessing here, but it looks like you used a stick machine. Temp too cold with not enough penetration into the steel.

Solution; Brace up the gate. Angle grinder with stone wheel to gouge out the weld (bottom hinge first). Use 7018 rod and turn up the heat. Do a vertical test on two pieces of scrap metal.

Good luck

 

[bigtiller]

What I'll do sometimes on finished stuff if I don't want to sand off a big patch for a ground is do a small circle and clamp a rem of truss rod in the ground clamp and tack that right to the work.
Another copper trick is to use a strip of flat stock as a backer for filling holes or butt welding thin stuff; it acts as a heat sink to prevent burn thru and the weld won't stick to it.

What is a "rem of truss rod" ??

 

[flyerdan]

A rem of truss rod is just a chunk of about 3/8" galvanized rod that was cut off the extra length of a truss rod used to take the sag out of a gate. A piece around 8 inches long works good as a makeshift ground, and there was plenty of it available.

 

[Mud2Money]

Did they like just use a car battery and some welding wire or what ? I’ve seen dirt cheap Chinese stuff come with better welds. No continuous pass , little to any penetration, porosity. I wouldn’t trust those welds for nothing. I’m honestly shocked the gate didn’t just fall off.

 

[ras5309]

I am a NDE Level III (Non Destructive Examiner) (Level III means I am at the highest achievable level in this field) with 29 years experience in the nuclear industry. I currently am the program owner and level III in a USA nuclear power plant. I think I can speak to those welds as good as anyone alive. I do not even need my Ultrasonic flaw detector to interrogate these welds .
Pure trash.
Farm welds are typically no where near that bad. That said, I have seen some pretty crappy welds hold up to amazing abuse. I would have a real hard time paying for that bad of a job. If it was me doing the welding and that was the best I could muster from my $79 HF flux core MIG welder.... I guess that I would have to accept it. But paying for that would hurt a lot.

"$79 HF flux core MIG welder.... " Looks more like a 12 volt battery and jumper cables did this job.