Why does nobody talk about how a 3/16 rod caps a 1/2 inch plate root better than 1/8
Ran 1/8 on some 1/2 inch plate coupons down at the shop in Gary last month and kept getting lack of fusion at the root, so I switched to 3/16 and my bend test passed clean on the first try. Curious if anyone else has bumped rod size up on thick plate or if I just got lucky with my heat input.
Man, this is the same thing as using a bigger hammer on a stuck bolt. Everybody reaches for the tiny precise tool first because it feels like the smart move, then you grab the big one and it just works. Same with picking a knife for a thick sandwich, thin blade just squishes it while a wide one cuts clean. Thicker rod pushes more metal down into that root so it fills instead of skating across the top. Gary shops been running 1/8 out of habit for thirty years, that is the real reason nobody talks about it. Seems like half of welding is just unlearning what the last guy told you.