vertical welding

If it needs to hold, get someone you know to do it for you. Welding is a skill that don't come overnight.

Run a few practice pieces before attempting the real thing, Good luck. Doug N

Verticle up is harder to do cause the heat travels up with you as you weld. Verticle up is simply multiple horizontal welds stacked on top of one another and you will use a "Z" pattern to acheive this making short horisontal welds 3/8 to 1/2 inch long the moving up and across to the next layer and lay another bead. Hold your rod angle at 60 to 75 degrees again so the rod is pointed up to hold the weld puddle up. You will get much better weld penetration using verticle up vs down. Do not try to lay too much weld down in one pass with either processes as it makes it harder to control, make several passes. Use a fast freeze rod as mentioned earlier 6010 or 6011. Turn the heat down 10 to 20 percent of what you would use for flat position to help control the puddle. MIG welding will use the same type techniques.

Hope this helps.

I wish my welding instructor would have explained vertical welding to me as as simply and clearly as you did in your post above. I probably would have learned how to do it then.
It's a great way to visualize the process.

I can't wait to try your technique. Thanks again.

KEH

If you have a fast freeze rod in a stick welder you can just run bottom to top like you would a regular bead.

If you are using a mig welder (which is not a fast freeze process) it is a bit more difficult. I usually start on the bottom and make about 1/4" tall tack welds one just above the other until I get to the top. Let the weld cool a bit before applying the next one and it helps to serve as a ledge so that gravity doesn't pull the weld all out.

Run a pass up.

Grind it clean and smooth.

Run a pass up.

If you have the heat right it will almost surely be leaving drippy jimmy durante' nose looking lumps.

grind those away. Make sure there is no voids and do it again.

If those drips are too prevelent you could drop the amps just a bit.

The more passes you make the warmer the weld area will become and you may find that by the 3rd or even the second pass, you need to drop the amps a bit.

If you can't get it to completely fuse from side to side (after grinding away to the root), raise the amps and move a little slower. You may want to slightly move side to side to keep the puddle working into both sides.

BUT!!! a real welder will stab it in there and carry a full puddle right up the middle to the top with little rod action!!!