Realized I was beating the flux before letting the plate cool

I've been welding for about 7 years, mostly patchwork and pressure vessels. Every single time, I'd chip the slag and wire brush the bead as soon as I finished, thinking I was saving time. Then last Tuesday, an old inspector from the mill in Gary walked past my bay and watched me do it. He just said, 'You're throwing your temper away.' I thought he was joking, but he showed me a hairline crack that started forming on my last pass because I cooled the weld too fast with that aggressive brushing. He had me do a 3/8 plate joint, let it sit for 10 minutes, and the bead came out way cleaner with less spatter. I've been rushing that step for years and creating micro-stress issues without knowing it. Now I wait until the color fades to a dull red before I even look at it. Has anyone else figured out they were skipping a simple cooling step and it fixed a recurring problem?

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hayden_rodriguez13d ago

Same thing happened to me on some structural work. I used to wire brush hot and got these tiny cracks showing up in the last inspections. Letting the plate air cool for a few minutes is a hard habit to build but it saves you from rework later.