What should the travel speed be for thicker and thinner metals?

• A. Increased for thicker, decreased for thinner
• B. Decreased for thicker, increased for thinner
• C. The same
• D. Varies with electrode diameter

Answer: (B)

Travel speed controls how much heat is put into the joint per unit length. For thicker metals you need more heat to achieve proper fusion, so you slow down to increase heat input and obtain deeper penetration. For thinner metals you want to avoid excessive heat that can cause burn-through and distortion, so you speed up to reduce heat input. That’s why the recommended approach is to decrease travel speed for thicker sections and increase it for thinner ones. Keeping the same speed regardless of thickness or tying speed to electrode diameter alone would not reliably produce good welds across different thicknesses.