Electrode ID’s and storage?

[lotus_esprit_s1]

A friend wanted some rods to practise with so I started to dig out some for him. I don’t really do much arc welding at present and the majority of my rods were inherited last year; There are probably 30 boxes, some of which are opened, some still sealed and I have little idea of type of rod or quality of rod. My idea is to keep the sealed boxes and any which are of top quality and he can have the rest for practising.

I was planning on buying a rod quiver oven to bake the opened ones prior to use, and some decent airtight rod containers to store any opened boxes in.

Anyone any idea on quality of rods and whether they are worth keeping on the following-

- Philips W3800 2.5mm (look to be mild steel and presumably ancient) not even sure what this rod is for?
- Lincoln Easyweld 6013
- BOC Everyday 6013
- Hilco Red Extra 6013
- Phoenix 7018
- Elga 7018
- BOC Ni
- Fox GNI Ni-ci (presumably for cast - two boxes of these)
- Bohler Fox Eas 2A 308 - these are 5.0mm diameter!!
- BOC 316L

Thanks!

 

[Turbo]

A heated rod quiver will only keep rods dry as you are using them, they are not hot enough to dry damp rods. A domestic electric oven can be used, it will not get hot enough to reach ideal baking temp but its good enough for no-pro welding.

I store my rods in the hotpress & keep a selection out in the garage to use. I store then in 40mm grey waste pipe plugged at 1 end & a screw-on inspection cap fitted to the other end. It keeps them sealed, dry & holds maybe 1kg of rods. See post no 6574 for something similar.
https://www.mig-welding.co.uk/forum/threads/stuff-you-have-made-today.67127/page-329#post-1392397

As for rods,

- Philips W3800 2.5mm (look to be mild steel and presumably ancient) not even sure what this rod is for? Never heard of.
- Lincoln Easyweld 6013 Very good
- BOC Everyday 6013 Good
- Hilco Red Extra 6013 Never heard of but a forum member sells them @Jim Davey
- Phoenix 7018 Very good but your welder needs a high ocv to start them
- Elga 7018 Never heard of but your welder needs a high ocv to start them
- BOC Ni Could be for cast or dissimilar metals
- Fox GNI Ni-ci (presumably for cast - two boxes of these) Could be for cast or dissimilar metals
- Bohler Fox Eas 2A 308 - these are 5.0mm diameter!! For stainless steel
- BOC 316L For stainless steel

As for your friend practicing, you are better starting with a good rod & welding machine, nothing will discourage you quicker than poor rods or machine. Start with 3.2 dia 6013 rod & a thick plate to practice on, 2.5 & smaller are harder to use.
Point him towards the guides on this forum or youtube to get the basics.

 

[GRW]

I recently bought a cheapie Aldi dinky inverter-welder and some of the rods on sale with it (just to tinker / learn MMA / use out n about).

I have a small 13w semi-conductor panel heater sited inside the wire feeder of my Oxford MigMaker to try to keep the mig wire good.... so I store the rods in there too.

I also have one of the Missus' old stockings (Ooer!) Filled with Oil Dry / Cat Litter) in there as a home-made Dessicant Pack - double whammy of trying to prevent damp/condensation and absorb any at the same time.

No idea really yet how all the above will perform (I've had it set up for a while but its only the last weeks where its been getting much wetter/humidity).