got a few runs in today any thoughts

[davidjohnperry]

Hey guys just got a few runs in on the vertical its been a while scince ive been near me little thermal arc would love some feed back
The amps for the 2.5 7018 rods was 90 amps
And that was also for my root in the corner
The 3.2 7018 rods was ran at 110 amps and 120 amps

 

[davidjohnperry]

Could some please rotate my pics 90, degrees right please
Thanks you very much in return
Dave

 

[Bsmith]

Pretty good especially if you havn't done much vertical up welding. Right top weld on the plate has probably been a bit cold as ther's a slag inclusion at the start. I would have used 6013s for this, any special reason for using 7018s which if I remember are a filling rod and not for root?

 

[davidjohnperry]

Hi im not sure why I use 7018 rods just
What I hadvlying around the yard altho the two top wide weaves were 6013 esab rods I found just before packing up

 

[toddy]

Pretty good especially if you havn't done much vertical up welding. Right top weld on the plate has probably been a bit cold as ther's a slag inclusion at the start. I would have used 6013s for this, any special reason for using 7018s which if I remember are a filling rod and not for root?

a 7018 is a low hydrogen rod. and can be used for rooting filling or capping...
but as said i would use a 6013 it is easer to controll to start with, and needs less amps to work well

 

[awemawson]

When I did my welding classes years ago they insisted on all roots being 7018. I found them the most dreadful things to get going on a normal AC transformer set, and if you had to restart half way through they were a nightmare. I'm told they are easier on an inverter, and on a transformer set they should be run on the higher (80?)voltage tapping, but we weren't allowed to do that.

 

[Kent]

Not bad, just work on it. Been a long while from when I did this all day and it takes practice even to get your hand back in. In a few hours I went from 3 out of ten to around 8.5 out of ten, when I have the time I will spend a few hours get that 8.5 to a strong 9 plus then onwards. Once over I wouldn't even need to think about it, just depends on practice.
Are you breaking the welds to test them?

 

[PTvor]

When I did my welding classes years ago they insisted on all roots being 7018. I found them the most dreadful things to get going on a normal AC transformer set, and if you had to restart half way through they were a nightmare. I'm told they are easier on an inverter, and on a transformer set they should be run on the higher (80?)voltage tapping, but we weren't allowed to do that.

A few 7018s are specified as DC only and some of the DC/AC ones have a specified minimum OCV of 70V. You'd have to be careful in your choice of 7018 to find ones which run reliably on a buzz-box. OCV isn't that much of an issue on a DC set and inverters have features like hot start which make striking the rod much easier. It's quite possible that the instructor was telling you to do something that the makers said the rod wasn't designed to do. A few people on here have had problems striking and running rods, a few splutters and that's it, and it's turned out they've been trying to run 7018s on a buzz box with an OCV of 50V.

You usually only get one easy strike. The slag covers the end of the wire when you break the arc.

 

[davidjohnperry]

hey guys thanks for posting. ive used all sorts of rods in practice i just seem to get on better with them i can use 6013 rods i just prefer them on flat work i might try again in postion again with them at some point and post results. and as for restarts with arc force on my inverter and filing the end off i get good restarts. on a old type oil transformer i stuggled like hell to get them to restart infact i lost a lot of half rods that day

 

[Bill Edwards]

If you're happy with them then continue with them. I've recently gone to using them over 6013 rods myself, though they're a complete pain to use on the oil cooled welder the welds are very controllable and seem to be strong. But yes, I too lose a lot of rods - they'll stop for no reason and attempts to restart leave a stuck rod, and any effort to unstick it breaks off the flux.

Not a bad attempt on the V up weld, stick at it.

 

[davidjohnperry]

Thanks mate I intend to stick at it just keep practicing for now