Think i've hit a brick wall...

[Ragnarok]

I always try to buy rods from high turn over suppliers and vacum pack whatever is left if i don't use the whole box, not done much arc lately though.

 

[SiPMerlin150]

Usually there are drying instructions with rods. 6013s are something like 110C for no more than 2 hours in an electric oven. If you bake them too hot, you char the cellulose component.

7018s need more like 350C for two hours to get rid of all the moisture but you can get rid of most of it by baking at a lower temperature.

I was given some 6013s of various brands which had been kept in a garage for a long time and some of them had suffered from damp. I baked them in the oven for a couple of hours and they were fine apart from a few Lincolns where the flux was peeling.

I know steel varies in quality even in batches from the same mill, but I've never heard of mild steel that couldn't be welded. Are you sure this was mild steel?

It was sold to me as flat bar steel, its known as 'black steel' which to me is steel in its rawest form, with a jacket of hardened slag/scale still on it, as underneath once ground off its shiny.

I'll bake my remaining box of 6013's, i bought a 5 kilo box and they have been in and out of the garage so they might of picked up some moisture i only have 1/3 of that box left

 

[tombardier]

I keep my rods in the airing cupboard, and stick silica dessicant in there with them too. Makes a difference I have some 2mm 6013 rods which did get a bit damp once, and they were welding really badly, since keeping them in the airing cupboard, they've been great, even though you can see a little smattering of rust on the bare end of the electrode!

 

[PTvor]

I keep them in the airing cupboard too. I don't bother with dessicant. I never have any problems with damp rods.

if you keep them in a garage, you are likely to have problems.

 

[SiPMerlin150]

I'll keep 'em in a warm area, i used to keep them on top of the boiler, and it was ok, but i have kept them for the past few weeks in a cupbard that gets a supply of air from outdoors, so that must be playing a large part of getting them damp.

I like the sound of dessicant in an air tight box, though at the moment i've just baked them so i'll try a few very shortly and tell you how they are!

 

[Cobbler]

Keep an eye out at boot sales and gov surplus sales, I got 2 plastic cylinders with o ring seals and bayonet fixing lids about 4 inches dia and a bit longer than a 3.25 rod, with shoulder straps, ex MOD.off anti tank shells or something for a couple of pounds. These are ideal for keeping Rods in with a desiccant pack.

Cobbler

 

[Ragnarok]

there are special things like that that but with screw lids some welding suppliers sell them they're called "rod guard" look good

 

[SiPMerlin150]

Update

It was damp rods! I 'cooked' them for a bit, and despite a few going from paper grey to tan color, they seem to be much better! The lo-hi's made a weird smell as they were baking, almost like a plastic smell, but non of the rods suffered flux loss..

Vertical ups are going better again! 60 amps 45 degree downwards, uphanded travel, whip and pause, just watching the pool of molten metal roll into the tail of the previous

 

[Ragnarok]

nice one, in my experience rods like 7018s are never as good after they've been damp even if you dry them, 6013s though i have dried with a blowtorch and they've been totally fine haha

 

[SiPMerlin150]

nice one, in my experience rods like 7018s are never as good after they've been damp even if you dry them, 6013s though i have dried with a blowtorch and they've been totally fine haha

I can't use 7018's , the welders voltage is just too low to sustain an arc, i have to push the rod into the workpiece and drag it like a stick of chalk and hold a slow pace, 2 inches at most and the arc stalls.

I need a DC inverter machine for those.

I was looking for 6011 rods, but only america seems to favour them...

 

[Ragnarok]

you can use 7018s on the merlin 150 :P i used to do it a lot....

 

[SiPMerlin150]

you can use 7018s on the merlin 150 :P i used to do it a lot....

how? what diameter of rod and setting and technique? please tell me

 

[Ragnarok]

not done it in along time, the ones i got a lot of were lincoln 2.5 7018s used them abit hotter than 6011s and 6013s, they're harder to use on those machines, but it's not imposible, the arc is shorter and you have to be more precise keeping the arc length just right.. as i say though, i've not done arc much in along time, and last time i used the merlin 150 was about umm 8 years ago i think haha.

when i was a kid i had to fix a bit of a spring tine harrow dunno if you know tractors, but it was one of the lugs on the 3 point linkage, it'd snapped off leaving 2 halves of the hole for the pin to go through, i went to a pro welder and asked what rods to use and he recommended 7018s, and sold me a few, he said if i could use them on my little welder then i was a good welder because it is very hard, and that fixing the ring that would carry 1/3rd the weight/force of the harrow would need a very good weld, that weld still stands today, though the harrow hasn't been used in a few years, i was 13-14 when i did it 24 this month

anyway, after that i used 7018s a lot made a space frame chassis crossmember for my dads land rover using them, 2.5mm wall tube that was.

it's do able with practice, same as welding 1/16" steel with an arc welder

 

[SiPMerlin150]

I have used the 7018's to tack things together, i really to like the glassy shiny black slag they leave and the bright silvery bead they leave too. I wish i could use more of them, i get frustrated when they stick hard to the work, makes the welder buzz like mad and if stuck for more than 2 seconds it cuts the fuse

I have welded up a seat anchorage point in an old ford ka using 1.2mm steel and 3.2mm rods, and made sure there was no inclusions, and afterwards ground them down and re layered to increase penentration, the other side looked like a clone of the top side due to intense penetration.

It passed MOT too

I'm not familiar with tractors at all i'm afraid, i bet its really satisfying to know that those welds you did all those years ago are still holding up!

 

[Ragnarok]

loads of stuff i made or fixed when i was a kid is still in use nice going on the 1.2, think you are right on the limit or whats posible there 3.2 rods on 1.2 steel though!, i used to be able to get 1.6mm rods back when i first started arc welding, they could weld thin.

 

[SiPMerlin150]

loads of stuff i made or fixed when i was a kid is still in use nice going on the 1.2, think you are right on the limit or whats posible there 3.2 rods on 1.2 steel though!, i used to be able to get 1.6mm rods back when i first started arc welding, they could weld thin.

I had to shoulder the rod holder, and hold the business end of the rod like a pencil, (thank goodness for thick gauntlets!) and strike the rod up and keep it cherry hot between welds to prevent it from sticking. Kept a water mist spray bottle on hand as flareups were common. (Its hard to see a fire through a shade 13 visor...

 

[Ragnarok]

it's hard to see fire through any welding lens really if you get the paint off a few inches either side of the weld it shouldn't catch fire, though sometimes the back side is hard to get to isn't it haha

 

[SiPMerlin150]

it's hard to see fire through any welding lens really if you get the paint off a few inches either side of the weld it shouldn't catch fire, though sometimes the back side is hard to get to isn't it haha

the underseal inside the sill had caught fire so i stuck an airline in and blew it out At one point i felt my knee was warm and i saw flames licking the underedge of the sill near my knee....lets just say i promptly put them out

 

[Ragnarok]

hahah, ahh the fun of welding on cars ay

 

[SiPMerlin150]

hahah, ahh the fun of welding on cars ay

Its all fun and games at the end of the day!