Thread: Stick Welding Rods - Better Brands?

depends what you want to do.

Welding up some 20x20x1.6 Duragal!

What is your recommendation?

Kobelco RB26 - prolly in 2.6mm - really nice bead appearance, similar to CIG Satincraft, but much cheaper. Just have a file on hand to scrape off the glassy coating forms over the tip after you've struck it once - much more controlled subsequent starts compared to tapping or scraping it on the job to get it going again.

My recommendation would be cigweld ferrocraft 21 2.5mm
They are a semi iron powder that are good for all positions and have a very good appearance and are easy to use.

After a bit of searching round, mainly on here, I just bought a bod of Kobe 2.6mm rods. i burnt a few on some 40 x 3mm angle and I love them. I have never used a dc arc welder before so that could also be some of the difference but they where really smooth and nice bead, slag just falls off. I don't have much to compare them too but they seemed really nice to use and restarts where no trouble, I didn't file or anything either

Cheers
James

Originally Posted by bimbo

d restarts where no trouble, I didn't file or anything either

You're doing a lot better than me - I find both Satincraft and RB26 rods a pig to restart once they've cooled off.

Rusty Arc

What power source (as in type of machine) are you using?
Sometimes it is not the operator or the electrode.

As an a example the pics are from a job I did with el cheapo nasty ass honkinese electrodes that I had carefully stored on the surface of weld bench.

Alright then, I lied,they weren't carefully stored, they were laying on the bench top for a month in the wet season and I was too lazy to dig out the better ones. This is what an inverter can do.They were 2.6mm run at around 80 amps. Notice the tack was not particularly brilliant,but after you drag a bit of broken hacksaw blade backwards through the slag trap,it just pops out.
Some inverters have a VRD built in and can be a sh*t to start.Have a striking block(scrap) close by and jump the red hot end across and re strike while red hot.Easier if you have an auto helmet -to see what you are doing.

Grahame

Originally Posted by twebb01

Welding up some 20x20x1.6 Duragal!

What is your recommendation?

• Prep the joint by lightly grinding the gal away in the to be welded zone
• Lightly tack on each corner
• Incline the surface to be welded at about 45 degrees off the vertical.
• Use an extremely short arc , welding faster than normal so the flux won't overun the arc.
• Weld one side, then its opposite
  
• Practice on some scrap pieces first

Grahame

Originally Posted by Grahame Collins

Rusty Arc
What power source (as in type of machine) are you using?

Firstly, nice weld

Mostly it's the BOC 130 inverter, which I don't believe has VRD. The rods strike up easily the first time, just once the tip has cooled off and you go to start the next run, there's a bunch of tapping and scraping to get it to strike again, hence the use of a file to clean the slag or whatever off the tip. Without this, both the Satincraft and RB26 rods both require significantly more effort to get started again than Ferrocraft or other 6013 or 6012 rods.

I prefer WIA rods. For what you are doing 12P should be fine.

Early on I came to the conclusion that I wasn't rich enough to buy cheap rods. Sometimes they seem ok, other times the filler rod was rubbish and the box had to be thrown in the bin.

Originally Posted by Grahame Collins

• Prep the joint by lightly grinding the gal away in the to be welded zone
• Lightly tack on each corner
• Incline the surface to be welded at about 45 degrees off the vertical.
• Use an extremely short arc , welding faster than normal so the flux won't overun the arc.
• Weld one side, then its opposite
  
• Practice on some scrap pieces first

Grahame

Grahame,

I'm a bit confused on your third tip "..incline the surface about 45 degrees off the vertical..."

Are you talking about a butt weld (where I usually weld the material flat) or fillet weld where one surface is flat and the other surface 90 degrees vertical?

I can see your point 45 degree point when welding a fillet, but having trouble gettting my head around the butt weld.configuration.

If you are talking butt weld,. do you weld the high side material and flow the weld down to the low side?

Let me take this opportunity to thank-you for your very helpful contributions to the forum, I'm a old guy and new welder, your posts have been very helpful, informative and much appreciated!

I'm one of those guys that started with a mig and THEN bought an Ozito AC buzz box, never could get comfortable with the mig (but still trying). To me, the little Ozito is much more 'user-friendly'!! Best $100.00 tool I ever bought!!

Originally Posted by specialist

My recommendation would be cigweld ferrocraft 21 2.5mm
They are a semi iron powder that are good for all positions and have a very good
appearance and are easy to use.

im only a backyard hack but love those for thin stuff, seem to freeze quicker making for less blowthrough

Originally Posted by billyj_86

im only a backyard hack but love those for thin stuff, seem to freeze quicker making for less blowthrough

Ferrocraft 21's certainly do run nicely but they wouldn't be my first choice for thin work due to their being a semi iron powder electrode and therefore requiring more amperage to run, although they are a vertical down electrode.
I was and still am a WIA AUSTARC 12P devotee for this type of work. I did have a brief love affair with Murex Speedex 12's but that ended when they became unobtainable, (shame, they welded beautifully and were much cheaper than any other E4112 electrode).
In my opinion thin material is best handled by an E4112 electrode, (Rutile viscous slag, all positions, vertical down). All the cheap chinese electrodes I have seen are E4113, Rutile, fluid slag, all positions, vertical up), as are Satincraft 13 (an electrode I positively hate), Kobelco RB26's and WIA AUSTARC 13.
You really don't want to be trying to weld thin material vertical up and the arc characteristics of the E4112's seem better suited to thin material.
You will find that often thin material is easier to handle in the vertical down position than downhand.
The biggest drawback with many chinese electrodes is their very fluid slag that can often be near impossible to control - particularly if there is any contamination such as rust or galvanising, either true galv or duragal.
Low power and a short arc are prerequisites for thin material. DC or an AC power source with an ocv of 70 volts will make life easier, but you can achieve good results with a cheap buzz box also.
I once performed a series of 20-25mm long welds on 1.15mm galv sheet using a Champion ac transformer welder with 4mm electrodes, (it was all that was on hand at the time), the results were actually quite good.
One point that hasn't been mentioned is to make sure that you are comfortable and that your welding shield is good and clean - if you can't see it, you will never weld it. As for choice of shield, either an auto helmet or a manual shield with a gold lens would be my choice. Set up the shield so that it will hold in the raised position but with a quick shake of the head will fall to the lowered position. It will also help if you guide the electrode in to the joint to strike the arc with your free hand, (you are wearing gloves aren't you), like you were guiding the cue playing 8 ball.