your favourite vertical up electrodes

[meadow street]

trying out a few electrodes out for an upcoming job involving vertical up.

WIA 16TC 7016
Cigweld Ferocraft 61 7018
Boc smootharc 16
hyundai 6013
lincoln easy arc 6012(6013)
Kobe rb26 6013
Satincraft 6013
nikko Steel 6010 !!!


what's your favourite vert up electrode. (not necessarily from my list)....

i'm liking 16tc and Rb26 so far.

the 601O is an interesting animal that's for sure......

experiences?

regards

[Karl Robbers]

trying out a few electrodes out for an upcoming job involving vertical up.

WIA 16TC 7016
Cigweld Ferocraft 61 7018
Boc smootharc 16
hyundai 6013
lincoln easy arc 6012(6013)
Kobe rb26 6013
Satincraft 6013
nikko Steel 6010 !!!


what's your favourite vert up electrode. (not necessarily from my list)....

i'm liking 16tc and Rb26 so far.

the 601O is an interesting animal that's for sure......

experiences?

regards

The 16TC's are the choice of maintenance fitters everywhere for good reason. They are a sweet running electrode that seem to have the ability to pull you out of it when you are up to your neck. I quite like most low hydrogen electrodes and probably have a slight leaning toward an electrode in the XX18 series due to their iron powder content, (still all positional though).
I haven't run an RB 26 for a while but remember that they ran very well on the old cig compact 2 welder I had once.
Unless I am doing thin tube work, for which I choose Murex Speedex 12, I pretty well only use low hydrogen now due to my requirements.
Make sure you shop around price wise as I have seen 16TC's sold for a wide range of prices and even a box of dirty old Satincraft 13's with a price tag of $109 for a 5Kg box.
6010 and 6011 are best left for the yanks, they love them.

[beefy]

6010 and 6011 are best left for the yanks, they love them.

Ha ha, add a POM into that too Karl.

Since trying the "firesticks" for the first time I love em. I'm not a professional welder or anything but for certain situations I've found them great.

Took good note of what you said about the WIA rods,

cheers,

Keith.

[meadow street]

what do you like about the firesticks K?

great for tacking thick material I reckon : )

[Ticky]

16TC's are a Low Hydrogen rod & used on (among other things) High Carbon steels. Similar properties to MIG and excellent for welding say Brake Mounting Plates to Trailer Axles, Pre Heat the axle.

Not necessary, but can be used on mild steel. Not the easiest rod to use for the inexperienced & hard to restart if you don't know the trick, which is to break the flux at the end of the rod before restarting. Not necessary with a new rod.

It would not be my first choice for Vertical up on Mild Steel, but it could be used & it will be fine.

The best rod I have ever used for Vertical Up is a WIA 13S, Blue & White candy Stripe. It is a 6013 & has a more liquid flux than a 6012, which is an all position rod for Mild steel.

The Liquid flux means as you climb up the weld, the flux is running down & you are less likely to get Slag Inclusions in your weld.
No good at all for Vertical Down, where you need the more Viscous Flux of the 6012.

Having said all that, I dont even know if they are still available as I haven't used any for years, but I am a Welder by trade, (ret) So I have used my share of rods.

If you cant get them, any 6013 would be ok, but I would avoid a cheap import & stick to WIA, BOC, Liquidarc etc. The Flux Coating on rods is EVERYTHING, so go for a recognized brand.

ALSO, A vertical Up produces a lot of heat & heat equals distortion so if you are inexperienced, & if you don't know which rod to use, I'm guessing you might be, then look at the possibility of rotating your work to weld in the downhand position, especially if the material is less than say 6mm thick.

Steve

[Ticky]

trying out a few electrodes out for an upcoming job involving vertical up.

WIA 16TC 7016
Cigweld Ferocraft 61 7018
Boc smootharc 16
hyundai 6013
lincoln easy arc 6012(6013)
Kobe rb26 6013
Satincraft 6013

regards

WIA 16TC 7016- Low Hydrogen
Cigweld Ferocraft 61 7018- Hydrogen Controlled
Boc smootharc 16 - Low Hydrogen
hyundai 6013 - General Purpose Mild Steel
lincoln easy arc 6012(6013)- General Purpose Mild Steel 6012 better for Vert Down but can go Vert Up & all positions
Kobe rb26 6013- General Purpose Mild Steel 6013 best for Vert Up but CAN NOT go Vert Down
Satincraft 6013 - General Purpose Mild Steel Both great general purpose rods for mild steel down hand
nikko Steel 6010 !!! - Hi Cellulose deep penetrating rod designed for DC machines ONLY. I would say it would be interesting if using on an AC machine.

[beefy]

what do you like about the firesticks K?

great for tacking thick material I reckon : )

They burn through anything - rust, paint, etc, so if you have a job where you don't need maximum strength and just want to glue a few bits of crappy steel together, they're good. I've also found that if I'm welding an internal corner less than 90 degrees, the weld sometimes wants to go on one side or the other (maybe my lack of welding skills) I can do an initial run with the 6011 then finish with a "normal" rod.

I've heard a lot of people refer to them as "farm rods" because of their use to fix dirty rusty metal. If you go on the US forums and search for 6010 (they use that much more than 6011) you'll come across a lot of chat on them. That's where I heard about them and thought I'd give em a try. Search on Youtube too. The guy at the welding shop had a funny look on his face when I asked for them and asked what the hell do I want them for. Ha ha, I bought one packet, liked them, and bought 2 more.

One guy uses them for vertical down on 3mm steel sheet butt welding because of the fast freezing slag, but I haven't tried it myself.

Another guy said that for repair work you often can't get at the backside of something to clean it, so he uses the 6010 to start then finishes with 7018 rods.

For best quality strong welds though I'd try and prep a joint thoroughly, maybe pre-heat, and use dried 7016 /18 rods.

All of the above said as an amateur, I'm not a welder.

Regarding vertical up welding I've tried the KOBE RB26 and have had reasonable amateur success. Tried Satincraft 13 and they were just impossible for me, the weld just seemed to want to run down when I put the amps up enough to get through the slag. The KOBEs didn't have this problem and seemed to weld through the slag easily. It was a bit offputting at first because as you are welding the slag runs down in lumps and you think the weld will be all to hell, but there's no corelation between the slag appearance and the actual weld.

Keith.