$$$$ please tell me these electrodes are just brilliant

[WelderMick]

Had a bit of a session in MMA mode today after quite a break... a few things:
- I'm still a big fan of the humble Gemini 12's. I was welding gal steel, duragal, heavy plate, 2mm wall tube, bolts onto rod, levers onto nuts, etc. Normally I'd TIG a fair bit of this stuff, but there was a fair bit of gal that I didn't have time to deal with properly and anyway I was enjoying the stick welding for a change. Using the 3.2, 2.6 and 1.6mm.
- I ran out of the middle size ones and had a pack of Kobe 26's which had been open for months in the humidity. They seemed to run just like they always do (heaps of slag), but otherwise the same as a new pack. I even had a half burned one in the holder, which I used just like the others. Rutile flux is pretty forgiving in terms of storage.
- Half way through, my tokentools welder just stopped. . Oh no, it's finally broken. Need to finish this today... turns out I'd bumped the lead and the plug had fallen out. Need another new ground clamp (had it smoking today!) but the old girl is still going strong.

[Legion]

I also am a big fan of the Geminis. They are dirt cheap if you find the right supplier. A search shows I paid $7.77/2kg for 2.6mm about a year ago. Unfortunately now I only TIG, so I have about 10 boxes of mostly 2.0mm and 2.6mm rods, mostly unopened. I've got some Austarc 12P somewhere, lots of Geminis, some Kobe RB-26, assorted others. A quick search shows others (like Grahame) paying cheap prices for Geminis too.

One thing I found with the thinner rods, based on someone else's advice, was the fit up has to be perfect because they deposit relatively so much less material. A thicker rod bridges a gap more due to laying down more metal. I decided at one stage to standardise on 2.0mm and 2.6mm and with that I could do most materials from 1.6mm to whatever (I don't do much more than 10mm, with a few passes).

But TIG is a world of difference so that's my focus now, so much easier.