Thread: Kobe RB-26

They will eat both rods for dinner.
A very superior electrode in any comparative category you care to name.
But hey don't take my word. Use them and you will be a convert.
If austarc is holden and satincraft is ford, kobes are Rolls Royce.
Especially suited to inverter welder machines,very nice to run and fantastic finish.

Grahame

Haha, thanks or the reassuring reply. I was taken by surprise at how cheap they are compared to Satincraft or Austarc rods so that's why I asked. Nice to know I'm getting quality. I'll cut some 6mm plate up, do some V up fillets and corner and lap joints and post some results comparing Satincraft to Kobe. Should be interesting.
Thanks again

here is some info put out by Kobe

http://www.kobelco.co.jp/english/wel...es/c-sp7-8.pdf

Grahame

Yeah I saw that info sheet and the spec sheet they have. That's the ONLY information I can find on them.

i have used them for two year ever since i run out on a Sunday asked my neighbor for some rods he gave me a 10 year old box of those kobe rb 26 i was converted they welded so smoothly and ive used them since but i bought some kobe iron powder flux elecrodes but they werent that good i left them out and they absorbed water i i cant get them hot enough to recondition.

These Kobe rods sound pretty good, I'm nearly out of Satincraft 2.5 and was thinking of switching to Castolin Eutectic rods which I have used in 3.2 (Dynatrode 777) and loved but they are a bit pricey.
Does anyone know of a Kobe a supplier in Melbourne?
Cheers,
Greg.

Got the rods today. Had a chance to run a few on the new BOC Inverter. First impressions are pretty good. The arc is more fierce than a Satincraft but the resulting bead is much smoother and it will handle welding over slag much better. Now I don't know if there is a trick to Vertical up with this rod but my first tests with a V up fillet didn't fare well at all. I completely blew through a 6mm plate V up fillet joint at 80A. The exact same settings on the same plate with the Satincraft rods and they weld better? A horizontal or flat fillet joint are great but not V up.

The other thing I noticed is that it really bites into 2mm SHS. I weld a fair bit of thin gauge SHS with the Satincraft rods and dont have a problem but the RB-26 blew through several times. Maybe I need to get some more practice with these to learn their quirks?

On another note, I tried a sample pack of Gemini 1.6mm rods on some inch SHS 2mm wall at 55A and they weld beautifully. Zero burn though and 100% penetration and a very nice tiny weld bead.

If you have switched from a transformer to an inverter you have to throttle back on the amps.

Inverters don't throw off energy as heat so the amps you had used with the transformer can be reduced by maybe 10 -15%

You do need to keep arc length a bit short with these rods and move a fraction faster as they burn quicker than the others .

Cheers
Grahame

Thanks again for the tips.
So basically, short arc and move fast? Does that apply to uphill too?
I'll get some practice in over the weekend.

Further to discussion with the Kobe -RB26 electrodes.
I have had to to some welding so I thought why not use the Kobe's.
Pictured below is a wall plate fitting I made for a deadlock wall plate from school.The cherubs steal the wall plates from an open door jamb -Don't ask me why? I suppose its because they can!

Anyway the upshot, is that a separate wall plate cannot be purchased and a new lock is a $100 +.

What you are looking at is a 3mm fillet across 25 x 6mm flat bar that have used to construct the plate.

The settings are about 80 amps using 2.6mm Kobe 2.6mm electrodes on a Fronios 1700 Magicwave inverter.

I will hunt around for a bit of scrap to do a vertical up for distractor, if I can find some.Ill post pics later

cheers

Grahame

Thanks Grahame. I just got home for the weekend so I haven't had a chance to fiddle yet.
Hopefully this arvo I will. Look forward to your results.

Here is a quick comparison between the Satincraft and Kobe rods. For the most part I'm okay with the blue ones but it's trickier with the Kobes as you can see. Tests on 6mm plate and both rods on DCEN @ 73A

Satincraft V up fillet


Kobe V up fillet


Satincraft V up lap


Kobe V up lap


V up fillet penetration. Kobe on bottom

Distractor,

On that last photo with the Satincraft rod at the top and the RB-26 at the bottom, did you weld the kobe rod first? Then while it was still hot did you weld the Cigweld rod behind it?

I did the the Satincraft rods first then let the plates cool then did the Kobe rods.