Welding Tips and Tricks

On a major clean-up of my shop and garage I have started to think of clearing out equipment a bit.

I have an old Hobart Arc Welder and assorted welding rod. I now have a Miller MIG unit so my thought is to sell off the stick welder, which I haven't used in 10 years, to clear up the space it takes up.

With that said is it possible 25-30 year old arc welding rod is any good at all and I can sell it along with the welder, or should I consider it scrap?

You don't say were you are located or what you want for the welder.
Let the rods go with the welder.

Fran3.

What model of welding machine is it?
If it works, you might consider keeping it as a back-up.

Alexa

That old welding rod is scrap, unless it is in it's original, unopened, hermetically sealed container. It's suffered years of temperature and humidity cycles, degrading the flux and the properties of the metal.

If you sell it with the welder (or throw it in as a freebie), advise the buyer... If he's inexperienced and tries to weld with that old rod, he may blame the machine if the results are poor.

If it's in sealed cans, it's probably fine. Silicate flux rods in particular. I'm less sure about cellulosic flux at that age, but I think it'll be fine, as well.

Steve S

Fran3.

In what type of climate are you situated?
If it is dry enough (for example Phoenix or Las Vegas, then that rod might be fine for hobby welding.

Alexa

Hey Fran3

May I suggest you do burn some rods and test your old electrodes, see for yourself if they are still good and worth using, that's the only way to find out. If it ain't so anymore then consider it as junk, throw them all out but if it does still give fine beads and still good for welding, give it free to who ever buys your unit. Mind you its a very nice gesture for the buyer coming from you !

To answer the assorted questions:

I am in Connecticut.
The welder is a Hobart Silverline ST-230, 230 Amps, 220V and is probably 30 years old and American Made.
This welder was basically replaced by a Millermatic 175 MIG and I have not used it since.
The welding rod was not in sealed containers, but was in a heated dry basement and visually looks fine.
My thought was whether the welding rod could be “baked” or was it really scrap at this point.

Thanks to everyone that responded.

fyi

http://auction.repocast.com/details.cfm ... 301#photos

Fran3.

For an applications that require welding as per codes/specs, then, as Otto Nobedder correctly wrote, the old welding rod is scrap. Instead, for maintenance and hobby welding, the rods 'might' do fine. Since the rods are probably destined for non code work, baking them would probably be 'over doing it'.

At this point I am curious of the quantities and types of the rods.
There are lots of rods out there, and some of them are great to keep round for particular jobs.
For home stuff, I keep in a dry location a selection of rods that I would never allow anywhere near a job site.

But I am a junk master.
That old welder of yours would find a home as the back-up welder.
Those rods would get burnt sooner or later.

Tanks for the patient eyes.
Alexa