Welding Tips and Tricks

Excuse my english but i'll try to explain as clear as i can.I've been assigned a project at this ranch where the electricity is realy low to the point where i have to krank the welding machine to its top amprage and i'm having problems keeping an arc lidd.Everytime i try to strike an arc the machine's energy goes way down and the rod sticks very easily.I'm using a small Lincon 140 amp arc welding machine with 6013 rod on 1/8inch tube.Some of my questions are,should i separate the rod more from the material and reduce my travel speed or is that not good?Or does it have to do with the rod angle as well?

You are rolerskating in a gravel pit. If you can make it work you're a better man than I. You need an engine welder.

I'm afraid your screwed mate....
You need to have a real welding machine to make real welds.

JoseAMG,
Welcome to the forum!! It seems that we need to help you with the situation at hand. My first question would be what size electrode are you using? I would suggest to drop to a smaller size electrode and see if that will help you. If you are stuck with what you have you can try to long arc the rod to a point however there will be a point of demishing return. It seems to me if you have low power input you might have to make the best of what you have.
-Jonathan

Jose,

I agree with Jonathan. A 1/8" 6013 will take 130-140 Amps to run well with good input power. If you can get and use a 3/32" 6013, you will be better able to adjust for the low voltage with a higher current setting than the rod would normally call for.

If you are stuck with the larger rod, yes, you can hold a longer arc to avoid sticking. Since you are welding 1/8 square tube, you should be able to do this without much trouble, as long as you don't have to get so long your arc wanders.

Don't apologize for your English; It's far better than my Spanish. Yo hablo solamente un poco.

Steve S

Otto Nobedder wrote: Yo hablo solamente un poco.

Steve S

What did you just call me???
-Jonathan

I call one dude in the kitchen senorita all the time, it irks him to no end because I won't teach him any swear words in English. So I get screamed at in Spanish by a 5ft tall Mexican dude while he's brandishing a knife at me. It's always a good time. #truckstoplife

The only other language I know is Pig Latin. Lol

weldin mike 27 wrote:The only other language I know is Pig Latin. Lol

How do you say, "E-Bay" in Pig Latin?

Ha. The struggles of an ancient language trying to deal with modern society.

Mick

The only rod with a slightly Asian name you should bother with are Kobe's. Made by Kobe steel from Japan. Very good quality. Some big name manufacturers operate in China but that's a different keetle of fish. Best home ones are satincraft 13s from Cigweld or a 12xp. (6012) can't go wrong.
Mick

Tassie Dave wrote:6013 2.5 rods.
I recently went online and bought some to re stock. The mob i buy from advertised these rods in a can. when the rods arrived they were in a card board box. no big deal there but the writing on the box was ALL Chinese. Thats where the fun started.
Any way i got one of my " rods out of the packet and did a run at 50 amps on my Esab and got slag inclusions in a lot of the run.
I put the amps up to 60 and repeated, same result. Up to 70 same result. Up to 80 same result. As a last ditch attempt i tried 90 amps which i know is way over the top and it still did the slag.
I tried a 3.25 rod burned perfect . Threw that rod in the bin. Any way this morning i went to the shed and tried it again, a super quick run on the 2.5 rod and it cam out half nice at 50 amps. ?
I am also in the process of making a dust trap for our cut off saw.

Could be the rods are not very good or you did not keep the flux lightly touching the plate.
I like running 3/32" (2.4mm) 6013 in the 75-100 amp range.

Another awesome one is Ferrocraft 22s. (7014) the strength of a 7018 with out the need for a rod oven.

No worries mate. Cheapest worst rods ive bought were Nuweld 3.2mm 6013s but that was back in the day when i wasnt the picture of awesomeness you see before you. hahahaha

weldin mike 27 wrote: (7014) the strength of a 7018 with out the need for a rod oven.

Really?
Then why even have 7018?

Probably some over educated fool said so, or am I the fool?

7014s have no low hydrogen properties, therefore not for code/work, because the coating can not be certified with in the permissible difusable hydrogen levels of most codes. Pound for pound, its the same core wire.

Mick

Well, turns out I was the fool! But now this fool has slightly more knowledge, thanks Mick!

No worries cob. 7014 is a great allround rod (with in reason) because it has the strength of 70xx but needs no special rod treatment/ conditioning.

Mick

I feel 6013 is like sex with a quadriplegic, it just lays there. I can't seem to do it in any other position!