[Oscar]

try some butt join sheet metal, or thin wall tubing.
usually its thin stuff where pulse comes in handy, at least with tig.

Yep, pulse SMAW is nearly identical to pulse TIG, where you set the peak, and then it drops down to the background current; but in the case of SMAW, you can't arbitrarily set the background current too low, since you do need to keep the "fire lit". The typical background current is 50%, but I have found 30-60% still works great if you adjust the pulse duty cycle .

Here I was monkey'ing around with ~14ga and a 1/8" 6011 using pulse stick. 5Hz, 50% background, 50% pulse duty cycle.

hQSIoJ_xlWY

[LAB80]

My goodness I am having a whale of a time trying to get a consistent stack-o-dimes bead. This shit is hard! I am noticing my positioning is shit, I always feel akward at the end of the rod. And its quite hard to fix for some reason... possibly retardation.

On the other hand, I do love the 6010 smell for some weird reason. They should bottle that scent as an aftershave or whatever. The womens would be POURING IN for that deep penetration. Or something.

[Gdarc21]

stack of dimes with a stick?
Anyways sounds like you may need whip it a bit in the direction of the weld may help, you know lay some weld move forward a bit and smoothly whip it back on itself and so on. 6010s would not be choice for that. 7016s or 14s would do that nicely. If you can find some 24s then they would work neatly but only downhand or fillet.
You are using a pulse stick did you say?
Yeah sticks smell good bro, 'arc cigars'

[Oscar]

. 6010s would not be choice for that.

I respectfully disagree. With about 4-6 rods of 6010 (or 6011) I can dial in my brain and the machine semi-decently to get stacks.

[sbaker56]

Yup, you can stack dimes with a 6010 very well, In fact I used to think the whole stack of dimes thing came from an expertly stick welded 6010 bead rather than tig, and I still wonder if the term might have originated there. I wish I still had my Invertec 275 to run some Lincoln 5+ and really stack some. But, as always, how well 6010 if at all will run on your machine and what kind of 6010 you're running makes a huge difference.

[LAB80]

Yeah my biggest problem is the gap between each 'dime' or whatever is not the same, and often times I seem to have them spaced too far apart.

There was some sort of moment happening on the last 20 or so rods I used, where I was super concentrating on the puddle, and not much on where exactly I was whipping to, so that it was easier to come back to the correct spot after the puddle cooled. That seemed to help.

I was welding on like 30mm x 5mm flat bar, where I had 6 or so lengths in parallel. When welding those together I put like a wee 1/8 gap and tacked the ends. No bevel or anything ( did not want to wake neighbours up from grinder at midnight ), but it was really cool how it behaved in gaps. The first few the weld kinda only went half way through, but after trying different things it went all the way through to the other side. Not super pretty, but it poked out the other side. Was quite fun!

I am on my second 10lb box now

[Gdarc21]

I might grab some 11s and have a go. 6010s are just too bothersome to find here. Honestly it has never occurred to me to stack with sticks as it is considered a faulty weld, every where I have been anyway. But it does sound like a bit of fun.

[LAB80]

I might grab some 11s and have a go. 6010s are just too bothersome to find here. Honestly it has never occurred to me to stack with sticks as it is considered a faulty weld, every where I have been anyway. But it does sound like a bit of fun.

What country are ya in?

[Gdarc21]

Over the ditch in Aust mate.
I got 11s somewhere probably got some in the shed some where.

[LAB80]

Over the ditch in Aust mate.
I got 11s somewhere probably got some in the shed some where.

Saturday night, bourbon, 2mm thick stuff

The most bottom bits is some pulse dicking around, 50-60A from 50-70 balance and 1.3-5 Hz.. just moving as if it were a 7016/7018, though not quite dragging it on the steel. There is definitely a lot of things to be trialled in that area, now frequency 50/50 balance blew through a few times. I covered some beads up with different settings. It seemed that more 60-70 ish balance was more friendly to the sheet metal.

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[Gdarc21]

Yeah we getting pummelled by rain over here. Work said we cant weld in the rain beacause of stray arcs.
Stray Arks, how much bloody rain are they expecting

[LAB80]

Yeah we getting pummelled by rain over here. Work said we cant weld in the rain beacause of stray arcs.
Stray Arks, how much bloody rain are they expecting

Hey so hows all that covid bollocks going over there? Are you guys still in prison? Last I saw, you guys were getting it quite rough, at least in some states, with nazi like controls on 'thou shalt not exit your living quarters lest ye be smitten by the power of the law' type stuff.

Anyways, a toast, and bottoms up, to gluing metal together! An absolutely splendid, satisfying, and seemingly never ending learning endevour!

[Gdarc21]

Yeah it has been difficult but I imagine many others have it just as bad if not worse. New Zealand didnt get off lightly either from what I would imagine, tourism was hurt pretty bad across the board. Just gotta play the ball from where it is.
Any how, yeah it is one of those trades/hobbies where you can keep learning forever. I always read the manuals for my welders for instance because even after years in trade some times in amongst all the stuff you already know there is a gem that helps refine your skills.
Have a great night liquid metal jockeying.

[LAB80]

Hey um, I was accidentally reading the packet of me 6010 stuff, and it said it can do electrode negative. Even suggested it for root passes on their interweb site here; https://www.magmaweld.com/welding-consu ... /uo/esc-60

I thought 6010 was generally DCEP only?

[Jack Ryan]

Hey um, I was accidentally reading the packet of me 6010 stuff, and it said it can do electrode negative. Even suggested it for root passes on their interweb site here; https://www.magmaweld.com/welding-consu ... /uo/esc-60

I thought 6010 was generally DCEP only?

True for most but Lincoln is one exception.

Jack

[LAB80]

I tried it on some plate an hour or so ago. It reacted as if it were 20 amps higher than it was.. lots more noise and activity than I was expecting, and it really squirted out the filler.

Will have to try it on thin steel at some stage

[Jack Ryan]

Will have to try it on thin steel at some stage

You'd have to be quick!

[LAB80]

Will have to try it on thin steel at some stage

You'd have to be quick!

That's what she sa... That's not what she said

[LAB80]

I am sure they are going to make this stuff illegal soon. Its high density fun

I was dicking around with just 3/32 6010 and 7016, doing butt welds on 1/4 inch flat plate with a 3/32 gap between the two plates. No bevels, because lazy and noise.

With the 6010 I was able to get a bead on the other side for about 4 inches, before I had to changed my rod and must have changed my angle or speed or method or something after that. 7016 was similar, except it was just below the surface, and a lot slower. It was actually really cool to be able to do the 'same thing' as what all these pipe weldy people are doings. The 6010 looked quite cool, ended up being stacked dimes exactly level with the top, but the bottom bead was just like, I dunno, it looked like a random stringer on the bottom.

The 7016 had fine ripples, flat with the top, but did not poke out the bottom at all.

Also done a quick bend test, on 1.5 inch square 2.0 mm thick sheet welded to 1/4 inch plate in a t-joint... I used 6013 2.0mm, 7016 2.5mm, and 6010 2.5mm and then used a spanner to bend the sheet to try and break the weld, and all of them broke the steel before the weld. The welds did not budge. I was bending the metal it toward the bead on each occasion. I honestly thought the 6013 would flake out, but good on it, it was solid

[Gdarc21]

It sounds like your gap closed up halfway through. Maybe put tacks in the middle to keep gap apart as it does close in, sometimes only a wee bit but still enough to change stuff.

[LAB80]

It sounds like your gap closed up halfway through. Maybe put tacks in the middle to keep gap apart as it does close in, sometimes only a wee bit but still enough to change stuff.

Perhaps so.. But I don't really know what I am doing though, it was probably a fluke in the first place

But to get used to root passes, do I just pick a reasonable gap size, and land size, say 3/32 or for both or whatever, and then just keep that the same and keep practising with it ?

[Gdarc21]

If its for a test than I usually jam two 30degree sharp( no landing ) together and go up the centre with a thick 2.5mm cut of wheel and about 120amps give or take on 3.2mm sticks, these are ballpark. It gives you about 2mm landing and just under 3mm gap if you go gently. The amps up or down to suit. If you are a bit slower with handspeed then prep plate with 2 to 5 ish degree angle so when mr shirinkage pull it he pull it straight for you.
One tack 20mm in or so on each end 25 mm long. One in centre 25mm long and feather with thick cut off wheel start off the edge on one side and dont move till it threatens to fall through the edge.then move but dont quick shuffle just trust or adjust your handspeed no panics. On a test they never use the bit before the first tack so if it falls through all good.
Hope that helps, important notes bro:
Alignment matters tack holds plate gap well but if you change stop to change sticks and find cut off wheel wont slip in any more just open it a bit same as before. And smile, sounds like you got the smiling nailed though

[LAB80]

Thanks Gdarc21. I have not tried your suggestions yet ( have not gotten around to bevelling plate and such ).

But today I introduced a friend to 6010 rods. He is a beginner like me. We ended up doing some practice beads on approx 4 or 5 mm flat bar, welded together into a 10"x10" plate.

He ended up liking it a lot better than the 6013 stuff we had at work, because he could see what the puddle was doing, and it was very easy to strike and restrike the arc, and he ended up making some pretty nice looking fillet welds with it, it almost looked like 7016/7018 with lots of fine ripples.

We done some tests, where we welded the some flat bar to another long piece, fillet welds, one side. Then we bent it towards the weld. It took quite a bit of bending back and forth ( the flat bar bent quite a bit both ways ) before the weld would break.

One of the last tests we done was with the same diameter ( 2.5mm / 3/32 ) 6013. It was done nice and hot, and ended up looking very nice. However, it broke first bend ( the flat bar barely flexed ).

I think I will get ahold of some 10mm flat bar, and do more tests, this time with 7016 and 7018 as well. Very cool though, and it was super interesting to see how far the 6010 dug into the metal after the breaks ( seemd to be about 2 mm into both peices ) in comparison to the 6013 ( which seemed to barely penetrate at all ).

[LAB80]

Wowzers, I was playing on an over welded practice plate, and thought, 'fuck it, I feel like Trump, I'm going to make a wall''. And I started trying to lay a bead on top of the same bead, over and over... and I am not sure if its bad or not, I was using 7016 at the time, but I found that 'whipping' it slowly forward, and then slowly and deliberately back, really really made it easy to build up the blob of metal to exactly where it needed to be.. it seemed to 'push' or shape the molten metal somehow, it's kind of hard to describe. This was on vertical up.

I dunno, it might seem really boring to you guys but it really felt good somehow, it suddenly felt like I had fine control of the metal build up for some reason The arc could sort of 'blow' or 'push' the molten puddle into position, but it did not feel hurried, it was 'yep, thats good' and cruise on to the next build up cycle. Really quite satisfying

If I can get it to an inch I will take a photo

[LAB80]

Not quite an inch (that's what she said) but it was fun

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