Stick Welding- what’s your favourite rod?

[Susquatch]

Yaup look over this way, at least I will fit the age requirement in a few months, the one eye thing is over 30 yrs ago now.

Wow! I'm impressed! That old saying about what doesn't kill us makes us stronger is alive and well!

Your note gives me hope.

I'll keep using a range finder for distance shooting though.

Now if only you could stop the dribbling nightmares @PeterT has caused! LOL!

 

[trevj]

Wow! I'm impressed! That old saying about what doesn't kill us makes us stronger is alive and well!

Meh. I have two shot knees, and four screws, two pins, and a tantalum cage in my back.

That which does not kill us, makes us crusty and cranky at times.

Despite that, ya gotta get on wit yer life!

 

[phaxtris]

My favorite kind of rod, the one I don't have to burn



I'll put it up, you weld it out

 

[Ironman]

I have a Thermal Arc MST 400 welder and a Millar 22A wire feeder. My goto rod for everything except cast is 7018 1/8" or 5/32" on DC at 105+ amps.
If I am spray welding with wire I'm using 27V and 35ipm which is about 278 amp. I paid 4000 for it new years ago, and it is a joy to use especially for uphand work. The arc control ability on stick is awesome.
Of course Thermal Dynamics quit making this unit, so I aim to hang onto it til I'm buried.
If you are trying to weld uphand, use a 3/32" rod for root and fill except for the cap. The smaller rod gives a more controlable arc deep in the V groove and does not heat to the point of running parent metal like water.

 

[Proxule]

If I am spray welding with wire I'm using 27V and 35ipm which is about 278 amp.

My man..... Finally some one who spray welds, I am very fond of this method. I did manage to lower the voltage and speed parameters required to get a nice spray by using 92/8 or 95/5 gas.

Nice setup!

 

[Ironman]

The gas is the most important thing. I used to use BOC gasses and they were too costly but there Starweld was excellent. When I switched to Praxair I cut my cost in half but the gas they produce for spray is mediocre.

 

[trevj]

Did some spray welding with a Linc Ranger 10LX, and an LN25 suitcase. Pretty sure we were using just straight ol' C25, cranked the voltage and the wire speed up until it all went quite quiet... Sure made some pretty welds, and laid down a lot of wire!

Didn't know enough about he process to know even, that a different gas mix was available, so ran what we had...

 

[Proxule]

Did some spray welding with a Linc Ranger 10LX, and an LN25 suitcase. Pretty sure we were using just straight ol' C25, cranked the voltage and the wire speed up until it all went quite quiet... Sure made some pretty welds, and laid down a lot of wire!

Didn't know enough about he process to know even, that a different gas mix was available, so ran what we had...

Makes sense. I think c25 is capable to spray. But well above the 32v area.
Was it a controlled weld ?
Or flip floppy every where ?

 

[trevj]

Makes sense. I think c25 is capable to spray. But well above the 32v area.
Was it a controlled weld ?
Or flip floppy every where ?

Laid down nice even beads, else we would not have gone beyond the initial experiment.

Like I said, mostly working in ignorance. Had the capability from the power supply, so just dialed it up and up and up until it all went smooth....

 

[Whiskers31]

I have a small excavating company I do a lot of repair welding, so I burn a lot of 7018. Sometimes I would need 6011 for certain things. if I can’t get a good clean weld, I might burn 6011 as a root and then finish with a 7018. 7018 is for dissimilar metals. I find that in all position , 7018 larger than 1/8 inch gives me trouble, but I’m sure someone experienced could burn, larger ones with no problem.

 

[Darren]

In a nice warm shop, 7018 is great, for nice clean metal. So is 6013,7014,7024 and just about every other rod.

Out in the hot windy dusty frozen field, 7018 is great, 6010/6011 fast freeze is ok if you need to dig, otherwise 7018. For most utility work under most condition's, 7018 will get er done.

Hard to beat spray mig though, for deposition rates and overall speed, but it'll never replace 7018 in the field for repair work.