VaughnT Posted September 10, 2012 Share Posted September 10, 2012 I'm just learning to stick weld with my kit and I'm having a hard time understanding how you choose your amps and volts and stick choice. I just built an anvil stand out of 1" square stock and I used 6013 sticks. Try as I might, I couldn't get the mix right so I didn't burn through the corners of the stock or leave a puddle at the end of my bead. What am I doing wrong? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted September 10, 2012 Share Posted September 10, 2012 Ah the memories. (sigh) Welcome to the learning curve Vaughn, stick welding has a lot of details and the devil's in the details. E 6013 is a deep penetrating fast freeze rod really good for vertical and overhead IF you're wearing PPE because it spatters, LOTS. Being a fast freeze rod you aren't going to get nice smooth beads, about the nicest you can expect is to get even sized bead ridges. (whatever they're called, I'm more than 40 years out of school) It's excellent for filling gaps, making root passes and welding dirty steel. What E6013 is NOT is good for a beginner to try welding something like tubing or are you welding solid 1" sq? If it's solid scarf it deep and use the E6013 as a root weld. It's not necessary but what the hey it will not hurt. Finish with 7018, it is a filler rod that freezes more slowly so it leaves a nice smooth bead. Just do NOT over amp it or it'll undercut the edges of the join. Undercutting is when the puddle melted by the arc is too large to fill with the rod melted and leaves undercut edges. Over amping is the most common cause of undercutting but it's also the most popular way to weld with 7018, it leaves a pretty bead and if you don't look closely you think it's a good weld. Now, to keep E6013 from melting through at the finish corners is to Not finish your pass at a corner. Start at one corner and stop as soon as you have it filled. That's like less than 1/4" of bead, it'll just be a tack that fills the scarf. Chip it out clean and start the next bead at the other corner and take the pass to the first bead. That's it, that's the secret trick for doing this kind of thing. Once you've developed higher level of skill you'll be able to do a straight pass without leaving a melted crater and a blob of spatter on the floor but that'll come. The welding supply will give you a rod/amp gauge. They are simply aluminum plaques(?) with holes in them, rod types and recommended amps printed on them. Simply find the hole the rod you want to use fits properly and read the amp under the rod type. My first welder had one next to the amp selector. Hope this is more helpful than confusing. Lots of this stuff is confusing till you get a good handle on it, then you'll be able to adjust amperage or voltage by how the rod's running. Don't sweat it, ask and we'll answer as well as we can, Every old hand welder on the planet climbed the same curve. Frosty the Lucky. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Backwoods Blacksmith Posted September 10, 2012 Share Posted September 10, 2012 3/32 6010-11-12-13 50 amps 3/32 7018 80 amps 1/8 6010 etc 80 amps 1/8 7018 125 amps. These setting could go up or down as much as 10 amps depending in the thickness of metal, the weld prep and the machine. No machine acts the same. These are suggested settings by the manufacture. There should be a MSDS and information sheet in the box of rod. Read it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HWHII Posted September 10, 2012 Share Posted September 10, 2012 Not to disagree with Frosty but maybe he made a typo, or maybe it's the birch tree again :rolleyes: :D . What he discribed is more along the lines of 6010 or 6011. 6013 is a generally considered a sheet metal rod, and general purpose electrode. Its great for AC welding and on machines having low open circut voltage, like a Lincoln Tombstone welder. I have mentioned in another thread all these questions can be answered and more in the book "The Procedure Handbook Of Arc Welding" By The James F. Lincoln Foundation. The cost is only $25.00 plus shipping. www.jflf.org/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted September 10, 2012 Share Posted September 10, 2012 A good welding text should get you close for type of rod and size and then you dial it in by eye (how the weld looks) and ear how it sounds while welding. I suggest you "tune in" on a scrap piece before going to your project. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BIGGUNDOCTOR Posted September 11, 2012 Share Posted September 11, 2012 May I suggest some welding courses at a local community college. When I took my classes in N.CA they were $15 a unit. I took TIG< MIG< ARC. Different rods use different techniques of rod manipulation to lay the bead down IE; "J's" , back and forth, whipping, etc. Having a good instructor will make your progress go much faster. Another trick is to use a TIG welder for your stick welding, and leave the contactor setting on the foot pedal. Using the foot pedal you can run some sweet beads, and never worry about corners getting too hot. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bam Bam 1 Posted September 11, 2012 Share Posted September 11, 2012 All very good advice.all rod and metal have thier own personality same with welding machines.be patient .welding is a mean beast at times!but watch your puddle and take it slow.there is more going on than just smoke and fire.practice on scrap first.the more you weld on the same piece the hotter it gets.and the ugly gets bigger.have 2 or 3 pieces of scrape on hand when you are welding.so one piece doesnt get to hot or to ugly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VaughnT Posted October 9, 2012 Author Share Posted October 9, 2012 I can see that this isn't going to be a quick learning experience, that's for sure! I burned through the 6013 rods pretty quickly because they seemed to be working better than the other rods I had. Welding solid 1" stock was "easy" if you don't mind burning through like you were using a cutting torch. The welds seem rather solid, but only time will tell. I did find some 7018 rods that I had bought for that anvil repair project that's on the list (obviously well down the list now that I see just how tricksome this welding thing is!!) and they did beautifully on the solid stock. I didn't change my settings on the welder, just chucked one in and gave it a whirl. Very crispy, bacon frying sound and I had to move a bit faster it seemed, but the beads actually looked like beads. They do not seem to like dirty steel (rust/paint/oil), and they leave the weirdest glossy-black, very shiny scale on the bead. Never seen anything like that and don't know what it's trying to tell me. Does the quality of the steel make a difference? This stuff came off of a machine where my dad used to work (some kind of packaging machine) and it acts almost like rebar. Pops said the stuff was designed to erode quickly so it needed to be replaced before other parts of the machine got worn, and the 90-grit belts on my KMG-clone eat it up like there's no tomorrow. It definitely feels softer than standard A36. Anyhow, that's where things stand as of now. I have just a little bit more to do to the stand and I'll be ready to set the anvil on her. I'm going to use the 7018 rods to work over some of the uglier beads, getting in a bit more practice. Then I have to find a good tutorial/book that teaches about the different rods and why there are so frickin' many of them! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pkrankow Posted October 9, 2012 Share Posted October 9, 2012 Yes, the material you are welding and the electrode used affect each other, and the finished weld. The surface condition also affects the weld quality with clean, bright metal making a cleaner easier to weld joint with any electrode. I have some printouts from Miller's website, the Guidelines for SMAW (it is a pdf), it has an amperage selection chart in the range my machine is capable of using. Lincoln has a similar pdf book, but they describe using a bigger machine than I have. google welding electrode selection guide pdf and you will get these and several more similar downloads from other manufacturers. I did purchace the book HWHII mentioned, and compare it to a college textbook, but better written and more readable than most. The first part is design, lots of good information. The price is a steal, less than 1/4 the price of a typical college textbook! Phil Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frank Turley Posted October 9, 2012 Share Posted October 9, 2012 I'm a stick welder who's never been schooled. 'Backwoods' mentioned stick diameter which I think is important. Learn to oscillate; 6011 should do it. If you have an AC outfit, 7018 should be designed for AC. Watch the puddle. Beat me with a wet noodle if I'm wrong; I do mostly forge welding. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted October 9, 2012 Share Posted October 9, 2012 Note there are at least 10 copies of The Procedure Handbook Of Arc Welding available at abebooks.com for around US$10 including shipping. Note that they date from the 40's to the 1970's in that price range. Me I'd go for the one that was from the same time period of my welder, so I get an early version... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Gaddis Posted October 10, 2012 Share Posted October 10, 2012 In your spare time while learning the control on the stick angles, feed rate, turn the welder down until it will hardly weld at all. Then increase it until the rod almost explodes from the high current. Somewhere in the midst will most likely be an operating range that you will immediately notice by sound and the pressure of the welding process that pushes the rod out of the puddle. When starting out that feeling will not be easy to feel. As you get experience you will stop holding the rod holder like a sledge hammer and start using it like an artist brush. It will become the end of a drawing instrument is what my teacher taught me. It is a glorious day when you learn to feel the pressure of the electrode in the puddle.Then vertical welding becomes the preferred position to work! Carry on Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ten Hammers Posted October 10, 2012 Share Posted October 10, 2012 My 5¢ worth. Get some drops from a fab place. Bar stock if you can or plate. 3/16 or 1/4 is good choice but free drops is free drops if you can get them. Tack them together with a space of the electrode. Flat. If you have a good saw, make yourself up some of these. Also, make some Tee ( with no space ). Weld these all in position ( read flat on the table). Tack one to the edge of the table and weld with nothing under it. Flip and weld the other side while hot. Like David says, you will learn not to strangle the electrode holder with time. Another thing, make sure you have a GOOD ground connection. 6011 runs like water for the most part. I personally like 7014 as well. 7018 of course is the standard and is used in industry. Also mentioned is the need for 7018 AC rod if you have no DC welder. Let the puddle fill. Get a good chipping hammer and wire brush. As an afterthought, 7018 will be a nice drag rod ( meaning no pattern, just straight pull ) but it can be patterned as well. 6011 likes to be patterned ( moved side to side slowly and allowed to fill). 7014 will stay mostly on top ( some call it farmer or idiot rod). I learned to build hay racks from cattle panels and a low boy ( for small round bale throwers) in the mid late 60's. Was taught to just drag 6011 in one inch welds, allowing to fill. this is fast production work. This was from a SEEBEE that had welded in Viet Nam. Burn some rod. Take notes. Your welder, your skills will build. Keep a GOOD ground. Green lens looks different from red and gold. Keep your lenses clean and keep some spare lens covers. Have fun. good luck. These gloves ROCK but they will teach you to have your hand back from the puddle or you will burn them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RustiePyles Posted October 19, 2012 Share Posted October 19, 2012 If you want really pretty beads wiht a stick welder pick up some 7024 rod. Its "drag rod" drag it at shallow angle with constant work contactand you will end up with what looks like tig welds. Its not for out of position though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Parsons Posted November 4, 2012 Share Posted November 4, 2012 Pick up a copy of "New Lessons in Arc Welding." It is a very informative book. As a rig welder, I have used many different rods on many different types of steel, aluminum and stainless steel. If you have an AC/DC welder, get some 1/8" 6010 5P+ and some 1/8" 7018. Set your machine on DC REVERSE (DC+) and leave it. If you only have an AC welder, get some 6011 and 7018 AC rods. If you can master these 2 rods in all positions, you can run just about any rod you want. I have a helper who I am currently teaching to weld, and this book and these 2 rods have been all he uses and he is doing great. Just my $.02 worth. Chris Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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