Craftmans-Sears stick welder?

[Golden_eagle]

I'm being given a OLD(14-45 years out of service) 240amp 220volt Craftsman stick welder and some old hard facing rods(around 200 or so)
I Know i need a mask, gloves and Some scrap to learn on... Am i missing anything? (other than normal welding rods)

[rlarkin]

Electricity?

[Pault17]

GE,
I don't know that I would start with hardfacing rod. Go and pick yourself up some 6010 or 6011, or even a small pack of 7018 or its AC equivalent.

Is your machine an AC/DC or just AC. that will determine what rods to get.

Now that I read your whole post, you will need lotsa electricity and the appropriate rods (ac vs dc).
crank it up to 95 amps, angle the stick into the direction of travel about 15 or 20 degrees, strike an arc and burn rod

7018 will probably be the easiest to start an arc with, but I learned with lots of 6011 on a DC machine. way coool and lotsa lotsa fun

Edited July 19, 2008 by Pault17

[agsolder]

7018 makes a beeeyoootiful bead, but is sometimes hard to get re-started because the rod burns back inside its carapace of flux. 6011 is my all-around fave, 'cause it floats the slag out, unlike 6013, which can give you inclusions. 6011, however, will never make a pretty, smooth bead like 7018. Do not start open-bottomed welds with 7018-- lay in a basement pass of 6011 first.

[Crunch]

I agree with the previous posters. I am also a new weldor and I really like the 6010/6011 rod.

If you have an AC-only welder, I'd recommend some 6011 rod. It digs deep and is not hard to work with in my very limited experience and expertise.

6010 is basically the same rod, but it's only for DC.

If you have an AC/DC welding machine, 6011 is probably a better choice since you can switch to AC with it if you get problems with arc blow.

Good luck.

Edit: If you want an auto-dark helmet, check out the $50 model at Northern Tool and Equipment. I have one and like it a lot.

Edited July 19, 2008 by Crunch

[Golden_eagle]

Yes its AC/DC, And I know where welding rods are available, Crunch- thanks for the hint about the $50 Northern Tool auto-dark mask, the one i was looking at was $99.

[Pault17]

Hey GE,
I lave been using the Northern tool auto dark for about 6 months and it works great!
I figure that if I want to get really serious I could get a real pricy one

[Hillbillysmith]

Just a little tip to all those that are new to welding: Welding supplies/equipment isn't cheap. And keep in mind, YOU GET WHAT YOU PAY FOR!!! Auto-darkening helmets are nice, but any of them below $200 (in my experiences) are not going to last very long, but they should be just fine for garage use. I, personally, prefer a normal non-auto darkening helmet. They're cheap and will always work. Especially for stick. Just my opinion. You can do as you wish.

And more info to those new to welding---

ELECTRODE CLASSIFICATION BREAKDOWN:
(example):E-7018=
"E"= Electrode.
"70"= 70,000 pound tensile strength. (This refers to the deposited weld metal
after it is cool.)
"1"= The position it can be welded in.
"18"= The polarity in which it can be run on.

POSITIONS:
Exx1x=All positions
Exx2x=Flat and horizontal fillet welds only
Exx3x=Flat positions only
Exx4x=Flat, horizontal, overhead, and vertical down

POLARITIES:----AC=Alternating Current
----------------DCEP=Direct Current Electrode Positive
----------------DCEN=Direct Current Electrode Negative
EXX10=DCEP
EXX11=AC/DCEP
EXX12=AC/DCEN
EXX13=AC/DCEN
EXX14=AC/DCEP/DCEN
EXX15=DCEP
EXX16=AC/DCEP
EXX18=AC/DCEP
EXX20=AC/DCEN (for horizontal fillet welds only) AC/DCEP/DCEN (for flat position welding only)
EXX24=AC/DCEP/DCEN
EXX27=AC/DCEN ((for horizontal fillet welds only) AC/DCEP/DCEN (for flat position welding only)
EXX28=AC/DCEP
EXX48=AC/DCEP

AWS Classification----Type of covering

E6010----------------High Cellulose, Sodium
E6011----------------High Cellulose, Potassium
E6012----------------High Titania, Sodium
E6013----------------High Titania, Potassium
E6020----------------High Iron Oxide
E6022----------------High Iron Oxide
E6027----------------High Iron Oxide, Iron Powder
E7014----------------Iron Powder, Titania
E7015----------------Low Hydrogen, Sodium
E7016----------------Low Hydrogen, Potassium
E7018----------------Low Hydrogen, Potassium/Iron Powder
E7024----------------Iron powder, Titania
E7027----------------High Iron Oxide, Iron Powder
E7028----------------Low Hydrogen, Potassium/Iron Powder
E7048----------------Low Hydrogen, Potassium/Iron Powder

You may also encounter an electrode that has extra suffixes attached to the tail end (E10016-D2)

These extra suffixes indicate extra alloying elements within the electrode.

ALLOYING ELEMENTS: (Reference the "Periodic Table Of Elements")
A1----------1/2% Mo
B1----------1/2% Cr, 1/2% Mo
B2----------1-1/4% Cr, 1/2% Mo
B3----------2-1/4% Cr, 1% Mo
C1----------2-1/2% Ni
C2----------3-1/4% Ni
C3----------1% Ni, 0.35% Mo, 0.15% Cr
D1----------0.25-0.45% Mo, 1.25-2.00% Mn
D2----------SAME AS D1^
G-----------0.50% minimum Ni, 0.30% minimum Cr, 0.20% minimum Mo, 0.10% minimum V, 1.00% minimum Mn, 0.80% minimum Si (Only one of the listed elements is required for the "G" classification).

LOW HYDROGEN ELECTRODE APPLICATIONS (USE)
E7015-----Used for welding low carbon or alloy steels. Power shovels and other earthmoving machinery require this rod. The weld files or machines easily. Use DCEP only.
E7016-----Same general application as E7015 except it can be used on either DCEP or AC.
E7018-----Similar to E7015 and E7016. The heavy covering allows the use of high speed drag welding. Used on AC or DCEP.
E7028-----For low carbon alloy steels. Use AC or DC (either polarity).


I hope this helps all those in need of more or better information to progress in their stick welding skills. Remember; practice is the key, you can't expect yourself to go from zero to welding ASME code high-pressure vessel steam lines over night.

I have a couple more simple tips:
First, E6010 and E6011 are basically the same rod. E6010 is meant for DCEP only and E6011 is meant for either AC or DCEP. They run the same, so it doesn't matter which one you practice with. These rods you use a "whip-and-pause" motion when running them. --><--/--><-- You "whip" out of the puddle to burn out the base metal and then come back in and "pause" to fill up the weld bead.

Secondly, E7018, you use an "up-and-down" motion with this rod. ////// Pausing at the top just a little more than the bottom because gravity will pull it down. When using this electrode, be sure to angle the rod back toward the puddle to keep the molten slag from running in front of the puddle. if this happens, STOP!!! You WILL get slag inclusions at the root. There is no way to fix this while welding. Stop, ship out the slag from the root and restart. Some manufacturers make a separate E7018 rod for AC and DCEP. Although according to code, they are all supposed to run the same on either polarity. They don't and that's that.

Thirdly, The most common rods you will run into are E6010/E6011, E7014, E7018, and E7024. E6010/E6011 are run the same way (as I explained previously). All other rods are run mostly SIMILAR to E7018 except E7024. E7024 is only to be dragged along the weld joint. NO MOTION AT ALL WITH THIS ROD. You will get slag inclusions if you do. **Little trick with E7014** Don't use in vertical fillet weld positions. It says it can be used that way, but it won't come out right. And, it works best on AC.

lastly, not all welding rods are going to run the EXACT same. From Lincoln to Hobart and from Esab to Forney, different rod manufacturers design their welding rod material as well as their flux covering differently than everyone else. Play around and find out which brand of which rod works best for you.

Practice, have fun and don't just stick it together; WELD IT! :cool:

[Hillbillysmith]

Hardfacing electrodes and specialty electrodes (for special alloy steels) are a whole 'nother ball game. The same goes for stainless steel electrodes as well. And forget about welding cast iron. It is POSSIBLE, but you need to know what type it is and everything. it's best to just braze it when you can.

Best of luck,
-Hillbilly

[Golden_eagle]

Thanks Hillbilly! The explanation of rod comp. will help out a lot!

[the_sandy_creek_forge]

Not that I favor Lincoln welders or anything but this is a handy couple of sites to bookmark:

Lincoln Electric
specifically:
Welding Safety | Lincoln Electric

Lincoln also used to have a free pdf with basic welding info in it. seems I saved it somewhere but it mighta been on the old computer. If I can get the thing to fire up and run I'll pull it and send it to ya.

-Aaron @ the SCF

[Hillbillysmith]

Here is some more info that I thought of to post for those that are new:

Replacement leads aren't any different than factory leads, it's just that you can't have too small of lead for the length and/or the amperage.

REPLACEMENT (COPPER) LEAD LENGTH SPECIFICATIONS:

--------100A-150A-200A-250A-300A-350A-400A-450A-500A
-50FT----2----2-----2----2-----1----1/0--1/0---2/0--2/0
-75FT----2----2-----1---1/0---2/0---2/0--3/0---3/0--4/0
100FT----2----1----1/0--2/0---3/0---4/0--4/0
125FT----2---1/0---2/0--3/0---4/0
150FT----1---2/0---3/0--4/0
175FT---1/0--3/0---4/0
200FT---1/0--3/0---4/0
250FT---2/0--4/0
300FT---3/0
350FT---3/0
400FT---4/0

REPLACEMENT (ALUMINUM) LEAD LENGTH SPECIFICATIONS:

--------100A-150A-200A-250A-300A-350A-400A-450A-500A
-50FT----2----2----1/0---2/0--2/0---3/0--4/0
-75FT----2---1/0---2/0---3/0--4/0
100FT---1/0--2/0---4/0
125FT---2/0--3/0
150FT---2/0--3/0
175FT---3/0
200FT---4/0
225FT---4/0

This is more for safety purposes than anything. If you use too small of lead size for the length you want or for the amperage that you are running, it WILL melt the lead and potentially causing extreme injury or loss of garage, tools, cars, house, etc. in a fire. Another thing, if a lead gets hot, don't dip it in water. I know this sounds like a no-brainer, but you have no idea how many times I have heard of incidents where someone gets electrocuted from doing this. ELECTRICITY AND WATER DON'T MIX!!!! Play it smart people. use your common sense. But bigger than what you need is perfectly ok. It's just cumbersome to work with.

HARDFACING/HARD SURFACING:

Hardfacing is a surfacing process in which hard materials are applied to the surface of a part to reduce wear or loss of material by impact, abrasion, or both impact/abrasion. Hardfacing a part also results in fewer repairs due to wear. These beads may be laid in a basket weave or a dot pattern. These patterns are used when sticky material such as dirt or mud comes in contact with the part. The sticky material accumulates in the depressed areas of the basket weave pattern. The build-up of dirt or mud helps to protect the metal from further abrasion.

In the BUTTERING process, one or more layers of easily welded materials are applied to the surface of a part that has poor welding characteristics. This process is used to form a transition layer when welding dissimilar metals.

The CLADDING process is used to apply surfacing materials that will improve the corrosion or heat resistance of a part. When a part is worn, the surface may be returned to it's original dimensions by using the BUILDUP PROCESS.

Things to consider when choosing a surfacing electrode:
*Hardness
*Hot hardness
*Impact strength
*Oxidation resistance
*Corrosion resistance
*Abrasion resistance
*Metal-to-metal wear resistance
*Machinability

One thing to remember when using surfacing electrodes, THEY ARE GOING TO BE HARD AND FOR GOOD REASON! If you are going to hardface something, make sure that it is to the proper size or shape BEFORE you surface it. It will take you forever and a day to grind this stuff down and it will never be as square, straight, true, level, smooth, etc. as you want it to be. Always remember to build up the surface first and grind to the rough shape and THEN surface the object. Take it from me, I failed to do this once and I spent literally FOUR DAYS grinding the piece to the shape I needed it to be. And when I say I did that once, I mean ONCE. You'll learn after the first time!!

Lincoln Electric makes some excellent surfacing electrodes. They even give a Rockwell C hardness rating for alot of the impact and abrasion/impact electrodes.

Another thing to remember when wanting to hardface something; it's probably going to be an alloy material/ high-strength steel already and will need to be preheated and, depending on the material and how much surfacing you put on at one time, post heat-treatment. And if you need to grind the surfacing down any, try to keep the heat input to a minimum so it doesn't take any of the hardness or "surfacing" properties away from the freshly laid material or else you would have done all that work and invested all that time for NOTHING.

Hope this helps as well. If more info is needed, just ask and I will keep posting. Feel free to ask specific questions so they can be explained with more in-depth explanations.

-Hillbilly

[irnsrgn]

putting the lower tensile rod in as the root pass is a sure way to make a weld that will fail. The rule of thumb is, put the higher tensile rod in first then you can fill with the lower tensil rod.

A good example of using lower tensile rod 6010/6011 first is in large municipal water tower construction. The downhill capable fast freeze rod (60/7010/11) is used to fill the gap then 70/10018 is used to finish fill the joint. Then the inside is gouged out to remove the lower tensile fast fill deposit and then finish filled with 70/10018.

In my 55+ years of doing repair work espicially on Heavy Construction Equipment I was called upon to repair the failed repair welds of my competitors and others for one of several reasons.

1. They did not gouge out the cracks at all, just put a superficial bandaid weld over the crack.

2. They used a grinder and just ground deep enough to put in a decent looking bead.

3. They ground out the crack completely before welding, This method did not impart any preheat into the parent metal, and all it did was guarantee them more money as it took forever wasting time grinding.

4. Using 6010/11 to make the weld because they couldn't run low hydrogen or any other rod uphill. (Note) a down hill fast freeze rod leaves a brittle deposit especially in flat surfaces like plate, its used mainly on pipe for speed and ability to run down hill in odd postions, but has integrety when used around a round surface as the stresses are not all in one plane. my definition.
Fast freeze rod welds were almost the end of me once when putting coned caps on oil field storage tanks when some tack welds failed.
6011 is the rod of choice for most farmers as they think chipping flux is a waste of time and you can weld over a previous bead without cleaning it with some success.

5. They used air arc to gouge out the crack and did not grind out the 1/16 plus of carbon precipition that resulted from the air arc use and thus guaranteed failure from the weld being too brittle because of too much carbon being included in the zone where the weld and parent metal meet.

6. Too lazy to clean the weld after every pass, it will run out on its own going uphill theory. LOL

7. Lack of knowledge that plate used for const equip, is not ordinary plate, but a higher grade.

8. They used a large rod with a lot of amps/heat to get it done quicker and faster and ended up weakening the parent metal an weld with too much heat.
Rule of Thumb - 400 degree preheat and keep interpass temp 800 degrees or below.
Also don't chip low hydrogen flux till it has no red left in it. (cleaning flux too soon lets the weld be contaminated by moisture and makes the use of low hydrogen rod moot.


To my knowledge I never had a weld fail due to any thing on my part, I always gouged with a gouging tip and oxy/acet torch or used a straight tip and cut a V out using the crack as a center line with at least a sixteenth or a bit more wide opening on the back side of the cut, (Most Const Equip repairs you cannot access the back side) and doing the first 3 passes with 1/8 E-10018 and then filling with E-7018.

Thru the years I developed the reputation of doing it right the first time and making it hold. Took many years and lots of hard work to gain that rep and when I first started my own business in 1965 after getting out of the SeaBees, there were 9 or 10 portable welding rigs in this small town.

FWIW
jr.

Edited September 12, 2008 by irnsrgn

[maddog]

Learning stick:

There are posts in this thread from some very experienced, very skilled welders. My knowledge isnt even a pimple on the behind of theirs. But, I taught myself to weld stick a few years ago and I still remember what it took to learn. This might be something the professionals have forgotten:).

Stick welders are simply made, cheap and tough. They are very versatile and extremely useful in a blacksmith shop. Theres a lot of different rods available. Its easy to swap them out. They can handle a wide range of thicknesses. The drawbacks are that the welds are somewhat messy compared to say MIG or TIG, they dont do thin material and , this is the biggy IMO, of all the welding processes stick is the hardest to learn.

Getting basic competence with stick requires a serious investment of time and practice. You just cant get around that. They say you have to burn about 50# of rod to learn stick and that was my experience. At first everything is tricky. Striking the arc, seeing what you are doing (the auto dark is absolutely worth it ) , the noise, the sparks, the smoke, the fact that you have to coordinate several different hand motions at the same time while keeping fine control of the end of thin 14" electrode. Then there's current settings, rod type, joint type, weld position and material thickness to consider.

So I'm not telling anyone how to weld. I am no welding instructor. But if I had a chance to go back and talk to myself when I was just starting this is the advice I would give myself

Practice every day. 20 mins a day or whatever regime works for you.

Start out just running beads on pieces of scrap plate until you get a feel for what it takes to lay down 6" of decent looking, sound weld bead. If you can do that reliably, the rest is not that hard.

Make sure you can see, that you are comfortable and that you can do the traverse without having to shift your body or snagging cables. Pay attention to staying relaxed. This can be hard when you have to control so many things at once.

Stay with DC at first, its easier to control the arc. That means using 6010 and the DC version of 7018

Start with 1/8" rod or larger. The heavier rods are easier. The bigger current makes the arc much more stable. After a while you dont notice this but at first it makes a real difference.

6010/7018 are the most useful rods. Stay with these for a while. Practice with one for a while till you get the hang of it then switch to the other. They run rather differently

Watch the puddle not the arc. The arc is very distracting but what you need to pay attention to is the freezing shoreline of the puddle on the side furthest from the arc. The shape of that edge is going to be the shape of the weld at that point.

6010/6011 has very little slag and its easy to judge the puddle. For this reason some instructors recommend starting with this rod. The downside is that its hard to get a pretty bead. 7018 has a heavy slag covering and its harder to judge whats happening with the puddle but it will make a very nice bead. Also, its a bit of a nuisance to restart as people have mentioned.

I dont mean to imply that you need to do all this practice before you ever use the welder. I got big improvements in my technique after just 10# & 20# but this is such a useful tool and if you invest the time it will pay off big

[NateDJ]

I find that the $50 HF / NT auto darkening helmet is great for the garage welding I do. I am sure if I was welding all day every day than I would want a better helmet but so-far so-good.

Restarting the 7018 rod is as simple as pinching the end of the rod with a welding glove on before attempting to restart a weld. You only need to do this when your first attempt to start the weld doesn't generate a spark. This is caused when the rod burns back up into the flux and is kept too far from the material you are welding, the flux is very brittle at the tip and can be pinched off with GLOVED fingers.

[irnsrgn]

It's called reverse penciling, or burn back.

[canuk]

as far as anything auto dark helmet under 200 bad, i bought my dad a auto darking helment at a surplus store when they first came out really, for $60 and its lasted up until now and is still going strong, and sitting around a farm its abused abit in getting left screen down.

[crij]

One tip to keep in mind with stick. You will know when you have the amperage at the right level when the slag caterpillars, this works with at least 7018 rod. Caterpillaring (at least that is what the guy called it) is when as the slag cools, it lifts off the weld in one solid piece by itself. You can be almost perfect and see it start to do it in places, but when the flux over most of the bead does it, then you know you have it perfect.

Is 7018 the only rod that will do this or will it do it with other rods?

Personally I avoid 60 series rod, but that could be because I have only used it with an underpowered 110 volt POS Buzz box. It was almost impossible to start the arc. By the time I got 3 or 4 good beads the area around the weld looked like a cleared mine field from dragging the tip to start the arc. I have always had good luck with 7018 DC positive electrode rod. I especially like the Lincoln Excaliber rod, it seems to cut deeper, run smoother then regular 7018 rod, and the slag is easier to remove.

Rich C.

[Dragons lair]

Take the 200 14yr old rods and throw them in the trash. They will snap crackle and pop
And weld like crap. When the company I worked for went under I bought my dialarc.
Came with 60-70 lbs of assorted open boxes of rod.I thought heat um up WRONG it helped but not enough to even play with. I do mostly Mig and Tig so scrapping them wasn't a big deal. New rods makes the learning curve easier.
Ken

[David Einhorn]

The folks on this thread have provided a lot of great information. Adding to that I would suggest if possible:
- take a course in welding. I took a non-credit course through a community college and feel that it was a very good investment of time and money.
- consider having the welder looked over by someone experienced/qualified so as to make sure that it is safe to use and that there are no surprises.