[TheForge] Stick welding

Fri Jun 1 15:16:34 EDT 2007

Here are a couple of tips I picked up in welding class...

First, pay attention to the *sound* while you are welding... It's hard
to describe over email, but you want to get a sound like bacon frying.

Second, practice making the correct hand motions with a pen and paper.
The idea is to train your hand to make the right motions. If you are
using a crescent shape, just fill up a page or two with that shape using
a pen and paper. Lock your wrist and try to hold the pen like you would
an electrode. After doing that, switch to using the electrode without
any power. Just make the motions to get familiar with the feel of it.
The book "Modern Welding" does a good job explaining this

Third, try welding to failure... Be prepared to sacrifice some scrap and
dial it up a few notches *higher* than you should. See what happens when
you weld *through* your practice piece. It will give you a much better
idea of what the settings should be.

I don't weld much, but those tips helped out in class.

Jeff Polaski

-----Original Message-----
From: theforge-bounces at mailman.qth.net
[mailto:theforge-bounces at mailman.qth.net] On Behalf Of Washington,
Aubrey O.
Sent: Wednesday, May 30, 2007 1:09 PM
To: Sponsored by ABANA
Subject: RE: [TheForge] Stick welding

Thanks for the encouragement, Mikey and Ron.  I'll keep at it.  But, I
may also try to sell my AC tombstone and replace it with an AC/DC
machine.

Aubrey

________________________________

From: theforge-bounces at mailman.qth.net on behalf of Ron Childers
Sent: Wed 5/30/2007 3:06 PM
To: 'Sponsored by ABANA'
Subject: RE: [TheForge] Stick welding

Aubrey, watch the puddle instead of the arc; make sure it follows like a
roll of dimes laid over. Take care of the slag inclusions as you go-
don't
rush it- let the machine do it's job. Catch the inclusion before it
freezes.
Hesitate on each side just a split second to prevent undercutting. The
arc
on 1/8" 6011 is appx 1/8" and use the decimal equivalent (125 amps) as a
guide for starting heat- more for thick, less for thin. Experiment on
clean
steel of different thicknesses.

You can make decent welds pdq.

Ron C

-----Original Message-----
From: theforge-bounces at mailman.qth.net
[mailto:theforge-bounces at mailman.qth.net] On Behalf Of Kathy
Sent: Wednesday, May 30, 2007 3:42 PM
To: 'Sponsored by ABANA'
Subject: RE: [TheForge] Stick welding

Aubrey writes:
"Mikey, your comments about welding skill are interesting.  The auto
darkening
hood did a lot to improve some of my stick welding problems; I start on
target
and stick the rod less frequently.  But, I still make ugly welds with
porosity
and slag inclusions.  Not blaming the tools, but would that improve some
if
I
had a DC welder (all else being equal)?  I know I need to improve my
ability
to
maintain a consistent arc length and travel speed."

A great deal of what people consider as 'facts' about welding are only
what
I
call limited truths. These 'facts' often have the same relation to
reality
as
the pronouncements of reporters after recycling what a doctor or some
other
expert has stated on a subject they are covering. Most welding myths are
spawned
in welding schools; not deliberately mind you, but rather as impressions
formed
by students, who are given rigid procedural limits; these are necessary
for
producing certified welders.

DC machines are a lot better than AC power sources for all stick
welding,
even
with AC rated filler rods. On the other hand, even before special AC
welding
rods started being sold for low hydrogen (ex., 7018) welding
applications,
it
was possible to do excellent work with 7018 rod on an AC machine by
tuning
its
current setting to a "sweet spot" where the rod would run smoothly, and
accommodating travel speed to the amperage rather than adjusting both
amperage
and speed to circumstances. The secret in doing so lies in "choking" the
arc.
New dry low hydrogen rod can be welded (at ten to twenty amps higher
than
standard recommendations) by actually touching the weld bead--not with
the
metal
filler rod itself--but rather with the rod's lime based covering flux.
When
amperage and travel speed are right, the flux will melt away just before
breaking (it sort of half melts and half crumbles), so that even out of
position
work can be successfully accomplished "breaking all the rules."

#6013 was originally created as a down-hand (more accurately down-slope)
AC
sheet metal rod. Scathingly known as "mud rod", it is infamous for slag
inclusions and porosity. However, if the amperage is turned up
sufficiently
to
end up with red hot stubs (if stub isn't red hot amperage is too low, if
the
rod
melts in half amperage is too high), this undervalued rod can be used on
a
DC
machine to produce welds very similar to those of 7014. In fact I used
such
rod
to penetrate standing water, tar, and plastic based paint while welding
deck
cleats on an old Navy barge that was being converted for use by the
fishing
fleet in Alaskan waters. The welding proceeded without a hitch, and I
never
heard any complaint about the cleats breaking afterward. Years later,
the
weld
store manager who told me about this trick flatly denied he'd ever said
any
such
thing :-)

So, perhaps someone might want to try the same trick with an AC machine.

The standard AC welding rod is #6011. Known as the fitter's friend, I
have
worked in shipyards where this rod was not allowed through the gate
because
it
was so abused by armatures. However, by turning amperage up a little
high
and
choking the arc, it will give results similar (but not quite equal to)
#6010. No
pipe welder leans how to run a successful root bead with #6010, unless
he/she
has first learned how to choke the arc.

Does all this tell you something about whether you will do best holding
long
arcs or short ones? If not, I could go on to discuss survival methods
when
you
are experiencing "blow-by." In other words, just like spending time
learning
to
"flip the hood" before trying to learn how to tap start a weld bead,
learning to
habitually hold a short arc is often what separates the survivors from
the
guys
who "go down the road" when welding projects get tough.

If you want to quickly learn the differences between practical and
certified
welding,
pick up a copy of the Forney Arc Welding Manual, which gives an
excellent
overview of practical welding for farm tool repair. While you are
practicing
what it teaches, pick up a copy of New Lessons in Welding from Lincoln
Welding
Co., which gives the best advice for quickly learning certified welding
techniques.

It is a pity that welding schools cannot teach anything other than
certified
welding methods, but this limit is also a practical reality. Just
remember
that
the people who wrote the rules where experimental welders in the first
place.

Mikey

________________________________

From: theforge-bounces at mailman.qth.net on behalf of Kathy
Sent: Sat 5/26/2007 12:39 PM
To: artgawk at thegrid.net; 'Sponsored by ABANA'
Subject: RE: [TheForge] Inverters & MIG Welders

Washington, Aubrey O. wrote:
> Thanks, Terry.  But, I need something easier to use than my AC
tombstone,
not
harder.  I'm not a great welder.

I have always had lousy "hand-eye" coordination, and vision problems to
boot,
but I was Top Gun in my welding class. There is a popular saying: "It's
a
poor
workman who blames his tools." The truth of the matter is quite
different; a
workman is no better than his tools--and his understanding of them.
Being a
top
flight welder is about knowledge, and not about being Superman. Anyone
can
be a
great welder if he or she is given proper directions. To get those
directions,
we simply need to ask the right questions AND KEEP ON ASKING THEM UNTIL
WE
RECEIVE AN H-O-N-E-S-T ANSWER instead of the standard self
congratulating
BS.
:-))) My personal favorite example of misdirection was a guy who tried
to
tell
me that I couldn't learn to weld because my eyes were green, and
"everyone
knows
that only brown eyes are dark enough to protect you from the glare,"
leaving
no
question in my mind as to why his eyes were brown.  Welding is not
rocket
science; it's more like ditch digging. Of course, after mastering it, we
should
be sure to maintain the lies about "hand-eye" coordination, etc. when a
boss
is
trying to evaluate our worth.

For instance, what are the two first stumbling points a welding student
encounters?
(1) They don't take the mere ten minuets practice holding the rod 1/4"
from
a
target, while repeatedly flipping their hood down, which would insure
that
they
do well when they try actually tap starting the rod on a work piece. And
so,
all
further efforts are hampered. Even rods that are usually scratch started
must be
tap started in some situations--ask any pipe welder just how important
absolute
control when starting a weld is. Today, we have auto-darkening welding
hoods,
which make knowing how to "flip the hood" unnecessary. However, if you
use
auto-darkening welding hoods to replace that knowledge, you had better
also
install an ADC (auto-darken cartridge) in your sock hood too.

(2) Novice welders have considerable trouble holding the rod steady
while
building up endurance. However, most of their troubles come from the
unconscious
habit of gripping the rod holder tighter in response to nervousness
generated
during the learning curve. A heavy rubber band (the kind used as a
marker on
your local welding supply dealer's gas cylinders, hint, hint), or the
installation of two snap buttons on the welding glove (try Harbor
Freight
for a
cheap set of installation tools), will help remind the student to grip
the
rod
holder lightly, using the wrist to control movement NOT THE FINGERS.
This
little
trick can take months off your learning curve. On the down side, you
will
not be
able to explode an egg all over the walls and ceiling when someone sets
it
in
you hand and says "squeeze it closed if you can" (your choice as to
which is
the
more important goal). As to building arm strength, professional welders
use
aids
like whips (light weight lengths of welding lead about 12 Ft. long with
their
own rod holder and end connector) when doing lots of overhead or
vertical
work.
They also bend welding rods into an "S" shape, and suspend the last few
feet
of
lead from them, or if no better opportunity presents itself, the lead is
draped
over a shoulder, so that only a small part of its weight must be born by
the
crafty, lazy, welder type person :-)

Everything else about welding has an easy and a hard way, including how
well
you
can see what you're doing. This one is a real biggy, yet it seems to be
almost
completely ignored by novice and professional alike.
Mikey  
>
> ________________________________
>
> From: theforge-bounces at mailman.qth.net on behalf of Terry
> Sent: Fri 5/25/2007 2:48 PM
> To: Sponsored by ABANA
> Subject: Re: [TheForge] Inverters & MIG Welders
>
>
>
> And then there's a third option - buy another welder!  In this case,
> it would be the ReadyWelder.  It is designed to run off 1, 2, or 3
> batteries depending on the thickness of the metal.  It's popular with
> the off-road crowd.  And judging from the web site, it's used by NATO
> troops.  I've got one, and am still trying to get the hang of
> it.  (I'm running mine off a stick / TIG machine and the voltages are
> rather high.)
>
> Terry
>
> At 12:12 PM 5/25/2007, you wrote:
>> There are a couple routes to portable welding that are a lot less
>> likely to damage your vehicle. Buy a generator with the capacity to
>> run your welder would be my first choice. Second (by quite a ways)
>> is buy a welder alternator for the truck It's a replacement
>> alternator that will double as a welder. They're expensive to buy
>> and repair though.
>>
>> Come to think of it I'd rent a portable welder before having one of
>> the welder alternators installed.
>>
>> Frosty
>> -------------------------------
>> If it ain't forged
>> it ain't real.
>> Wrought iron is.
>> The FrostWorks
>>
>> Meadow Lakes, AK.
>
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