[TheForge] Stick welding

Thu May 31 10:40:00 EDT 2007

Yes!! I work on the side at a plating shop.  You would not believe the stuff that the fans suck into the beasts.  They require some air flow for cooling.  Also mice and rats sometimes leave things inside that are difficult to remove.

Good luck.

-----Original Message-----
From: theforge-bounces at mailman.qth.net on behalf of Peter Fels And Phoebe Palmer
Sent: Thu 5/31/2007 1:59 AM
To: Sponsored by ABANA
Subject: Re: [TheForge] Stick welding

Aubrey;
Often those fine old machines develop corrosion at the 
connections that messes with the performance. Unplug the puppy, 
let it sit overnight, remove the case and take apart all the 
major connections. Clean them  and any contact points you can get 
to down to bright metal and reassemble. Do the same to your cable 
connections, especially the  working ends. Vacuume out the 
machine and put it back together.
When you have been welding for a while, feel up the cable and 
connections looking for hot spots. Ooooooo!
It might change your mind about selling it...pete

Washington, Aubrey O. wrote:
> 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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