Stick welding— OJT begins

[Bkeepr]

Thanks. I added the videos to my bookmarks, they look to be great down-time viewing.

Never heard of a needle gun, looks and sounds interesting, but will have to defer buying one for awhile.

I have a book—was a gift several years ago— the Lincoln Foundation book of Arc Welding Procedures. For my 1/2” thick plate, it recommends 60 degree grinding, 1/16” gap at the root between the pieces, a first bead of 6011 with subsequent beads of 6027 for “code work,” and slightly different for “commercial work.” I’ve bought the 7018 and intend to follow you guys’ suggestions, which I think are within my abilities and budget.

If I can only get the bathroom shower upgrade finished, I might have time to fix the tractor arms!!

[Red Dave]

Anything I know I learned over many years watching and talking to real welders. We had some really good welders at the Hydro plant where I spent most of my life and then when I was working for the construction company, they employed Union Millwrights that made welds that looked like art, and did it almost effortlessly. I'll never get to that good, but I did learn a few things from them.

Like I have stated before: I own a welder, but I don't claim to be one.

A needle scaler, or needle gun is another trick I picked up by watching real welders over the years. They are made to remove heavy rust, scale and paint from steel and iron. I got mine from Northern many years ago to remove the 60 years of rust and dead paint from a tractor. De-slagging welds is a second career for this one. It's not a name brand, about equal to the ones Harbor Freight sells today, but you do need a source of compressed air.

Here is a link to one that would probably do everything you would want it to.
https://www.harborfreight.com/professio ... 57171.html

[GeneMO]

My understanding of things is that the 6011 has deeper penetration than 7018, but it spatters a LOT more and looks ugly. My experience is that at least the greater spatter is true, can't speak to the penetration angle. I use a needle gun on welds to get them clean of the slag.

Also, in my personal experience, 7018 makes a much nicer looking weld. No data comparison on strength or penetration.

If it was me, and this is just my idea, I'd make a deep Vee and run a couple passes of 6011 in the bottom, them finish with a layer of 7018.

Keep in mind that I have a degree in electronics, not welding. You may want to run that idea past a real welder before implementing.

One thing a about the 7018. It is a "contact" or drag rod. Makes a beautiful weld, but you work it a bit differently. You can put it directly on the weld, and just drag it along. No need to weave. Although you can weave if you want. You control the weld width and depth by how fast you drag the rod, how high you have the Amps set, and also the angle of the rod to the piece of metal.

[Sid]

All this talk about 6011, reminds me. i've got a bunch of 1109 rod. Anybody got any idea what it is for?

[PHPaul]

All this talk about 6011, reminds me. i've got a bunch of 1109 rod. Anybody got any idea what it is for?

Upside down welding...

[Bkeepr]

All this talk about 6011, reminds me. i've got a bunch of 1109 rod. Anybody got any idea what it is for?

Upside down welding...

I got it!!