7018 rods question

I was reading on the Miller website an explanation of rods. It said that 7018 rods are "not recommended for use in small ac arc welders". Does this mean I should not use it with my Lincoln ac 225 amp welder? What is the ideal rod for the machine I have?

Reply to
stryped
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Should be fine on your "tombstone" welder. It's plugged into 220 VAC and is a "real" welder from that point of view. The "small" welders in question are 110V supply buzzboxes, which lack sufficient open current voltage for proper operation, if I recall the reason correctly.

The ideal rod depends, as usual, on what you are doing. If you need

7018, it's the ideal rod for that job. If you have the skill to run it well, it can do a lot of jobs. For low-stress clean steel, 6013 is a nice all-position rod, and makes a pretty bead. For filth and rust encountered in maintenance welding, 6011 is good, if ugly. 6010 is better if you have DC. One of the 60 series is supposed to be dead simple for flat welds, but I don't have enough flat welds to bother remembering what it is (14 or 24, I think), or buying any. Nickel is good if you need to repair cast iron. Hardface is good if you need to make things wear resistant. A carbon arc torch is good if you need to heat and braze things and don't own an oxy/acetlyene torch...
Reply to
Ecnerwal

With your welding experience, I would just use any rod. Any polarity. Any size. Results will be the same.

Steve

Reply to
SteveB

Cold Dude...really cold...

Gunner

Political Correctness is a doctrine fostered by a delusional, illogical liberal minority, and rabidly promoted by an unscrupulous mainstream media, which holds forth the proposition that it is entirely possible to pick up a turd by the clean end.

Reply to
Gunner Asch

I agree Steve's response might not be the best encouragement to a newcomer to welding, but stryped is talking about building a trailer, presumably to be used on the public roads.

His skill level doesn't appear to be anywhere near adequate to attempt that project. It's not only his life, health, or safety that are at stake.

Steve's reply might be cold, but it's accurate at this time. stryped would be far better off buying a trailer. For that matter, so would I.

Most all of my experience is short welds on small stock, wheelchair and mobility aids parts where I _have_ to practice a few beads before I even start on the workpiece because there's no room or material to mess up and do over. I've never had one of my welds fail, but I'd know just enough to be dangerous, building a trailer.

A man's gotta know his limitations. :)

_Then_ he can to learn to extend them.

Reply to
John Husvar

Not sure about the optimum, but I have used 7018 3/32 with a 225 AC Lincoln a lot. Seem to get good results. However, most any rod seems easier to run on AC than 7018. That might be the only reason Lincoln doesn't recommend it.

Reply to
Maxwell

True enough. Indeed.

Gunner

Political Correctness is a doctrine fostered by a delusional, illogical liberal minority, and rabidly promoted by an unscrupulous mainstream media, which holds forth the proposition that it is entirely possible to pick up a turd by the clean end.

Reply to
Gunner Asch

Thank you ever so much. I have not really decided whether stryped is an actual welder or a troll. The questions he has asked have been all over the map, but then, I must confess to the same thing. So, I'm still not sure where the man's coming from. If he's for real, he just needs to spend a couple of thousand hours on the issue like the rest of us, and I'm willing to help him. If he's a troll, then he's just a troll.

The way the questions keep coming from all different directions, it makes me lean towards a troll. At first, I thought Iggy was a troll. Iggy has undertaken some wild projects and asked some wild questions, but has always followed up with results and pictures and evidence that he's out there doing the deed. Now, I know Iggy's a guy I'd be pleased to work beside and call friend. Iggy's real because he's had some successes and some flops, like all of us.

I'm waiting for stryped's equivalent.

Steve

Reply to
SteveB

Thank you. I do have a trollish streak in me. But as you noted, I actually do stuff and sometimes even learn something useful. I would be honored to have you as my friend. I wish you lived nearby.

Reply to
Ignoramus22498

I share your confusion, and further am reluctant to facilitate his current project which is so obviously beyond his ability, experience and skill set and will be used to haul heavy and potentially dangerous goods on public roads exposing innocent third parties to unnecessary risk of injury or death.

Just my .02, I wish him luck.

Reply to
Private

The weld photos that were referenced were documented as taken in 2003 -FWIW. Would seem to be a troll.

Reply to
John Miller

m...

Theweld photos say 2003 because i did not set the calander in my camera.

Trust me, I am not a troll, I just have alot of questions. I am trying to learn, I have wleded on other projects. I posted some of my welds. I know I need work. I am not sure if I will ever build the thing, I am just looking for advice. I may partially weld it up then take it to a local shop and have them weld it the rest of the way.

Reply to
stryped

On Apr 30, 11:47=A0am, stryped wrote: =2E..

If a high school or voc-tech near you teaches welding, ask about evening classes.

Reply to
Jim Wilkins

I was thinking of doing same. I have some welding experience, but very little. Has anyone tried those schools?

We have a community college nearby that is very good and very cheap.

Reply to
Ignoramus10026

You want to know if any of us has ever taken a welding class at a CC? I sure have. Ernie used to teach at South Seattle Community College (for like 12 years) and I took a couple of quarters there. Got my welding cert too.

Grant

Reply to
Grant Erwin

I took one machining and 3 welding night classes at local high schools. They let me concentrate on MIG one term, aluminum TIG the second and 7018 the third. Professional weldors taught the courses with help from the regular staff. As the school had only one working TIG machine I brought mine in each night, using the pickup truck crane to unload and load it. Much of the equipment had suffered from student handling and low budgets. YMMV, but I'd bring at least a helmet and gloves.

Jim Wilkins

Reply to
Jim Wilkins

Why does everyone think 7018 is so hard to run? Other than being a bit of a pain to start it's dead easy to get beautiful welds with it. Just the other day welded up a busted spring shank with it and so far is holding up quite well.

Just curious what the difficulty supposedly is?

JW

Reply to
jw

That's mostly the issue. It also requires a decent power supply to run it well, and it doesn't like being damp. It's not that it's really hard to run, just that there are some other rods that are really easy to run, and work well with an inexpensive AC supply.

Just my observations.

Pete

Reply to
Pete Snell

You're probably running 7018 on DC. His AC-only buzzbox might have a hard time with it, however he could use 7018-AC.

GWE

Reply to
Grant Erwin

Could be then. I guess I have never really tried to run it on AC.

Yes I was on DC. Somewhere around 130A (paint has long since worn off the dial..., just crank it till it runs well) On an old Lincoln. Dad's welder actually. I have one of those new fangled multiprocess machines, that I love, but his was closer at the moment of need.

6013/11 are quite easy to run too, but I guess I keep hearing how hard 7018 is and never really knew why. Aside from the starting issue, which isn't that bad. (I was blaming his badly abused ground clamp as much as the rod.)

JW

Reply to
jw

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