tack weld SMAW 6010 cellulosics - yes!

Jun 06, 2025 Last reply: 1 year ago 2 Replies
R

Hello everyone Decades after first mention of tack welding with SMAW 6010's, on then welding newsgroup and on r.c.m., I tried - and am bowled-over! In Britain almost no use of 6010's and 6011's. I've used for a couple of decades of root-running. "In background" a bit because my Miller Dynasty 200DX welding machine won't "keyhole" with 6010. Which was my first application of cellulosic 6010's and 6011's - "keyhole" the root of a V-butt weld. Well, trying to weld 10mm A/F 6mm nuts to the periphery of a 10mm wall thickness tube forming the shell of my rod-mill, suddenly recalled 6010's used for tacking in North America. So that's "open arc" - use like a 6013 (7018 is "open arc" but very close-up due to cup formation at end of rod - so not that similar) Wow! That was a trick I missed!



  • instant arc-up and pool formation
  • fluidity
  • very "clean"
  • fast freeze
  • directional directable arc
  • smooth and pleasant to use

Well everyone - best wishes and thanks for all the help along the way, Rich S


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B

I think that is in part because 6010 doesn't run on all the machines that could fly through 6013 and 7018. Only in recent years have I see mif price import machines able to run 60610 reliably, and some of them have shown mixed results from one machine to the next of the same model. I can't speak to older transformer machines. My Lincoln cracker box barely ran 7018 well. My only other transformer machine is the Miller MIG box. WEll I do have an ancient Hobart (Real Hobart, not Miller Hobart) generator welder, but my dad parked it decades ago when it melted its starting battery. I haven't got around to trouble shooting it.

Thanks for the info. While the odds are never zero I am unlikely to run

6010 any time soon. There is always that chance. I will have some questions about mid thickness overhead welding soon.

Same to you.

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R

I forgot to mention

  • almost no slag - just a bit of glassy substance - so no slag choking the weld area (the "fast freeze" is a corollary of this - no slag?) as you tack-weld

Running 6010 open-arc isn't impossibly hard on the welding machine. The voltage when running is higher than with other rods. Why would be a problem for a really feeble inverter - 20 years ago some low-end ones would only run 6013. If run it much like a 6013, with a bit of arc length, is "just" "nice". Never thought to do that with first learning keyholing.

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