what size welding rods do ye use

f140

I nealy always use 3.2 rods on everything. was talking to a lad today that only always uses 2.5. what do ye use?

td5man

f140 wrote: »

I nealy always use 3.2 rods on everything. was talking to a lad today that only always uses 2.5. what do ye use?

3.2 mostly

Zr105

3.2's for about 90% here, wether it be the air cooled or the inverter, but the inverter gets used most of time now!

Then have a box of 2.5's that are used for lighter stuff, but you need to be able to turn the welder down to suit them to, only really use them with the inverter

2.5's for up to about 100amps,

3.2's 70-140ish amps

Then use 4's just so your not changing rod every few seconds once the power gets up when your really burning into heavy steel, but its a case of crank up the air cooled for them

have2flushtwice

Lighter rods for lighter work.lower power too.

Heavier rods need more amps and more fuses!

I find heavy rods on lite work melt the material, and have to build d gap.

Juniorhurler

3.2 as well mainly but also have the 2.5 on the cart always. Would use 3 or 4 boxes of 3.2 though for every one of 2.5.

Reggie.

Juniorhurler wrote: »

3.2 as well mainly but also have the 2.5 on the cart always. Would use 3 or 4 boxes of 3.2 though for every one of 2.5.

Same as that

Nekarsulm

3.2 almost all the time. Have a box of (I think ) 6mm and a box of 4 mm. The 4 get used now and then, but the 6's are still sitting there. I think you would need something with more than the 180 amp my welder has, to melt them in properly. probably looking at 220 amp welder.

tomwaterford

3.2 or 4mm usually....thinking of getting a MIG for lighter work...will get one for the shed if I get a new job:)

feartuath

2.5 i use a lot of the time as i often try to put in a route weld and cap off with a 3.2 same technique as when pipe welding.
2.5 mostly used for vertical welding,
I have a tig welder here for the light stuff.

99nsr125

Juniorhurler wrote: »

3.2 as well mainly but also have the 2.5 on the cart always. Would use 3 or 4 boxes of 3.2 though for every one of 2.5.

snap

bbam

Same as above.
Also have a small cheap MIG. One that has flux in the wire. It's handy for really light work. Bought it of a lad for €50 as he wasn't using it much.

Reggie.

bbam wrote: »

Same as above.
Also have a small cheap MIG. One that has flux in the wire. It's handy for really light work. Bought it of a lad for €50 as he wasn't using it much.

Nice bargain there bbam

sheebadog

I usually use 3.2 flux rods. Mig for clean precise and Tig less frequently.

blue5000

Showing my age here, No. 10 mostly which I think are 3.2mm. Used to love Oerlikon rods until they got taken over by someone else.

feartuath

blue5000 wrote: »

Showing my age here, No. 10 mostly which I think are 3.2mm. Used to love Oerlikon rods until they got taken over by someone else.

8,10,or 12 guage when I was an apprentice,then there was all the low hydrogen and hard facing rods.
Im lucky i gave up welding years ago, might as well be on 60 major a day when welding.

SuperTortoise

Depends on what's being welded!

2.5's work well on small inverter machines, duty cycles on them machines when using 3.2 burning hot is not that great.

huntsman77

Kinda off topic lads bout is it just me or is it nearly impossible to cut a straight angle with a 9 inch grinder does many of ye have a band saw or chop saw for cutting steel

Reggie.

huntsman77 wrote: »

Kinda off topic lads bout is it just me or is it nearly impossible to cut a straight angle with a 9 inch grinder does many of ye have a band saw or chop saw for cutting steel

I'm with ya on that one

Juniorhurler

I often make a wooden template for precise angled cuts using the chop saw, similar to a mitre box and then use the grinder with this.

kay 9

3.2s a very versatile rod. Depends what I'm at really. Route welds 2.5 and fill and Cap with the 3.2. 2.5 is great for burning towbars and eyes etc on the 1st pass. Crank it up and burn it in well ... Also very handy for getting out slag inclusion in the weld which happens everyone from time to time..

Muckit

Juniorhurler wrote: »

I often make a wooden template for precise angled cuts using the chop saw, similar to a mitre box and then use the grinder with this.

Jaysus your dog rough lad!

delaney001

Can any of ye answer this for me. This happens the whole time to me and Im just wondering is there any reason behind it.

Was welding the leg of a light trough this evening. (handy little light gauge 8', one you'd use to feed a bit of ration to calves in).
I find without fail, everytime I go to weld something like this, if I go straight in and try to run a 5" bead along the joining, I'll burn a hole into either the leg or trough within 3 seconds. Everytime without fail. However, if I begin by putting say 6 or 7 little dabs/blobs of welds along where the bead will be first, and then go back to the start and run the bead across - there is absolutely no problems, the bead will weld perfectly and I can go nice and slow and fill up the cavity without the fear of burning through either piece.


Why is this?

tomwaterford

huntsman77 wrote: »

Kinda off topic lads bout is it just me or is it nearly impossible to cut a straight angle with a 9 inch grinder does many of ye have a band saw or chop saw for cutting steel

as in straight line on a sheet of steel??never heard that phrase before

delaney001 wrote: »

Can any of ye answer this for me. This happens the whole time to me and Im just wondering is there any reason behind it.

Was welding the leg of a light trough this evening. (handy little light gauge 8', one you'd use to feed a bit of ration to calves in).
I find without fail, everytime I go to weld something like this, if I go straight in and try to run a 5" bead along the joining, I'll burn a hole into either the leg or trough within 3 seconds. Everytime without fail. However, if I begin by putting say 6 or 7 little dabs/blobs of welds along where the bead will be first, and then go back to the start and run the bead across - there is absolutely no problems, the bead will weld perfectly and I can go nice and slow and fill up the cavity without the fear of burning through either piece.


Why is this?

at a guess id say the 6 or 7 little tacks are helping to disappatete the heat...will have cooled down enough by the time you start weld!!and work to let off heat in to adjoining steel and not direct into the weld???

SuperTortoise

delaney001 wrote: »

Can any of ye answer this for me. This happens the whole time to me and Im just wondering is there any reason behind it.

Was welding the leg of a light trough this evening. (handy little light gauge 8', one you'd use to feed a bit of ration to calves in).
I find without fail, everytime I go to weld something like this, if I go straight in and try to run a 5" bead along the joining, I'll burn a hole into either the leg or trough within 3 seconds. Everytime without fail. However, if I begin by putting say 6 or 7 little dabs/blobs of welds along where the bead will be first, and then go back to the start and run the bead across - there is absolutely no problems, the bead will weld perfectly and I can go nice and slow and fill up the cavity without the fear of burning through either piece.


Why is this?

The thicker the steel the harder it is to burn through, those little spot welds simply thicken the steel a little before you weld it out fully, or are helping to fill out the little gaps between the two pieces being welded.

Soloution: Turn down the amperage on the welding machine, it depends on the thickness of the steel you are using but a decent starting place might be using a 2.5mm soft rod at around 70 Amps and adjust as needed.

Another cause of burn through might be your arc lenght being to long, the longer the arc the greater the amperage and the more heat your putting into the piece. General rule of thumb is hold the rod the same distance away from the work piece as the diameter of the rod your using.

Hope that helps.

delaney001

SuperTortoise wrote: »

The thicker the steel the harder it is to burn through, those little spot welds simply thicken the steel a little before you weld it out fully, or are helping to fill out the little gaps between the two pieces being welded.

Soloution: Turn down the amperage on the welding machine, it depends on the thickness of the steel you are using but a decent starting place might be using a 2.5mm soft rod at around 70 Amps and adjust as needed.

Another cause of burn through might be your arc lenght being to long, the longer the arc the greater the amperage and the more heat your putting into the piece. General rule of thumb is hold the rod the same distance away from the work piece as the diameter of the rod your using.

Hope that helps.

Have the amperage down to the last on the welder as is, but it's a fairly old one. Point taken on keeping the rod close though, didn't know that would have an effect.
Cheers

Zr105

delaney001 wrote: »

Have the amperage down to the last on the welder as is, but it's a fairly old one. Point taken on keeping the rod close though, didn't know that would have an effect.
Cheers

One other thing is keep the rods dry! Preferably inside the house but that ain't always possible. Ideally if they get damp you should through them in the oven really. Have dried them out with a weed burner torch before as it was at hand

delaney001

Zr105 wrote: »

One other thing is keep the rods dry! Preferably inside the house but that ain't always possible. Ideally if they get damp you should through them in the oven really. Have dried them out with a weed burner torch before as it was at hand

What effect does dampness have with them?

tomwaterford

delaney001 wrote: »

What effect does dampness have with them?

always told they wouldn't ''burn'' correctly if they after getting damp...and to put them in your pocket,when your welding to ''warm'' them/use lighter to warm first rod

think its to do with flux, temp (cold to hot),possible rust on steel of rod etc...load of things basically:)


they used to be sealed tube you could buy to store welding rods...great job IMO!!!
think cast rods used come to standered in sealed tubes I think

Zr105

delaney001 wrote: »

What effect does dampness have with them?

It's quite a surprising change actually, when damp the flux spits and sparks a bit more, and the arc varies a little more.

I only learnt about it this year to be honest, but the next day i went from the end of one box into a fresh box and i noticed it straight away.

If you actually put a damp rod beside a new one from a sealed box you can actually see the difference in the colour of the 2.

SuperTortoise

Damp rods will cause porosity in the weld, (little air bubbles and slag mixed into the weld pool) as well as sometimes splitting the flux.
You are probably using 6013 rods which are a general purpose rod, these rods don't need to be bone dry like low hydrogen rods need to be but as others have said it's no harm to give them a drying if they have been left outside for a while.

While we're talking about rods it's worth while buying a good brand of rod, some of the cheap tat that's available would break your heart trying to weld with them, murex, fincord, citofix, are nice rods and the 6013's are cheap as chips so it makes sense to buy good brands.

What type of welder are you using, and on what polarity??