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?

In article
<4b19c245-0cb8-47d9-adf6-7bbdea52488e*t54g2000hsg.googlegroups.com>,
stryped <stryped*hotmail.com> wrote:

> 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?

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...

--
Cats, coffee, chocolate...vices to live by

"stryped" <stryped*hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:4b19c245-0cb8-47d9-adf6-7bbdea52488e*t54g2000hsg.googlegroups.com...
>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?

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

Steve

On Tue, 22 Apr 2008 22:27:32 -0800, "SteveB"
<pittmanpirate*henderson.com> wrote:

>
>"stryped" <stryped*hotmail.com> wrote in message
>news:4b19c245-0cb8-47d9-adf6-7bbdea52488e*t54g2000hsg.googlegroups.com...
>>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?
>
>With your welding experience, I would just use any rod. Any polarity. Any
>size. Results will be the same.
>
>Steve
>
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.

"stryped" <stryped*hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:4b19c245-0cb8-47d9-adf6-7bbdea52488e*t54g2000hsg.googlegroups.com...
>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?

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.

On 2008-04-24, SteveB <pittmanpirate*henderson.com> wrote:
> 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.

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.

--
Due to extreme spam originating from Google Groups, and their inattention
to spammers, I and many others block all articles originating
from Google Groups. If you want your postings to be seen by
more readers you will need to find a different means of
posting on Usenet.
http://improve-usenet.org/

"SteveB" <pittmanpirate*henderson.com> wrote in message
news:k505e5-aei.ln1*news.infowest.com...
>
> 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


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.

On Apr 30, 11:47*am, stryped <stry...*hotmail.com> wrote:
...
> 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. ...

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

On 2008-04-30, Jim Wilkins <KB1DAL*gmail.com> wrote:
> On Apr 30, 11:47•£Äam, stryped <stry...*hotmail.com> wrote:
> ...
>> 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. ...
>
> If a high school or voc-tech near you teaches welding, ask about
> evening classes.

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.

--
Due to extreme spam originating from Google Groups, and their inattention
to spammers, I and many others block all articles originating
from Google Groups. If you want your postings to be seen by
more readers you will need to find a different means of
posting on Usenet.
http://improve-usenet.org/

Ignoramus10026 wrote:

> On 2008-04-30, Jim Wilkins <KB1DAL*gmail.com> wrote:
>
>>On Apr 30, 11:47•£Äam, stryped <stry...*hotmail.com> wrote:
>>...
>>
>>>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. ...
>>
>>If a high school or voc-tech near you teaches welding, ask about
>>evening classes.
>
>
> 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.
>

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

On Apr 30, 1:07*pm, Ignoramus10026 <ignoramus10...*NOSPAM.
10026.invalid> wrote:
> On 2008-04-30, Jim Wilkins <KB1...*gmail.com> wrote:
>
> > If a high school or voc-tech near you teaches welding, ask about
> > evening classes.
>
> I was thinking of doing same. I have some welding experience, but very
> little. Has anyone tried those schools?
>

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

On Apr 23, 9:09 am, "Maxwell" <luv2^fly99*cox.^net> wrote:
> "stryped" <stry...*hotmail.com> wrote in message
>
> news:4b19c245-0cb8-47d9-adf6-7bbdea52488e*t54g2000hsg.googlegroups.com...
>
> >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?
>
> 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.

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

jw wrote:

>
> Why does everyone think 7018 is so hard to run? Other than being a
> bit of a pain to start .....

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

--
Pete Snell
Department of Physics
Royal Military College
Kingston, Ontario,
Canada
-----------------------------------------------------------------------

For a successful technology, reality must take precedence
over public relations, for nature cannot be fooled.

Richard Feynman.(1918-1988)

Personal Observations on the Reliability of the (Space) Shuttle.

jw wrote:
> On Apr 23, 9:09 am, "Maxwell" <luv2^fly99*cox.^net> wrote:
>
>>"stryped" <stry...*hotmail.com> wrote in message
>>
>>news:4b19c245-0cb8-47d9-adf6-7bbdea52488e*t54g2000hsg.googlegroups.com...
>>
>>
>>>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?
>>
>>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.
>
>
> 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

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

> > Why does everyone think 7018 is so hard to run? Other than being a
> > bit of a pain to start .....
>
> 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.
>

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

On Wed, 07 May 2008 20:09:14 GMT, Grant Erwin
<grant*NOSPAMkirkland.net> wrote:

>jw wrote:
>> On Apr 23, 9:09 am, "Maxwell" <luv2^fly99*cox.^net> wrote:
>>
>>>"stryped" <stry...*hotmail.com> wrote in message
>>>
>>>news:4b19c245-0cb8-47d9-adf6-7bbdea52488e*t54g2000hsg.googlegroups.com...
>>>
>>>
>>>>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?
>>>
>>>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.
>>
>>
>> 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
>
>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

True. I find 7018-AC runs just fine on a little AC buzz box. My only
problem with 7018 is vertical up. And I think I'm just moving too
darn slow. I'm working on it and starting to get it.

I don't find it any harder to start than any other rod.

rvb

--
As Iron Sharpens Iron,
So One Man Sharpens Another.
Proverbs 27:17

On Wed, 07 May 2008 23:42:32 -0400, "Rick Barter (rvb)"
<rick.barter*gmail.com> wrote:

>On Wed, 07 May 2008 20:09:14 GMT, Grant Erwin
><grant*NOSPAMkirkland.net> wrote:
>
>>jw wrote:
>>> On Apr 23, 9:09 am, "Maxwell" <luv2^fly99*cox.^net> wrote:
>>>
>>>>"stryped" <stry...*hotmail.com> wrote in message
>>>>
>>>>news:4b19c245-0cb8-47d9-adf6-7bbdea52488e*t54g2000hsg.googlegroups.com...
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>>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?
>>>>
>>>>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.
>>>
>>>
>>> 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
>>
>>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
>
>True. I find 7018-AC runs just fine on a little AC buzz box. My only
>problem with 7018 is vertical up. And I think I'm just moving too
>darn slow. I'm working on it and starting to get it.
>
>I don't find it any harder to start than any other rod.
>
>rvb


Here's another question I've always wondered about. Why run 7018
anyway? The parent metal is probably mild steel and tests about 60,000
Lbs. 6010/11 and 6012/13 are easily obtainable and will make beads
about as strong as the parent metal - why bother with 7018?


Bruce-in-Bangkok
(correct Address is bpaige125atgmaildotcom)

In article <mit424df0t6sikqnn17qemrcgodc4pbhhf*4ax.com>, rvb
<rick.barter*gmail.com> wrote:


>
> True. I find 7018-AC runs just fine on a little AC buzz box. My only
> problem with 7018 is vertical up. And I think I'm just moving too
> darn slow. I'm working on it and starting to get it.
>


To get your travel speed just remember that an 1/8" electrode 14" long
should yield 5 - 6 inches of weld bead in any position, any direction.
Hold to that and your flux will just fall off.
..



> I don't find it any harder to start than any other rod.
>
> rvb
>
> --
> As Iron Sharpens Iron,
> So One Man Sharpens Another.
> Proverbs 27:17

In article <b35524dj8c9qmds6mbbf3qbatif759hq36*4ax.com>, Bruce in
Bangkok <decypher_signature*signature.line> wrote:


> Here's another question I've always wondered about. Why run 7018
> anyway? The parent metal is probably mild steel and tests about 60,000
> Lbs. 6010/11 and 6012/13 are easily obtainable and will make beads
> about as strong as the parent metal - why bother with 7018?
>

The one thing that 7018 does that other rods don't do is lay unlimited
thickness multi-pass welds without infusing damaging amounts of
hydrogen into the weld.

That is the only reason to use Lo-Hi rods in the first place.
Which is why they need to be kept dry.
Water + electricity = hydrogen and oxygen.

The hydrogen problem only really applies to metal 1/2" or thicker as
hydrogen can eventually escape from 1/4" of steel.

7018 restarts easily if you pinch off the flux ball on the end.