Thoughts on this used welder?

[k0ua]

Picked up a box of supplies from a guy off Craigslist. Paid $40 for a hood, slag hammer, gloves, cotton jacket, two boxes of 7018 and a box of 6011. Still planning for the 220 outlet before I can really get started.

The supplies also came with some soapstone sticks. What are those for? The 7018 is low-hydrogen, which means it's supposed to be stored in an oven, right? I don't have an oven, of course. What should I do with it?

The soapstone is for marking on steel. you will notice not a lot of other things work very well, expect maybe a blunt sharpie.
Now the 7018, If is is still good, and not sat out too long in a damp enviorment put it in one of those harbor freight orange welding rod holders. it is sealed up pretty good with a rubber gasket.. It will be OK for your work.. wont meet code, but you are not doing code work, and neither am I. If it has sat out for too long or gotten wet,.. oh well.. If the rod is rusty inside... well peck off the flux and use the rod for something.. still pretty good steel, just not a welding rod anymore.. What I do is get a fresh small batch of 7018, and put them in the holder right away, take out what I am going to need quickly and seal it back up again. it seems to work for me.. I get good welds.. Don't start off with the 7018.. it is harder to get going, and can be very hard to re-strike (start back up). You can do one of several things to make the re-strike work better: you can fling the rod as soon as you break the arc.. to let blob of "stuff" fly off onto the floor.. not highly recommended. You can file the end of the rod before you re-strike, or you can do what I do, break the "corn" off of the end with my thumb (gloved hand) before re-strikeing. But all that said 7018 are a little harder to learn on than say 7014 or 6011 or maybe 6013,, I am not a big fan of 6013, as it is a low penetration rod, but I keep some 1/16 inch 6013 for that purpose, and they are easy to tack up with also. Then weld the joints with 7018 Get some 3/32 7014 too to practice with, they make a broad weld bead, and you must turn up the heat a little more and move faster, but they run pretty smooth. Don't buy too much rod at one time.. until you settle in and your skills develop. Plus fresher rod is always good, and 7014 do not require an oven either. 6011 are good for AC or DC and make a little rougher bead but will penetrate dirty metal if you have too.. of course all rods weld better with clean metal. You need to keep some 1/8 6011 around for use on that heavy stuff that might be dirty or rusty. You can use your higher AC settings too with this rod, and you can cut off metal with it if you dont care what the cut looks like.. Just turn it up on AC and start poking holes.

Welding Rod Keeper

James K0UA

 

[Shield Arc]

Over the last few years I've played with several different brands of 6010, and 6011 rod.
With the same joint design, same welder settings, (amps, arc force, hot start) I found Hobart's 335A 6011 to be the best penetrating rod of all of them. Funny thing, Hobart's PipeMaster 60, (6010) is the worst. But it has the easiest slag removal!

 

[undercut]

Had a lot of fun reading this thread. Nice to see you got the welder working and its a keeper. Nice also to see how much help James and Shield Arc were.

You are going to have a lot of fun with your welder. Something to be said for knowing that some projects and repairs are now within your reach.

I'm tapping into my dryer outlet for 240v but fortunately, most of my welding is with thinner metal so I've been able to get by using 120v (my everlast welder is dual voltage) and 3/32 rods. 220v will give you a lot of latitude on what you can tackle.

Cheers!

 

[Shield Arc]

most of my welding is with thinner metal so I've been able to get by using 120v (my everlast welder is dual voltage)

Now you need to upgrade to a scratch start Tig torch!

 

[cobb71]

If it is stricktly a ac welder, you can get 7018ac rods which will weld almost evrything. good luck

 

[joshuabardwell]

Just so you know, I haven't forgotten about this thread. I'm currently pulling together money to buy the parts for the 220 receptacle. Once I've got that, I'll document the install, and then get some beads run. I'm really excited about it, but the wallet comes first.

 

[nanuk]

Joshua: just a word of warning:

I "THINK" that all your homes electrical outlets will be bonded together by the bare ground wire, and as such, so are all your metal appliances

so, as you are using your dryer, and it has a 120v function, such as a timer or something, then it will (I think) be energizing all your appliances. If you happen to touch, say your Toaster's bare metal, while filling the sink with water, and lean on the metal faucet, you may be completing another circuit in "Parallel" and get a shock. If this shock crosses your heart you could fibrillate....

perhaps someone else who knows more about this can clarify, and perhaps I am wrong.... but that is how I understand it.

 

[joshuabardwell]

I don't know what you think I'm going to be doing, but it will all be according to code, so I don't think there should be any problems.

 

[nanuk]

what I meant was, if your dryer has an exemption, and is using a bonding/ground for a neutral, be aware it may be energizing your whole house via the ground circuit.
as you wrote about your Dad's comment: The ground can be used as neutral to derive 120 from 240

I recently helped a guy do some wiring, and we found the same issues... had to kill the main to eliminate any feed.

 

[joshuabardwell]

what I meant was, if your dryer has an exemption, and is using a bonding/ground for a neutral, be aware it may be energizing your whole house via the ground circuit.

That is the case. My dryer has a three-prong outlet, and the dryer's chassis is bonded to neutral/ground. But I'm sorry to say, I still don't understand what you're talking about. I just don't have sufficient background in household wiring to really comprehend. So if you want to explain it some more, be my guest. I don't see how the dryer could be "energizing the whole house" unless there was a fault in the house's grounding. Otherwise, any current placed onto ground/neutral should go immediately to ground, not to the rest of the house. But if there is a fault in the house's grounding, there is going to be a whole lot more wrong than just the dryer.

But let me take a step back. Everything in the house is compliant with NEC. So it seems like any safety issue should be minimal, no? I mean, that's the whole point of the NEC, right? Additionally, if the dryer is creating a potentially unsafe condition, how will the installation of the additional 220 outlet affect that?