Wet 7018.

[muddstopper]

I hate to say it, but my shop stays damp all the time. The roof leaks and needs to be replaced. I dont own a rod oven and store my rods in one of those plastic cans. When ever I know I have a bunch of welding to do, I take my rods and lay them on top of the wood stove. I usually have several laying on the stove at any given time. The stove top will reach close to 500degrees if I crank it up. Anyways, even moldy looking rods will dry out and burn just fine for me. Now if the flux has started to turn loose, thats a whole new ballgame. My biggest problem is with the mig, rusty wire there aint much you can do for that.

 

[joshuabardwell]

one question about rod ovens, if you store rods in just a regular container most of the time, then in a rod oven maybe a day before you use them does it give you any benefeit? Do you need to keep them in the oven since the first time you open them? I don't weld a lot, but enough to buy a decent amount at a time and don't want to store it for months in an oven if I am not using it.

Per AWS, reconditioning rods requires higher temperature than a rod oven is designed to produce. Rod ovens may stay at around 200 degrees. The goal here is to keep a dry environment, to keep moisture from coming into contact with the flux. When moisture comes into contact with the flux, it's said that chemical changes occur in the flux, which require much higher temperatures to reverse. This is reconditioning, which requires something like 2 hours at something like 800 degrees.

 

[joshuabardwell]

Shield Arc, I don't think anybody here is surprised to find you can lay down a clean bead with a sub-optimal rod. Here's what I want to know: what about Gary Fowler's statement about hydrogen embrittlement that leads to catastrophic failure of the bead at the HAZ some time down the road? Is there a way that we could examine that, practically speaking? Tell you what: why don't you weld up a shackle and hang an engine block or two from it, then set up a webcam, and we'll all watch to see how long it takes to fall. But seriously... I wonder if you wouldn't mind setting that coupon aside for six months or so and cutting another sample from it to do another bend test and see if anything has changed?

 

[Shield Arc]

What I've read about hydrogen embrittlement, is not a problem with A-36 steel, it is when you get into high strength steel where you will have problems. 7018 is required to weld some high strength steels, along with 80, 90, and even 11018. One way to look at it, how much mild steel is welded with 60xx filler everyday. 7018 is major over kill for mild steel.
I remember one time being on a job where they had a CAT 966 loader. Also had a fork attachment for this loader. The forks were made out of T-1. One day the loader operator broke one of the forks right in the heel. This fork was about 8-inches wide, and 4-inches thick in the heel. I got elected to weld it up. I double beveled the long section, preheated to 300-degrees, used 11018 right out of a new can. Never seen the inside of a rod oven! When completed I wrapped the fork in house insulation, and went home for the night. Next morning the mechanics, and loader operator installed the repaired fork. For the next 1 1/2-years I watched that same loader operator abuse that fork, it never broke!

I could be all wet about hydrogen embrittlement, there is a lot of information out there about the subject, 99% of it goes right over my head.:confused3: That is why when welding something that is critical, engineers write up a WPS, and expect the welder to follow it.


Sure I could hold onto those coupons, but who is going to remind me to bend them in 6-months?:laughing:

 

[joshuabardwell]

What I've read about hydrogen embrittlement, is not a problem with A-36 steel, it is when you get into high strength steel where you will have problems. 7018 is required to weld some high strength steels, along with 80, 90, and even 11018. One way to look at it, how much mild steel is welded with 60xx filler everyday. 7018 is major over kill for mild steel.

That's the impression that I have, but being a n00b, I don't always trust my impressions, and being a scientist at heart, I'm always hungry for experimental data.

Sure I could hold onto those coupons, but who is going to remind me to bend them in 6-months?:laughing:

Take a paint pen, write the date six months from now on it, write my username on it, and stick it to the wall somewhere where you'll see it every now and then. :thumbsup: I'd do it myself, but only being a "hobbyist," I don't have a coupon bending machine.

 

[Shield Arc]

Depending on how far you want to take your learning of welding. In my opinion if you really want to build confidence in your welding you should build a tester! I'm sure you have the majority of the material laying around. You can even borrow the hydraulic jack out of you pickup.
I had a small shop press, I just built an attachment for it, and built a coupon roller.

Model BT1B Weld Bend Tester - YouTube

 

[joshuabardwell]

I had a small shop press, I just built an attachment for it, and built a coupon roller.

Nice! I don't have a press, but it's on my wish-list. I currently have an offer out on a fabrication project (building a geodesic dome kit for somebody--no welding, mind you) that if the guy ever comes through on the money, I'm going to use part of it to buy a hydraulic press. The work involves squishing the ends of a bunch of EMT conduit flat, with a curved profile. A hydraulic press is the only way to do it really efficiently.

 

[k0ua]

This don't prove a whole heck of a lot but back last june I welded up a crack in my "beater bucket" a Kubota bucket off of the last tractor. I have used it to move tons of rocks, and pushed and pryied on things since with it and it is still holding. I welded it with some US Forge 7018 rod that I keep in a plastic rod holder from horrible freight. it does have a nice gasket, and I would call it airtight. The rod of course came from a cardboard box with s shrink wrapper on it. Whether there were any holes in the shrink wrap, I don't know. So the rod has never seen the inside of a rod oven. Again I am not saying this is the end all do all proof but it is what it is.

http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/welding/249487-oh-no-my-bucket-broken.html

James K0UA

 

[CNC Dan]

..... The work involves squishing the ends of a bunch of EMT conduit flat, with a curved profile. A hydraulic press is the only way to do it really efficiently.

naw, make a big pair of pliers. Big like a pair of pruning lopers.
Levers are quick and strong.

Did you get your info from desert domes?

 

[joshuabardwell]

naw, make a big pair of pliers. Big like a pair of pruning lopers.
Levers are quick and strong.

Did you get your info from desert domes?

Now that I have a welder, maybe fabbing up some big pliers would be an option. The last time I made a dome, it was sledge, vice, or press. The press was slow as heck though.

Yup. I got the info from desert domes.