why "low hydrogen"

[muddstopper]

I keep my rods in one of those canisters. Anytime I know i am going to have a bunch of welding to do, I take my rods out of the canister and place them on top of the wood stove. Leave them overnite and they will weld like new. works good in thw winter hen I have a fire in the stove, not so much in July and August. I have been thinking about getting one of those little dorm fridgerators and installing a 100W light bulb and using that for a rod oven.

 

[MinnesotaDaveChalmers]

I keep my rods in one of those canisters. Anytime I know i am going to have a bunch of welding to do, I take my rods out of the canister and place them on top of the wood stove. Leave them overnite and they will weld like new. works good in thw winter hen I have a fire in the stove, not so much in July and August. I have been thinking about getting one of those little dorm fridgerators and installing a 100W light bulb and using that for a rod oven.

A lot of people do this with the little refrigerators - the rod ovens sell really cheap used so you may end up wanting that instead.

The 50lb rod oven I started using is 150 watts but has a thermostat so it doesn't use as much power as those that run all the time.
It was $100 including shipping and had the little dividers in it already.

I was a late convert to 7018, but I eventually, begrudgingly, switched over from 7014 to them - I don't like to change... :laughing:

 

[Gary Fowler]

The refrigerator with light bulb works OK for cellulose fluxed rods like the 6010/6011 but it doesn't get hot enough to keep moisture out or remove it once absorbed in low hydrogen rods. The 50# boxes and even 10# ovens from Phoenix dryrod keep them at 300F and are well insulated so the heating element doesn't run much of the time so it is much cheaper in the long run to put the money into a drybox oven and save on electrical cost PLUS have them at the right temps and always dry which will save you from having a bunch of rods go bad (bad as in wont weld without pin holes ).
I found a good 300# one on Craigslist many years ago for $150 and keep all my LH rods in it and it on full time. Most of the time, my shop electric bill (separate meter from the house) is just the minimum amount so it isn't really costing me anything to run it.
I see the 50# size occasionally for as little as $50 so not a lot of money invested to be able to keep your electrodes protected.

 

[muddstopper]

Dave, I have built several chicken egg incubators over the years. I like these wafer thermostats pretty well. Thermostat - 59S | Incubator Parts | Chicks and Game Birds from Stromberg's |. I think somthing like this would work well for a rod oven using a bulb as a heating element. I have also bought the resistance wire and made my own heating elements, 15M Length 1 6mm AWG14 Gauge Kanthal A1 Resistance Heating Coils Resistor Wire | eBay. Use a couple of porcelan electric fence insultors and wrap the wire around them, hook to a thermostat , add a computer fan, and presto, instant heater.

 

[buickanddeere]

Rod oven or go home

 

[arrow]

The refrigerator with light bulb works OK for cellulose fluxed rods like the 6010/6011 but it doesn't get hot enough to keep moisture out or remove it once absorbed in low hydrogen rods. The 50# boxes and even 10# ovens from Phoenix dryrod keep them at 300F and are well insulated so the heating element doesn't run much of the time so it is much cheaper in the long run to put the money into a drybox oven and save on electrical cost PLUS have them at the right temps and always dry which will save you from having a bunch of rods go bad (bad as in wont weld without pin holes ).
I found a good 300# one on Craigslist many years ago for $150 and keep all my LH rods in it and it on full time. Most of the time, my shop electric bill (separate meter from the house) is just the minimum amount so it isn't really costing me anything to run it.
I see the 50# size occasionally for as little as $50 so not a lot of money invested to be able to keep your electrodes protected.

I don't weld on a regular basis. Maybe 5 or 6 times per year depending on the project. If I am to understand this, one , foreseeing a welding project the next day, takes out the amount of rods being used that day and places them into a 300* environment for 6 to 8 hours. Or...do the 7018's need this environment on a constant basis? If so, according to Buickanddeere, I'm going home as I refuse to burn up 109 kilowatts per month to keep a rod oven going constantly. Even using 60 kilowatts per month costs over $8 here. For a guy who welds as little as I do, I'm hoping the former part of my understanding on how one might use a rod oven indeed suffices.

 

[buickanddeere]

The rod oven does not run 24/7. In the winter it does heat to the shop so no loss there. b.t.w. why are you blaming me ?

 

[aczlan]

b.t.w. why are you blaming me ?

I suspect its in response to this post:

Rod oven or go home

He is saying that he doesn't weld enough to make it worth running a rod oven...

Aaron Z

 

[muddstopper]

The goal of having a rod oven is to keep the rods dry, not keep them hot. A thermostat controlled heater will keep the rods dry, will even dry out wet rods over time. Maybe not as quick as a 300* rod oven. With rods that have been exposed to the atmosphere and absorbed moisture, High heat for a few hours will dry them out for immediate use, but rods that just need to be kept dry dont need 300* degrees to stay that way. A Christmas tree light will provide enough heat in a small area to keep a few lbs of rods dry with out spinning the electric meter off the wall

 

[bigdeano]

7018 that has absorbed moisture needs to be heated to 800F to be dried out. Apparently the water combines chemically with the rod coating, it's not just a matter of evaporating it. I read it on the Miller website I think. I tried 450F for three hours but it didn't seem to do anything for my old 7018 rods.

If I need to weld high carbon steel I use 308L stainless. It's twice as ductile as 7018.