Welding Rods for beginners

[daugen]

I am impressed with the overall art of welding. There are so many variables that
affect the job, or so it seems to the newbie.
But I do have a question. I gave up on trying to make little back and forth motions or zig zags, kept getting mounds of slag with some penetration below.
After I got it to where a final "dress" run could be made, then is it ok to pull the rod slowly and smoothly and not do anything but that? Last run, not the early penetrating
run. For those of you who do it perfectly in the first pass, well I am impressed. I kept making a nice run, only to bang on it with the pick and have all kinds of stuff chunk off,
so I had mountains of the moon again.

I'm gathering by early comments that other methods of welding do not produce all this weld weakening slag.
Which if I had decent skills, which I don't, I would probably not be creating.

 

[Eric Salop]

is it ok to pull the rod slowly and smoothly and not do anything but that

That's it Drew, with a tight arc and no wild zig zags, keep practising that slowly and smoothly technique on pieces of scrap and soon you will be producing welds where the slag peels off itself to reveal a "stack of dimes" that looks so great, you will almost feel sad when it comes time to cover it in primer

 

[k0ua]

That's it Drew, with a tight arc and no wild zig zags, keep practising that slowly and smoothly technique on pieces of scrap and soon you will be producing welds where the slag peels off itself to reveal a "stack of dimes" that looks so great, you will almost feel sad when it comes time to cover it in primer

Exactly.

 

[bigtiller]

is it ok to pull the rod slowly and smoothly and not do anything but that?

I took a voluntary, free, after-work welding class. About 15 hours total in one week and 20 years ago. So don't depend on me for welding tips. But I do remember welding on scrap steel once that I started the weld and didn't pull the rod. The rod actually pushed it's self! Yep, that's right it pushed it's self, and made one of the best looking welds I ever made. I think that rod was 7024 and was a big one, maybe 3/16".

 

[k0ua]

if you want to see a 7014 welding rod welding by itself, start looking at about 7:45

Stick Welding Rods and a lot More - YouTube

 

[daugen]

I had to chuckle when I got my TSC carryall yesterday. It was looking pretty good until I turned it over.
Looks like someone went to lunch and didn't come back.
I'm going to take a power wire brush to remove the paint and put a few more welds in where they can't be seen.
Going to use 7014.
When all the stress is being put on one relatively small area, why wouldn't they weld it all?
I'm guessing the welding inspector went out for the same lunch.
Some of it is ok, just looks like they didn't finish

I'm in the middle of painting that mower deck and will post the final result. Sure looks nice from ten feet away.

 

[LD1]

Must be training the new guy?

 

[daugen]

Must be training the new guy?

I wonder where this thing was made. Wherever it was, there was certainly no welding inspector in attendance.
That mess is real third world welding.
Did the spool gun run out of wire there? How did that bird's nest get made? (never used a spool gun)

I'm going to wind up repainting this carryall anyway so figured it made sense to do a little welding first.
I already have the 2x6 decking wood ready to cut, but obviously should get welding done first.

 

[rusty842]

7018 are the way to go if you have a way to properly store them. They don’t like moisture and should be stored in a rob oven to “work properly”. The older they get the harder they are to use in the Alabama humidity. 7018 generally like a DC machine better, which you have. I really like 7014 for general welding and use 6011 for really think stuff because they penetrate better.

 

[LD1]

7018 is a good rod no doubt. But not everyone has pipefitter welding skills and not everyone needs pipefitter/structural weld quality.

7018 is more difficult to weld with for a beginner. And as a result, can frustrated some to the point they just give up with welding all together.

I have said it before and I'll say it again, a good weld with 7014 is better than a bad weld with 7018.