porosity - welding mild steel, 7018 rod

[Shield Arc]

I'm too cheap to pay for a power sucking oven to run 24/7!!

My shop is on a separate power meter from the house. I didn't see any increase in the power bill running my oven 24/7.

 

[MinnesotaDaveChalmers]

Look at 1:55
They DO run themselvs!


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c7509VJZZ80&feature=youtube_gdata_player

Haha! Yeah I've seen his video - I like rods that let me nap while running them

 

[CNC Dan]

My shop is on a separate power meter from the house. I didn't see any increase in the power bill running my oven 24/7.

If the oven is well insulated there should be little heat loss. So once the oven is up to the set temperature, the thermostat will switch off, untill the temperature drops, and then it switches back on.

If I had a rod oven, I would use a "kill-O-watt" meter to see how much electricity it really uses.

 

[muddstopper]

It has already been said, but I will mention it again. Rods will rust under the flux causing crappy weld. My shop used to leak like a sheave until I put a new roof on last year. My rods stay in one of those plastic boxes with the slip on lid. Whenever I know I am going to have a welding project, I will take all the rods out of the box and lay them on top of the wood stove overnite. Top of stove usually runs around 600+F. Next morning rods ran great. Ocassionally, I will get a rod that the flux flakes off of while running a bead. Every one I have had that does that always shows some rusty metal under the flux. I have had flux seperation on rods while heating them on the stove, not often, but it does happen, what can I say, my shop leaked when it rained. When the rods get to that point of rust, I start throwing them away. I have taken rods I had laying around and chipped the flux off of them to check for rust before laying them on the stove. If the rods show signs of rust, I head to the store and get new ones. The old ones, if there are more than a few, I lay to the side for non critical projects. Lb or 2 of rods I will just chuck in the scrap bin.

 

[Gary Fowler]

It has already been said, but I will mention it again. Rods will rust under the flux causing crappy weld. My shop used to leak like a sheave until I put a new roof on last year. My rods stay in one of those plastic boxes with the slip on lid. Whenever I know I am going to have a welding project, I will take all the rods out of the box and lay them on top of the wood stove overnite. Top of stove usually runs around 600+F. Next morning rods ran great. Ocassionally, I will get a rod that the flux flakes off of while running a bead. Every one I have had that does that always shows some rusty metal under the flux. I have had flux seperation on rods while heating them on the stove, not often, but it does happen, what can I say, my shop leaked when it rained. When the rods get to that point of rust, I start throwing them away. I have taken rods I had laying around and chipped the flux off of them to check for rust before laying them on the stove. If the rods show signs of rust, I head to the store and get new ones. The old ones, if there are more than a few, I lay to the side for non critical projects. Lb or 2 of rods I will just chuck in the scrap bin.

At $2-5 per pound (or more), you don't have to throw away many rods to pay for a rod caddy. You don't necessarily need a #350 oven like I have. Phoenix Dry Rod ovens also come in 10# and 50# sizes to fit most needs. As has been said, once hot the thermostat will cut off and they are pretty well insulated so the heat stays in. I have seen the 10# & 50# ovens sell for less than $100 on Craigslist so not too much money to invest in order to have dry rods and not have to throw any away.
My shop is on a separate meter and unless I run a heater in winter, I don't get past the minimum charge from the electric company.

 

[muddstopper]

I have thought about building myself a rod oven many times. Even went so far as to buy a small non functioning display cooler at a convenience store. Just never gotten around to it. I figure a light bulb would be hot enough to keep the rods dry. In the past, I have built several egg incubators using a wafer thermostat, computer fan and heater wire. temps in those is only around 100*f, but the thermostat can be adjusted much higher, dont know how high since I was more concerned with keeping temps low. Might just run a test on one of my old incubators and see just how high it will maintain heat. A incubator should work pretty well keeping the moisture out since you have to keep adding water to raise humidity when hatching eggs. I guess since I already have several incubators, it wouldnt cost me anything to just run a test and see how well it works. As for finding CL bargains, I have searched several times and never seem to find one.

Just to add, I have ran my incubators with a killowatt meter hooked up to see how much electricity is used to hatch a batch of eggs. For 21 days, the cost is only pennies. I would assume a rod oven would cost about the same.

 

[Shield Arc]

For years I used an old smoker that was given to me. Just installed a heat lamp in the top.

 

[muddstopper]

I would guess that heat lamp to be 150w?? would a 60w or even a 100w not do?

 

[Shield Arc]

would a 60w or even a 100w not do?

Sure, people use 100-watt light bulbs in old refrigerators all the time.

 

[CNC Dan]

I would guess that heat lamp to be 150w?? would a 60w or even a 100w not do?

It will probably do, to keep dry rods dry. But not to recondition rods that have gotten wet. To do that you will need much higher temperatures. More than a modern refrigerator can handle.