Restoring welding rods

[daveh1]

I've seen a welding shop near me that used an old refrigerator (not functioning refrigeration) with just an appliance bulb inside to keep their rods fresh. Seems to work for them in a fairly humid climate. Just a thought. Daveh1

Mits D2050 & Honda R <font color="red"> </font> /forums/images/graemlins/cool.gifancher

 

[Cord]

Put the rods in the oven and bake them for a while. The clean cycle seems to be a bit overkill. I thought (having never had the need to bake my rods) that 200 degrees was adequate. I keep all of my rods in the original package until I have the capacity in the pastic rod containers. I have one for every different rod type and size. The containers are not expensive and they work really well.

 

[TomPenny]

so how do you determine if a rod is good or bad. I'm sure it's just assumed if you leave them out. I store mine on a red plastic rod container from HD. They appear fine but are they. They've been in there for months.

 

[MadReferee]

Back in 1988 I was given 50 lbs of 6013 and 50 lbs of 7018 rods. I still have most of them and they still work just fine. They are still in the original box under my workbench. The key is keeping them in a cool dry place.

I almost never use these. Anyone in the northeast want to make me an offer?

 

[Cord]

You can't tell by looking at them. You'll know as soon as you strike the arc. The weld won't lay properly and if you continue to fight it you'll have something that resembles poo.

 

[Dargo]

I dunno. I haven't had very good luck bringing bad rods back to life. I've tried all of the (good) suggestions here with somewhat poor results. Maybe I just don't have the touch. In trying to teach a few people how to weld, some of those people just don't have to touch to weld very well. Maybe I'm that way on reviving rods. /forums/images/graemlins/crazy.gif

I kept some of my big 3/16" and 1/4" rods for other purposes, but tossed most of the rest that wouldn't work well. They make for some butt ugly welds! Now I just buy the small 5 pound boxes and use most of them right after buying them. I do have the nice air-tight aluminum rod cans, but even using those, my rods seem to go bad after a year or two. But, hey, my spools in my MIG welder don't seem to go bad. /forums/images/graemlins/cool.gif

 

[3RRL]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( I really like the PVC pipe idea.)</font>

Gary,
I use the PVC pipe storage system and have for many years. Here's a photo showing my ancient racks that hold my rod. This rod rack is for my TIG welding rods and it is very protective. You can see it's had mop spray and crud flung on it from the past.
I would keep the arc welding rod rack in a better, drier place.

 

[westbrooklawn]

Interesting thread... I had some old 7018 rod that had been laying around in a damp garage for about 10 years... tried it and it was obviously bad. I put the whole batch on a baking pan and put it in the oven at 250 for about 5 hours (figured I had nothing to loose!). I tried some the next day and laid down some of the prettiest welds I have ever made...

I'm not saying this will always work, but it did for me!!

 

[Highbeam]

Cool. Did the rod cooking stink up the house? My 7018 has spoiled from humidity and now the welds are bird poopy and porous.

 

[JustGary]

3RRL,

Nice rack. Thanks for the photo. I'll have to do something like that. I'm glad to hear that some folks have had success with cooking rods. I'll give it a try before I store them again.

<font color="blue"> "I would keep the arc welding rod rack in a better, drier place." </font>

Most people think they know high humidity until they come to Florida in the summer. It's not even dry in the air conditioning.

- Just Gary