Welding Rods for beginners

[daugen]

I have two boxes of 7014; good to go. I was hoping to get some practice in tomorrow; have a nice pile of scraps to work on.
Want to practice with varying thicknesses to understand penetration better. As long as I make a strong weld, I'll worry about the cosmetics later.
Though after an hour of grinding weld beads I may likely be changing my current tune.
Will start at 110 amps on an Everlast 160 and work my way down. Want to see when the splatter calms down.
Am speculating that I can get it going more easily with a little more amperage.

If I get a rod stuck, just release the rod where it is, let it cool down or break it off while it's hot? I have good gloves.

 

[k0ua]

I have two boxes of 7014; good to go. I was hoping to get some practice in tomorrow; have a nice pile of scraps to work on.
Want to practice with varying thicknesses to understand penetration better. As long as I make a strong weld, I'll worry about the cosmetics later.
Though after an hour of grinding weld beads I may likely be changing my current tune.
Will start at 110 amps on an Everlast 160 and work my way down. Want to see when the splatter calms down.
Am speculating that I can get it going more easily with a little more amperage.

If I get a rod stuck, just release the rod where it is, let it cool down or break it off while it's hot? I have good gloves.

If the rod sticks pull back on your stinger, it will either break the rod loose at the workpiece or will slip the rod from the stinger. With good thick gloves, wiggle the rod back and forth and break it loose. 7014 don't stick bad usually. Keep a tight arc, and you will minimize splatter. You can run 7014 very tight. In fact I have seen videos of people just laying the stinger at an angle and letting the 7014 run itself. At time 7:40 on this video you can see this for yourself.

 

[k0ua]

Use this Miller welds calculator available below for starting points for setting up your welder

Stick Welding Calculator - MillerWelds

This is also available as an app for your smart phone too so you can have it handy in your pocket.

 

[CharlieKtractor]

Use this Miller welds calculator available below for starting points for setting up your welder

Stick Welding Calculator - MillerWelds

This is also available as an app for your smart phone too so you can have it handy in your pocket.

very good to have---thanks

 

[k0ua]

very good to have---thanks

Your very welcome.

 

[daugen]

Jim, great info, thank you. Was tied up yesterday, will watch video today and see if I have questions.

does the length of the rod have any effect on the amount of amps needed; i.e. a half used rod needs the same amps for similar performance as a whole rod? From playing with the Miller calculator, clearly the thickness of the rod makes a difference, but does a rod get "hotter" as it gets smaller? Clearly newbie questions, sorry.

admittedly I tend to overthink and overanalyse and what I need to do is keep trying different combinations until I get what works best and easiest for me. Getting into a comfortable position with my arthritis issues will be my first challenge.

 

[k0ua]

Jim, great info, thank you. Was tied up yesterday, will watch video today and see if I have questions.

does the length of the rod have any effect on the amount of amps needed; i.e. a half used rod needs the same amps for similar performance as a whole rod? From playing with the Miller calculator, clearly the thickness of the rod makes a difference, but does a rod get "hotter" as it gets smaller? Clearly newbie questions, sorry.

admittedly I tend to overthink and overanalyse and what I need to do is keep trying different combinations until I get what works best and easiest for me. Getting into a comfortable position with my arthritis issues will be my first challenge.

To answer to your question, well I don't know for sure. I suppose the reduced length having slightly reduced resistance might change the current a bit, but I doubt this is much of a factor. Yes, I think you might be over analysing it a bit. Strike an arc, and make some sparks. Best thing is to just get in there and start welding and gaining your own data set of experiences. :thumbsup:

 

[daugen]

ok, I'm getting close. My welding friend/mentor/teacher went fishing this weekend so no welding until next weekend.
Plenty of other things to work on, but in looking at this abused metal closely, should I be using a thinner rod to fix these cracks
on the deck? Reinforcing metal is going over this area, including the oem 1/4 thick plate, and new metal going over this one really
bad area. So I need to fix these cracks, to some degree, certainly not pretty since I'm covering them with more steel.

I have what I think are standard rods. Worried about burning through, this deck metal is not all there, so I thought perhaps less amps
and a thinner rod. I cleaned but did not route out the cracks, can still do that, but worried about losing what metal I have.
What would you all do?

 

[Oldpath05]

With stick welding, If burnthrew is an issue, I always used 3/32- 6011 then strengthened with a coulpe psses of 7014 or another steel plate. Now I use a small mig welder for for thin steel.

 

[k0ua]

I would V it out and weld. That one short crack, you didn't get to the end of the crack with the hole drilling. Weld it up and drill another hole at the end of the crack. You have to get out ahead of even the tiniest crack, then drill the hole. 7014 is the easiest rod to fill cracks and holes with.