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Re: I'm excited. Aluminum stick.

Originally Posted by albrightree

This pack of 3/32" electrodes is still sealed in the cellophane, but I can feel they are wet.
Attachment 1727637


These are a few years old, and stored in a broken wine cabinet(fridge?) with all my other welding rod. I still haven't put a light bulb in it to keep the damp off. Its not oven, but when the fog rolls in off the mountain on the other side of the river, everything metal has water vapor condensing on it. Even still this 4043 3/32" didn't make it, right next to it is some 30 year old McKay 308-16, and its not crumbly.

Attachment 1727638

Now it has a liquid flux paste https://www.weldingweb.com/images/smilies/laughing.gif


Attachment 1727639

Thanks, most people don't believe me even when I talk about something I know about. Just ask my kids. To add: I don't know why anyone would use 4043 (any process) for anything other than tread plate (why would anyone do that?) truck tool boxes or art projects. I understand the attraction as it is sooo liquid and smut free but strength is crap. Don't get me wrong, these have their place but as you found out, you better use em up, pronto.

Re: I'm excited. Aluminum stick.

Originally Posted by albrightree

This pack of 3/32" electrodes is still sealed in the cellophane, but I can feel they are wet.
Attachment 1727637


These are a few years old, and stored in a broken wine cabinet(fridge?) with all my other welding rod. I still haven't put a light bulb in it to keep the damp off. Its not oven, but when the fog rolls in off the mountain on the other side of the river, everything metal has water vapor condensing on it. Even still this 4043 3/32" didn't make it, right next to it is some 30 year old McKay 308-16, and its not crumbly.

Attachment 1727638

Now it has a liquid flux paste https://www.weldingweb.com/images/smilies/laughing.gif


Attachment 1727639

Yes, the flux is salt based and attracts moisture in a alarming rate. I have mine stored in vaccuüm sealed bags inside an old fridge, but I'm still doubtfull about the time they will last before the flux starts falling off.
The up side is. They are a good dessicant for my other electrodes(7018, 7016, 308 and 312 and some 6013)) which are stored in the same old fridge.

Re: I'm excited. Aluminum stick.

Originally Posted by John T

Good to have in the toolbox, for sure if you need it.

Looks good/better than I thought it would if you had asked me before hand.
Actually looks better than some spool gun stuff I’ve seen

Pretty cool.

I’m not sure what the point is bending it in a vice was.

If it’s 6061 it will probably break in half.

I don’t know much about testing aluminum weld but I don’t think it’s the same process as steel…

As in bent tests.

They bend aluminum as well just like steel. And 6061 needs more of a angle then that to bend

Re: I'm excited. Aluminum stick.

Originally Posted by Yofish

Beauty weld for sure. These things have been around for a long time, no magical juice here, and are not useful whatsoever other than for what you did. You can't really make anything with them unless you are a masochist with too much time on your hands. BTW, a year after you buy them they are only useful for white elephant parties.

This pack of 3/32" electrodes is still sealed in the cellophane, but I can feel they are wet.
Attachment 1727637


These are a few years old, and stored in a broken wine cabinet(fridge?) with all my other welding rod. I still haven't put a light bulb in it to keep the damp off. Its not oven, but when the fog rolls in off the mountain on the other side of the river, everything metal has water vapor condensing on it. Even still this 4043 3/32" didn't make it, right next to it is some 30 year old McKay 308-16, and its not crumbly.

Attachment 1727638

Now it has a liquid flux paste https://www.weldingweb.com/images/smilies/laughing.gif


Attachment 1727639

Re: I'm excited. Aluminum stick.

My INE Skyline 1500 inverter has a aluminum stick welding slope setting that works very well. What a great welding unit that is.. Jim here has one, and knows there is nothing funny about that machine.. I wish some of the advanced process Lincoln's /etc I had could weld half as nice..

Re: I'm excited. Aluminum stick.

Originally Posted by Brand X

A inverter with a Aluminum stick setting makes life easier.

Now that there was funny...

Re: I'm excited. Aluminum stick.

Originally Posted by Continuum

That’s a darn nice looking weld especially on AL. I doubt mine would look that clean on steel running downward.

Thank You, but not downhill. All welds done flat.

Re: I'm excited. Aluminum stick.

Originally Posted by E T

Aluminium stick is fun.
AlSi12 3.2mm(1/8") electrode on 100A DC+ outside corner welds on 4mm sheet.
No preheat.

That’s a darn nice looking weld especially on AL. I doubt mine would look that clean on steel running downward.

Re: I'm excited. Aluminum stick.

Originally Posted by FlyFishn

Those look like decent welds for stick. However, I am scratching my head on that one - does that rod produce a lot of slag and smoke? Or is it low slag? Reason I ask is I can't see the arc or puddle with the Royal 300's - too much smoke and slag. I am not sure how welding on a corner like that would work without better visibility. I suppose if you have your technique down and you really trust yourself then the control to do that without visibility might be possible, just difficult to pull it off.

These rods have the normal thick violent swirling white salty slag that all aluminium stick electrodes have.
On the outside corners there is a bit of a v-groove and I just drag the rod in that groove and feed in very fast.

Re: I'm excited. Aluminum stick.

Originally Posted by whtbaron

I looked into that once before, but never got around to trying it. Isn't there a special flux paste you need for that process? It seems to me that to do it successfully you need a rod with similar characteristics (melting points) as the aluminum alloy you are repairing.

The flux on the rod is plenty for O/A work, I used to use those rods with a welding torch in the field for thin wall aluminum irrigation pipe repairs. At times it worked better than running them on a DC welder.

Re: I'm excited. Aluminum stick.

Originally Posted by E T

Aluminium stick is fun.
AlSi12 3.2mm(1/8") electrode on 100A DC+ outside corner welds on 4mm sheet.
No preheat.

Awesome!

Re: I'm excited. Aluminum stick.

I recall emailing Crown on these rods (royal 300's). Looks like it was back last Fall. For some reason all I recall of what info I got out of them was they were suitable for "any weldable aluminum". Which the data sheet does say - but there is more useful info on there. Weld characteristics, tensile strength, and amperage per rod size are given. In any event, attached is the data sheet I dug up.

Edit - in the first section, "Typical Application" (middle of the section) - they even state that even though it was developed for arc welding, it works very well as a brazing rod for O/A also. Cool stuff.

Attachment 1727528

Attachment 1727529

Attachment 1727530

Re: I'm excited. Aluminum stick.

Originally Posted by Lis2323

Twecos on mine.

Ya know... if you're going to post a picture of that beauty show us the whole thing. Not just the business end In all seriousness, though, I'd like to check it out. I'm assuming you did the restoration work/paint job? Looks really good from what I can tell on the bottom half. Is that the original cart or the one for the other model that was retrofitted? I forget what the other model was but there was another unit Lincoln had that people were able to source the carts from and several Round Tops made their way on to them.

Re: I'm excited. Aluminum stick.

Originally Posted by leightrepairs

If you constantly take the leads off the machine you might want to consider terminal connectors. They go on the studs and and are either camloc or dinse connectors, makes adding or removing the cables much easier and saves the studs from coming loose. See link for an example.

https://www.harrisweldingsupplies.co...erminal-08030/

Originally Posted by 12V71

Saves the stud insulators too.

Twecos on mine.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Re: I'm excited. Aluminum stick.

Originally Posted by SweetMK

If you really want a treat, try welding aluminum with those rods,,
but, instead of using an electric power source, use an oxy-acetylene torch,

Use the same technique that you would use to weld steel with an oxy torch,,

My BIL owned, and rented 20 jon boats,, the customers ran them up on the beach, and it would constantly cause leaks.
The thin jon boats would easily weld with these electric arc welding electrodes.

This was back in the late 1970's, and my BIL had not welded before,,
he just followed a recommendation that he got at a local welding supply,, and it worked.

I looked into that once before, but never got around to trying it. Isn't there a special flux paste you need for that process? It seems to me that to do it successfully you need a rod with similar characteristics (melting points) as the aluminum alloy you are repairing.

Re: I'm excited. Aluminum stick.

Originally Posted by E T

Aluminium stick is fun.
AlSi12 3.2mm(1/8") electrode on 100A DC+ outside corner welds on 4mm sheet.
No preheat.

Those look like decent welds for stick. However, I am scratching my head on that one - does that rod produce a lot of slag and smoke? Or is it low slag? Reason I ask is I can't see the arc or puddle with the Royal 300's - too much smoke and slag. I am not sure how welding on a corner like that would work without better visibility. I suppose if you have your technique down and you really trust yourself then the control to do that without visibility might be possible, just difficult to pull it off.

Re: I'm excited. Aluminum stick.

Aluminium stick is fun.
AlSi12 3.2mm(1/8") electrode on 100A DC+ outside corner welds on 4mm sheet.
No preheat.

Re: I'm excited. Aluminum stick.

Originally Posted by SweetMK

If you really want a treat, try welding aluminum with those rods,,
but, instead of using an electric power source, use an oxy-acetylene torch,

Use the same technique that you would use to weld steel with an oxy torch,,

My BIL owned, and rented 20 jon boats,, the customers ran them up on the beach, and it would constantly cause leaks.
The thin jon boats would easily weld with these electric arc welding electrodes.

This was back in the late 1970's, and my BIL had not welded before,,
he just followed a recommendation that he got at a local welding supply,, and it worked.

I intend to try that technique - both on aluminum and steel. I do have O/A here, a tiny set of tanks but I do have it.

On a similar topic - I'm somewhat familiar with the "Texas Tig" method of using one rod for the arc/heat and some filler then using another rod to add in even more filler.

I'd be curious if the "Texas Tig" method could be done with a DC Tig torch and flux-coated electrodes as the filler. Though, I am pretty sure the difference with O/A is the flame is self-shielding already whereas an electric arc requires shielding gas - either the gas itself or that created when the flux is burned. In the case of the flux coated electrode with DC Tig - the flux is there to burn and create slag to shield. Any thoughts?

Re: I'm excited. Aluminum stick.

If you really want a treat, try welding aluminum with those rods,,
but, instead of using an electric power source, use an oxy-acetylene torch,

Use the same technique that you would use to weld steel with an oxy torch,,

My BIL owned, and rented 20 jon boats,, the customers ran them up on the beach, and it would constantly cause leaks.
The thin jon boats would easily weld with these electric arc welding electrodes.

This was back in the late 1970's, and my BIL had not welded before,,
he just followed a recommendation that he got at a local welding supply,, and it worked.

Re: I'm excited. Aluminum stick.

I think it's hard to compare an inverter with a transformer as far as open circuit volts and arc watts etc. An inverter by itself is operating at a higher frequency. I know an awesome Tig welder who had a Miller Dynasty 300 (he wore it out) and said he could set the machine parameters to use high frequency start only on aluminum and continue to weld when the HF stopped. Not that he would not use continuous HF 99% of time.

Re: I'm excited. Aluminum stick.

Originally Posted by bigb

Interesting.....would you say it was better or easier with the Inverter or the transformer?

A inverter with a Aluminum stick setting makes life easier.

Re: I'm excited. Aluminum stick.

Originally Posted by leightrepairs

If you constantly take the leads off the machine you might want to consider terminal connectors. They go on the studs and and are either camloc or dinse connectors, makes adding or removing the cables much easier and saves the studs from coming loose. See link for an example.

https://www.harrisweldingsupplies.co...erminal-08030/

Saves the stud insulators too.

Re: I'm excited. Aluminum stick.

Originally Posted by FlyFishn

Go get you some Crown Alloys Royal 300 rods and give em' a whirl.

If I ever need em, I'll remember that, but for now I'll "stick" with my Sync 250 for aluminum.

Re: I'm excited. Aluminum stick.

If you constantly take the leads off the machine you might want to consider terminal connectors. They go on the studs and and are either camloc or dinse connectors, makes adding or removing the cables much easier and saves the studs from coming loose. See link for an example.

https://www.harrisweldingsupplies.co...erminal-08030/

Re: I'm excited. Aluminum stick.

Originally Posted by John T

The cables on your machine should go inside those wire loops.

It prevents damage if you accidentally pull the cable...

.
Attachment 1727519

I've had others mention that in the past. The reason for that is I store the leads off the machine. So I don't take the time to weave them through the retaining loops. I know what they're there for but I don't mess with them. I am never welding far enough from the machine to worry about yanking the cables. I'm usually within about 5 feet of the machine and the shortest lead I think is 35ft (ground).