i need a bit of advice. ive got a invertig221 dv at home that ive had about 5yrs. always i run it on 220. over the 5 years ive welded alot with it but its been 99% aluminum tig (recently bought a stinger for arc welding). for the last few years at work i weld 3 or 4 times a week on mostly maganese railroad components using fluxcore wire with miller extreme suitcase. occasionally i weld 1/2" thick common steel plates together with excaliber 7018MR 3/16 rod. so the range of my welding experience is fairly narrow
im wanting to make two crossmembers for my 4x4 pickup truck. im installing a heavy duty skidplate at it will be bolted to the cross members. theres factory crossmembers already but theyre kind of cheesy (1.5"×3"×1/8" wall rectangle tube) so im making something stronger. going to use 2"×3"×3/16" wall rectangle tube. ill use 1/4" thick plate that bolts vertically to existing crossmember holes in the truck frame rails. the new rectangle tubes will span across the frame rails and extend a 1/4" or so through a rectangle hole in the vertical plates. the tubes will then be welded to the vertical plates ( ill also add some gussets at the tube/plate junction). my questions are: im only wanting to make one pass so would i be better off with 1/8" rod or something like 5/32" ? was thinking excalibur 7018MR would be just fine since im already familiar with that rod. also should i use dcen or dcep from my invertigg221 ?
Excalibur 7018MR's would need DCEP. Don't forget to disconnect your footpedal, because setting the 221 in stick mode does not deactivate the remote control port, so leaving the foot-pedal would effectively set the amps to minimum due to the foot-pedal position being at it's minimum.
For 3/16" to 1/4", 1/8" rod should be fine but it depends just how much throat thickness you're looking for.
I agree
If working light gauge you may want 1/8" too
Dave
Originally Posted by Oscar
Excalibur 7018MR's would need DECP. Don't forget to disconnect your footpedal, because setting the 221 in stick mode does not deactivate the remote control port, so leaving the foot-pedal would effectively set the amps to minimum due to the foot-pedal position being at it's minimum.
For 3/16" to 1/4", 1/8" rod should be fine but it depends just how much throat thickness you're looking for.
ok thnks. ill just get a small 10lb can of 1/8" for the whole job. i very rarely need to weld steel at home so i dont want a bunch of excess rod collecting dust in the garage.
about the polarity on the invertig. ive never stick welded with it but the book says dcep or dcen, depending if i have the ground wire plugged into the positive or negative port of the machine. lincolns site says to use dc+ with the 7018MR , ill have to double check the invertig manual but i think thats ground wire in the positive machine port
ok thnks. ill just get a small 10lb can of 1/8" for the whole job. i very rarely need to weld steel at home so i dont want a bunch of excess rod collecting dust in the garage.
about the polarity on the invertig. ive never stick welded with it but the book says dcep or dcen, depending if i have the ground wire plugged into the positive or negative port of the machine. lincolns site says to use dc+ with the 7018MR , ill have to double check the invertig manual but i think thats ground wire in the positive machine port
The ground/work clamp is not the electrode. DCEP stands for Direct Current Electrode Positive. The electrode is the rod. The stinger/rod holder therefore needs to be plugged into the + port so the electrode can be positive.
thnx for clarifying. ill be sure to unplug the footpedal. for the stick welding aspect of the 7018MR rod (dc+), ill have the stinger plugged into the + port of the machine ?
If doing vertical up use 3/32" 7018 and it will be a lot easier. If the additional cross members are mostly for holding the skid plate on, I might be tempted to use 1/8" 6010 so I could do it downhill. Have seen hitches welded on using only 6010/6011 from an experienced hitch shop.
If ya don't want a bunch of rods laying around catching dust you can mail em to me! LOL
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JEFF
If doing vertical up use 3/32" 7018 and it will be a lot easier. If the additional cross members are mostly for holding the skid plate on, I might be tempted to use 1/8" 6010 so I could do it downhill. Have seen hitches welded on using only 6010/6011 from an experienced hitch shop.
im no good with vertical up or down. all the welding i do from day to day is horizontal flat. ill use the factory cross members for measurement purposes and weld the new ones on the garage floor where i can situate them as needed to keep the weld areas in a horozontal position
I only had
1/8" 6013, 7018
5/32" 6011, 6013 and 7018
But today I would flux core for speed.
Dave
Originally Posted by cornchip
im no good with vertical up or down. all the welding i do is horizontal flat. ill use the factory cross members for measurement purposes and weld the new ones on the garage floor
well the excaliber 1/8" 7018MR showed up and i practiced on some 3/8 scrap with 125amp since i cant get the tube and plate for my project until thursday. this was the first stick welding ive done on the invertig and it seemed to work smoothly.
well i picked up the tubing and plate for my project. theres going to be numerous inside corners where three walls meet and i want to practice on some scrap first so i made two practice samples that will give me eight 3way corners to practice. i did quit a few of these type of joints with aluminum tig and always started in the corner where all the walls meet and welded each joint outward. what is the method for welding this type of joint with 7018 rod ? like the red dots in photo shows, do i start at the outside of one joint and weld into the corner and continue on welding to the outside of the joint ? then on the third joint start at the outside and weld into the corner ?
there's two way's i might do that, first would be how youve drawn the line there, just be sure to drag the rod as you come out of the corner as there will be alot of slag build up there trying to get in front of the puddle, welder slightly hotter (like 135-140) so the force of the arc keeps the slag behind the puddle going through the corner, and make sure you slow right down on the corner to get enough weld metal in there, its really easy to go to fast and get a really undersized weld in the corner, but that way can making the end of the weld kinda hard trying not to blow the edge off of it.
other way is to start on the outside and weld to the middle on both runs just make sure you clean off all the slag really well.
i tried welding through the corner and starting in the corner. both seemed to work ok but im not sure which has less chance of putting slag down in that corner
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Originally Posted by Oscar
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