I hate 6013 period. If your still buying from NBWS, they have 5 and 10 pound Hobart418 7018 in nice plastic boxes. Bring the rod in to the house if you can get a away with it.

 

Up until I bought the rod drier from Tozzi, I never had one. I doubt you will notice the difference.

I used to call 6013 farmer rod or ****spreader rod. I use it on some jobs. It runs pretty nice, slag comes off easily. It will weld out of position. Not deep penetrating, Not low hydragen, but kind of nice to use. Get 5 lbs and try it.

You will still have jobs that need 7018. Like Tozzi sez, keep em in the house. Buy small quantities of fresh rod when you need it. I keep a 10 lb sealed can on my truck, so If I get a job that needs it......

Linkin that DC eh?

David

 

Tozzi, are the plastic boxes sealed? Sounds like just the ticket!

Hi Dave, I think I will get some and play with them (6013) but keep using 7018

Will be burning a lot of rods in the am....

 

The rods are sealed in a plastic bag inside the box, foodsaver fresh. Thats the reason my Wife won't let me buy one(foodsaver). She knows I will be packaging more XX18 than food.

 

Tozzi that is a good idea!
My wife wants one anyway!
A few desiccant packs and problem solved.

 

Desiccant won't do anything, the coating on 7018 is almost the same. You can put some fresh 7018 in your gun safe though.

 

If you do not need lots of penitration then try a 6011. They have a soft arc and are easy to weld with. As for keeping rods dry. If they do not sit to long you are fine but keep them in a rod tube and the will last for years. I have several tubes from HD and they work great. I found a tub of rods that were at my dads house in the shop for 5 years and they welded great 1/8" 7014's.

 

Each welding rod HAS A PURPOSE.
Get one of those pocket welding guides and read about them.

There is nothing wrong with using 6013 welding rod.
6013 is an ALL POSITION general purpose welding rod. 60,000PSI tensile strength.
Medium penetration.

7018 is a medium penetration rod for all positions. When welding vertical up it can be diffacult. i won't get into that right now.
It is a 70,000 psi tensile strength. It does need to be kept dry or you will see many small holes in the weld if you grind the surface off of the weld.
Moisture sensitive.
Of coarse you never want to grind any structural weld.
7018 is an x-ray quality rod. IT may be overkill for some things.

6010 welding rod was called the grandfather rod of shipbuilding.
DEEP penetration. It also was called a manure rod for welding dirty rusty,horse trailers etc.,. Lots of stories,
It does not deposit a lot of metal . Used for a root pass on pipe.
6011 rod also does not deposit much metal and is used on galvinized fences.

Like i said EACH rod has a purpose that it was designed for. Sometimes very specific and sometimes general use. I would not use an x-ray quality rod on everything I do. I would select a rod at is best for each job.

You may REALLY like a 7024 rod for FLAT welds because it has a lot of iron powder and puts down a lot of material. Nice appearence.

 

I like 7018 a lot but have no way to store them when not needed. I only stick weld when I can't fit something into the shop, so most things get MIGed. In the past all I had was a AC buzz box and 6011 Now that I can use DC rods I have come to like the 7018s and am interested in doing more stuff outside But I can't meet the storage requirements for the rods when not in use (mounts).

So I am considering getting some 6013 rods... How different do they run? (I know they are not the same thing / type)
Will they store better?

Or

Can I buy SMALL tins of 7018?

Comparing 60xx and 70xx is like comparing .45cal to a 155mm howitzer
yes they are both types of guns but the howitzer is useless for home defence.

As for storage unless you are doing code work, buy your 7018 in 10lbs cans, once opened place them into the plastic cans with the screw on tops, and keep them indoors. You should get up to 1 year shelf life this way.

A simple 10lbs rod oven can be had on ebay for $100.00 or less. In the oven your rod will have a shelf life of 3-5 years.

All my work is inspected to AWS D1.1 so I usually open a new can for each job and keep the leftovers for personal use at home.


















Jimmy

 

another thing that works is if you have a used fridge big or small thats does not work put your rod in there that for the most part is pretty well air tight and insuladed it does not compare to a rod oven but work almost as well if you find your rod to be a little moist strike your arc and hold your rod there just long enough to heat it up and dry it out its the poor mans way but will work in a pinch

 

Have used this for years only break or remove the door switch and put in a 100watt bulb. The heat from the light will keep the inside of the fridge nice and warm and dry. Just cut the wire off the compressor and tape up. Really any kind or air tight insulated box with a light bulb will work for this. Not up too code but better than fingernailing rods.

 

wouldn't the 7014 work? i never thought of ebay for a rod oven. hmmmm

 

Basically, I don't need any other excuses as to why my welds don't look good. Friend "I thought you were a welder, look at all those holes", Me(not Me!) "Man the rod must be wet....let me go dry them in the kitchen oven". So, I chose to learn to use 6013, because it is a general purpose rod without "restrictions". No special storage container. Lower amperage per comparable size rod. I weld thin stuff mostly.

From what I understand, 6013 exceed the tensile strenght for mild steel.

 

another suggestion, if this isn't code work and merely for your own welding pleasure..use your oven in the kitchen (from time to time) to bake out any moisture that may accumulate in the low hydrogen rods

 

Buy your 7018 in 50# boxes and buy a plastic rod box with the screw top with the rubber gasket. Fill the plastic box with rod and tape some heavy plastic over the opening in the 50# can. I always used 4" wide pipe wrapping tape. It will keep a looong time this way. Just re -tape every time you get some more rod out.

 

Hey dad. I thought that was you and now I know it is. That's oldtimer to you guys. Listen to him he knows this stuff better than anyone I have ever met.

This new machine is fantastic. It's as smooth as any I have ever used.

I usually buy Harris E7018 (the only thing better is Excalibur) in 10lb boxes and put them straight in a rod tube. I would rather have Excalibur but can only get it in 50lb cans, and humidity is a real problem down here.

 

sorry i havn,t been posting lads but roger,you promised to show some pics,surely you must appreciate that your very educated opinion means nothing,without some sort of proof of your talents.it isn,t easy to lay your work open to critique,so come on don,t tell show,one picture is worth 1000 words,and i would dearly love to see a textbook 7018 weld ,cap if possible.so please oblige,pipefitter.

 

Fitter, please see my response to you on the make some and break some for me thread. North Ireland, huh. I have flown over the island several times, unfortunately it was always clouded over. I don't have any pics of pipework I have done, most of the jobsites would not allow cameras. I don't really do any pipe work any more. I just don't get any call for it. If I do I will take pics though. If you want to see truly pretty pipe caps get oldtimer to see if he has any pics around.