Well I ran out of 3/32 7018's and needed to get some for a job. I take a trip to my "go-to" LWS and their shelves are BARE! They only had 1/8" 6011's. They also had NO Hypertherm consumables. Torch tips in my flavor, gone. Grinding discs were all there because my fav's went up to $8 a pop. Screw that. I went to the other guys and it was even worse. I had to go to HARBOR FREIGHT to find what I needed. Ugh.
So I need to fully restock my grinding discs and welding rods. Let's hear everyone's favorite online retailer.
I just purchased 25 pounds of 7018 at,,, of all places,,, Lowes,, they had the lowest price by 50%,,
AND,, I only use Lincoln 7018, that is what Lowes sells.
What shocked me more was that the rod would restrike off of the FLUX!
You can clearly see the arc initiate off of the flux, as the steel is recessed back inside the flux.
I had never noticed that before.
My memory of older 7018 was that you had to tap the flux until the flux chipped away from the steel rod.
Not with these rods. The slightest touch of the flux to the workpiece, and the arc would start,,
After I noticed this,, I restarted the arc numerous times to see if it was really happening,, YEP! it kept doing it,,
I was running the rods with my old top crank Miller Thunderbolt DC machine.
I live in SE KY. Very rural. The closest LWS is 40 min away.
Lowes and TSC only had 7018AC in 1/8". Luckily this was a light duty repair. Even though the HF 7018 was way over priced. Car Quest carries Forney products but didn't have what I needed. I burned 10lbs of their 6011 with no complaints.
I'm looking at ordering some grinding wheels from Benchmark Abrasives to try out.
interesting about that flux, sounds kinda nice in a way. the only welding thing i buy at lowes/homedepot, is .035 nr211, but ill keeep that in mind. liberty, id hate to pay freight on rod, maybe next time ur in the big city, buy a can(s) of lincoln 3/32 and 1/8 7018, if u can swing it. i have never been one to try to buy off brand rod/cored wire, even in the days when i was piss poor . for repairs, i usually like lh-70, but i keep x-caliber on hand too
I mostly use Amazon or Harbor Frieght if need now. On some items I will use https://www.aliexpress.com/ but will take upto 9 weeks to get items but great prices.
Dave
Originally Posted by liberty_metal_worx
Well I ran out of 3/32 7018's and needed to get some for a job. I take a trip to my "go-to" LWS and their shelves are BARE! They only had 1/8" 6011's. They also had NO Hypertherm consumables. Torch tips in my flavor, gone. Grinding discs were all there because my fav's went up to $8 a pop. Screw that. I went to the other guys and it was even worse. I had to go to HARBOR FREIGHT to find what I needed. Ugh.
So I need to fully restock my grinding discs and welding rods. Let's hear everyone's favorite online retailer.
Thanks for the comments. I've been looking on Amazon. For some reason there isn't much for rods. If I can find a "prime" deal that would be the way to go. I don't know if it's the search algorithm or of the spooky is way down. I've had issues before with the search feature where I can't find something but someone else can using the same term. Same goes for google.
I just bought some nr211 at Lowes, contact tips and cut off wheels at Harbor Freight. Both places are about 40 minutes away...
I hate buying $}{!+ online, but Cyberweld has free shipping on orders over $50.
I used to joke about how the only things I could buy locally anymore were canned goods and toilet paper, then 2020 happened... I think the universe overheard me.
IOC (Indiana Oxygen) is a good source. They are online but also a local supply in Indiana. I've bought a few welders from them in the past.
Harris Welding Supplies was great for hypertherm consumables. (Also on ebay)
Zoro for gloves and some shop supplies.
Lehigh Valley Abrasives for Flap wheels and cutoff wheels.
USAweld.com These are the HTP welder people. I have no opinions on HTP but they have some supplies I've used.
I've used cyberweld in the past as well.
Plenty of options, you just have to move to the mindset of having it ahead of time (i.e. paying for 10 lbs of rod you don't need right now so you have it in the kitty.) and buying enough to get the free shipping.
I sold welding supplies 21 years, head my warning on this one. You can buy aftermarket plasma consumables for your Hypertherm. Profax, A.T.T., sell to distributors. Do not, if the machine in under warranty. I sold aftermarket to a customer (years ago) and the consumables shorted out, fried a circuit board on a 6 month old machine. This voided the warranty. Not only did the customer call me every foul name he could think of, lost the account. Learn from my mistakes. LOL
Last edited by Tensaiteki; 06-30-2022 at 12:33 AM.
Reason: DO NOT QUOTE SPAM MESSAGES!
Lincoln 330MPX
Lincoln Power Mig 256
Lincoln LN-25X Wire Feeder
Lincoln AC/DC 225
¼ Ton of Torches OFC-A/OFG-A
Air Carbon Arc Gouging CAC-A
Lincoln Tomahawk 1000
Ingersoll Rand T-30-14hp-25cfm
Instagram: #Freebird Welds
Back in the day there were njot the places to shop and our old suppliers didnt step on our dick every time we bought something asnd often sold it the same as everyone else vs 3 tier pricing. The LWS is finally coming back to earth,,, big revelation the other dayt,,,, do you know,,, diy and hobby sales are now a big deal???? Wow! Who woulda thunk it? Ya mean they dont like getting jabbed in the *** with every rod? They lost me for a while unless I gotta fill bottles or buy big spool someone else doesnt have.
I havnt used HF wire or rods but I been using 10 packs of wheels from there and the farm store and to tell the truth there isnt all that much difference between them and others but,,,, I havnt ran every expensive wheel I could find and the only difference I see betwwen a dollar one and 6$ is if a guy really leans on it hard,,,, so it cost another dollar wheel and when shop working where they are really used aq zing here and there most of the time I cant tell.
Some of the best solid wire I ever use was generic white box,,, of course the LWS quit that and wemty to some brand crap never does work the same way twice.
Sales llikely influence that,,, I was sketchy about that and it became obvious when I put a roll of Radnor or similar in following it,,, went back for more Chgina and they were sold out and dont stock it any more. Diuymb azzes should look at account history and some of them been there a long time, should notice I dont come in with a long list and now the list is short and I price every item.
I check price Amazon and Walmart most budget companies are sell on two site and trusted too.
Last welding wire I purchased was Amazon but Walmart was very close.
I also use internet but hart to truste with my money just use PayPal.
Dave
Originally Posted by liberty_metal_worx
Well I ran out of 3/32 7018's and needed to get some for a job. I take a trip to my "go-to" LWS and their shelves are BARE! They only had 1/8" 6011's. They also had NO Hypertherm consumables. Torch tips in my flavor, gone. Grinding discs were all there because my fav's went up to $8 a pop. Screw that. I went to the other guys and it was even worse. I had to go to HARBOR FREIGHT to find what I needed. Ugh.
So I need to fully restock my grinding discs and welding rods. Let's hear everyone's favorite online retailer.
With the price of gas, I have been working really hard to buy from companies that deliver for free. Amazon (with Prime) Baker Gas, Cyberweld, weldingsuppliesfromioc.com are all usual suspects for me. I purchased a 12 lb roll of wire, some contact tips and a new MIG liner from Baker's gas and it was free shipping. I have been getting more and more groceries and dog food from Amazon. Honestly the price of prime is worth it compared to the cost of driving to Petco, or some other store. The only thing I have tried to buy but couldn't would be a recessed MIG nozzle for my MM255. Limited availability due to supply chain disruptions
That HF wheel they used to sell and that still can be found at a few fleas isnt very good. But they are getting harder to find and haved replaced by a wheel cost 50 cents more but is quite good, good enough for companies all over the world to put a sticker on it. This is the current wheel I seeat HF and the ones I bought have been great, used to find them for a dollar but they were 1.50 in 10 pack last I bought. They are ijn expensive enough a guy isnt so tempted to wring thge last fdrop out of a little wheel which is what really slows down and leaves poor finish.
We found 7 inch disks at a discount store, were out and found a bunch, we use 1/2 of them on a job and going to hunt some more down at that price. Makes it painless to switch a wheel. I own a flap wheel or 2, bought it for a batteryu grinder and have never used one. My finish tool of choice is 7 inch sander 36 grit. The 4 inch on the left is my pic for cut off and wire wheel. Can feather the power, doesnt throw chunks like hard wheel, depending on disk condition can be fast, clean rust, paint, scale etc and leave smoother than it came from the mill.
I just ordered 70S-2, 308L, aluminum bronze tig rods and some tungsten from weldingsuppy.com. Try to find everything I need at one given time from one source, as long as costs are reasonable. So it could be from other online sources also. I stay out of the local airgas.
I just ordered 70S-2, 308L, aluminum bronze tig rods and some tungsten from weldingsuppy.com. Try to find everything I need at one given time from one source, as long as costs are reasonable. So it could be from other online sources also. I stay out of the local airgas.
UPDATE:
That order from weldingsupply.com what 2 weeks ago today!!
Nothing happening. No email, no response to emails sent. I did get someone on the phone last Thursday, 4 work days ago. I suspected something in my order was not in stock. The guy on the phone told me they had everything and my order would go out Friday or Monday. NOT. I was also informed in a snippy kind of way "there is 100 orders ahead of mine"! Let me do the math: 100 orders divided by 9 work days (I didn't include Jul 4) = 11 orders per day.
Something is very wrong here, never had this problem ordering online before. At least they didn't charge my CC, (yet). Terrible service.
UPDATE:
That order from weldingsupply.com what 2 weeks ago today!!
Nothing happening. No email, no response to emails sent. I did get someone on the phone last Thursday, 4 work days ago. I suspected something in my order was not in stock. The guy on the phone told me they had everything and my order would go out Friday or Monday. NOT. I was also informed in a snippy kind of way "there is 100 orders ahead of mine"! Let me do the math: 100 orders divided by 9 work days (I didn't include Jul 4) = 11 orders per day.
Something is very wrong here, never had this problem ordering online before. At least they didn't charge my CC, (yet). Terrible service.
We buy a little all over and npot enough it makes sense to get complicated or bargain with the vendor who feels we should do lots of biz with him so we get a better deal. I try to splain, not doing what we do so we can buy lots of stuff from him.
Reply
WeldingWeb Journeyman
WeldingWeb Artisan
Originally Posted by liberty_metal_worx
Bob E. liked this post
