E7018 rod arc stopping suddenly :(

[smithdoor]

That is a lot of water in rod.
When doing field welding I also put my E6013 and E6011 in oven too.

You think the water would steam away as weld. But some of water stay with rod and flux witch the flux breaks down to water and removes the oxygen and leaves the hydrogen in metal.
This is why it is so important to remove all the water out of a low hydrogen rods.

Dave

I do have a portable rod oven (single temperature), and make good use of it with E7018. Here in the tropical humidity, the little oven actually makes steam come out the top with a load of E7018, we have to crack the lid to let it out.

[wiking]

That is a lot of water in rod.
When doing field welding I also put my E6013 and E6011 in oven too.

You think the water would steam away as weld. But some of water stay with rod and flux witch the flux breaks down to water and removes the oxygen and leaves the hydrogen in metal.
This is why it is so important to remove all the water out of a low hydrogen rods.

Dave

I also have put the E6013 in the oven, less steam. I really can't tell much difference when using dried E6013 vs normal, so maybe not needed? E7018 is night and day different.

[smithdoor]

I agree with E6013
But have noticed a difference with E7018.

I heated all my rod because,It could be xray or other types of testing, witch is just little safer from attorneys making money 💰.

Dave

I also have put the E6013 in the oven, less steam. I really can't tell much difference when using dried E6013 vs normal, so maybe not needed? E7018 is night and day different.

[smithdoor]

If ever read the the practice of welding rod all rods should heated over 350°F or more for few hours then placed just before using in a holding oven at 250°F.

Almost no one does that in some lines of work it is not need.
Only the low hydrogen rod needs to heated to get the strength of the low hydrogen rod.

Dave

I also have put the E6013 in the oven, less steam. I really can't tell much difference when using dried E6013 vs normal, so maybe not needed? E7018 is night and day different.

[Freebirdwelds]

I am pretty inexperienced with stick welding first of all. My machine does 1/8" 6013, and 6011 nice and smooth, but 7018 it starts the arc and welds fine, then I suddenly loose the arc after a second or two, and very difficult to restart, it just sticks to the metal. I tried different polarities, upping the amps, keeping gap tight, checking ground, longer arc. Bought new rods from a sealed package, same problem. Dried the rods, preheated the rods, changed electrode holder, changed ground cable, ran the machine with no extension cable. I cranked up the current so high that the metal was almost glowing, all same problem.

My machine is a cheap 250 amps lightweight inverter type, generic Chinese machine. It says 62v open circuit. There is no "arc force" control, just an amperage dial. All I can figure is that OCV is too low for 7018? Maybe I am still getting bad rods?

Any ideas besides throwing this machine in the water?

wow What a goat fuuck this thread turned into.

A weak ground will also affect your arc. It has to be tight, a lot of machines come with a crappy ground clamp. Just a thought


.

[Lis2323]

wow What a goat fuuck this thread turned into.




.

I was gonna be a smart a$$ and say “ and this is based on personal experience? lol”. But that would have been rude

and YEAH…


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[Freebirdwelds]

I was gonna be a smart a$$ and say “ and this is based on personal experience? lol”. But that would have been rude

and YEAH…


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Well there was this one time at band camp........Wait, did I just say that out loud?

[Oscar]

A weak ground will also affect your arc. It has to be tight, a lot of machines come with a crappy ground clamp. Just a thought


.

Yeap, not only cheap clamps, cheap CCA wire instead of pure copper. Combined with copper-plated stamped steel clamps, and you have a formula for lots of voltage drop where you don't want it to occur, which is outside of the welding arc.

wow What a goat fuuck this thread turned into..

A lot of threads are turning out like this recently...they usually have one common denominator.

[Lis2323]

Yeap, not only cheap clamps, cheap CCA wire instead of pure copper. Combined with copper-plated stamped steel clamps, and you have a formula for lots of voltage drop where you don't want it to occur, which is outside of the welding arc.

agreed

One could almost guarantee one of those situations if not both would be present in low budget machines

[smithdoor]

I agree
I forget other try use cheap ground clamps.
The first I do is replaced the ground with something that works.

Dave

Yeap, not only cheap clamps, cheap CCA wire instead of pure copper. Combined with copper-plated stamped steel clamps, and you have a formula for lots of voltage drop where you don't want it to occur, which is outside of the welding arc.



A lot of threads are turning out like this recently...they usually have one common denominator.

[Welder Dave]

XX18 are the only rods that may require an oven unless the rods were soaked in water. Dipping 6010/6011 in water and wringing them out can improve them as they need some moisture in the coating.

[Leogl]

What welder Dave said you don’t need 10’s 11’s or13’s in an oven ! learned that at bandcamp right freebird !

[wiking]

Yes copper coated aluminum cables is a thing, what crap. Fortunately it is really obvious when you pick them up and feel the weight. Naturally I swapped them out with AWG #2 fine stranded copper before posting, and a heavy bronze ground clamp.

[smithdoor]

It depends on the type of work and if attorney may try for a lawsuit and make money off your hard work.

If had over again I not do welding on buildings. Just repair work where no one cares if the rod is in the oven.
Hot rods burn too.

Dave

What welder Dave said you don’t need 10’s 11’s or13’s in an oven ! learned that at bandcamp right freebird !

[Welder Dave]

It's about the proper technique for the job.

[smithdoor]

I agree 👍 💯 🙆* 👏

Who wants to have take rod Cook like pie and weld .

Dave

It's about the proper technique for the job.

[JDM Welder]

It's been my experience that inverter stick machines need inductance/arc-force control. I saw the same problem, where an inverter machine would keep losing the arc with inductance set at the recommended 20%. Starts good, welds for an inch or so, and the arc goes out or it sticks. Raising the amperage brought all the "too hot" issues, like there was no happy medium. Bumping the inductance from 20% to 50% cured the problem when running 7016.