drewboy

I've got the hang of oxy-acetylene welding and think its quite simple, just need to set to the right temp and move the puddle.

THEN..I tryed arch welding today! No simple task for me at all! I was watching others whove done it for a while and it seemed like a piece of cake. I forget the flux I was using but my god! I couldnt get the thing struck for anything, and when I finally got it struck the flux would stick like mad!

Is there a technique to doing arch welding or is it more of a feel? I couldnt keep the electrode lit and kept sticking! Please give me pointers, or I guess the only pointer you guys can give is practice practice practice?

basically I just want to hear its perfectly normal to have trouble with arch welding your first time..

david@didrace.com

It'd help to know what rod you were using. When I first started stick my instructor had the class use E6010, which is one of the harder rods to use. The first day he just had us go out and start without giving us any pointers except what amperage to run. It was horrible, but once he came in my booth and actually told me what to do it wasn't too bad. Now I can do overhead pipe with ease (this being 3 1/2 years after I started).

Just practice, play with your heat and keep your eye on the puddle. Good luck!

drewboy

thanks backpurge! Well the guy who was showing me how to arch weld wasnt really to helpful, but then again, how can you be helpful, its not like you can say anything to really help the noob.

Man , I forget the rod but I know it was for some of your thicker medals. Basically I was trying to strike it like a match to get going and then start up a puddle. But the rod kept bouncing up and down and barely stayed lit, it was emabrrasing. I had to get a new rod every 3 tries cus I had to pull the rod off with pliers from sticking.

Thanks for your responce, Im going back out there Saturday to practice on my arch welding.

Engloid

Early on in the process of learning to hold a consistent arc, you're best to run hotter than an experienced person will. The extra heat will help reduce the chances of sticking the rod. Granted, you will be hotter and may get a little more spatter, but you have to crawl before you can walk.

shortyz

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Engloid &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Early on in the process of learning to hold a consistent arc, you're best to run hotter than an experienced person will. The extra heat will help reduce the chances of sticking the rod. Granted, you will be hotter and may get a little more spatter, but you have to crawl before you can walk.</TD></TR></TABLE>

yep crank that bitch up.

1fastVX

drewboy...its arc welding not arch

John

RMF

Arc welding was the first kind of welding that I learned.I think it might be one of the hardest types of welding to do CORRECTLY.I was repairing heavy equip.So I was mostly using low hy.(7018) or jet rod(7024).When ever you take a test ,they want to see you weld a vertical pass with 7018.And they figure if you can do that.

You can weld anything.So I guess that must be the hardest thing to do.6010 is for root pass's,And for water pipe.you have to keep it up off of what ever your welding ,And let it spray down to the crack or seam.And go forward and backwards untill it fills in.

With 6010 you can weld any position .Like overhead, vertical (you can go down with 6010).When I was learning to weld .This guy had D-9 .And I had to weld flat bar to the growzers .That is the part of the tracks that digs in the ground.Anyway ,ask Engloid That has to be the most boring job in the world.

But you will be able use 7018 when you get done. Oh yeah ,before you strike an arc.With a glove on ,take your thumb and push on the end of the rod and break off some of the flux on the tip.Then you won't have to beat the **** out of it ,to get to arc.

jaydmcrx

arc welding is great. 6013 is what i started on, pretty simple. Then i moved on to 7024, and it was like butter. 6010 gave me the hardest time at first, but then i grew to like it. I can see why welders like it so much. I use a side to side motion, and i try to steady myself up against something and just keep your arc length consistent. Everybody has there own technique tho. Just find what works for you. You'll find mig to be very easy after working with stick welding for a while. Almost like a treat. But arc requires more technique, and a little more skill. Some may disagree thats just my opinion tho.

drewboy

hey guys, really appreciatte the tips. I really wish I knew what type of rod I was using. I think it was a rod only used for flat welding.
Appreciatte the tips on breaking off the flux with my thumb before getting started and also techniques ect. You guys here in the welding forum are really nice. Unlike the other H-T subforums

TIGboy

arc welding is awsome! I actually spend a lot of time goofing around with it. its a lot of fun once you get the hang of it. in my class im taking right now I just finished my arc T's, Butts, and Lap welds. cant wait to start braizing!!

anyway good luck with it hope it comes easy to you as it did for me..

Engloid

The flux tip works on the 7018 rods, AFTER you have stopped welding with a rod and are restarting it. What happens is when you stop, flux will cover the tip and you won't be able to get the arc started. I usually prefer tapping it on the floor, cinder block wall, or something like that. You don't want to break flux off the sides of the rod, just enough on the tip to get a metal to metal contact when you restart.

6010 rods won't have this problem, as the flux won't melt over the tip of the rod.

rexsk8er

Yeah, arc welding is alot of fun. Hah, anyways try to keep the arc length tighter. The heat of the weld comes from the gap between the electrode and the base metal. Since the heat is created from friction of the electricty to jump an air gap. SO basically a tight arc length and itll run alot closer to the amperage that you set it at.


And rods like 6010 and 6011 use sort of a whipping motion, build the puddle up, whip out, come back and build it up, come back....

Good luck

Sean

2point2

they wouldn't let me touch the mig until i could do a few good passes with the arc.... = (```

drewboy

ok guys, used the tips & techniques that you gave me. I was using 6011 and 7018. The 7018 was really easy to get going, was welding 1/4" metal and had the amps set at 75 DC.

The 6011 was fairly simple too on your thicker medals but thinner medals was a different ball game. I had the amps set the lowest it could go (35) and Id burn the edges of this thin stuff I was messing around with.

I really began to get the hang of it. Last week I couldnt get the rod to stop sticking for anything. Today I got a good feel for how to keep the rod lit and to prevent it from sticking. Mainly I got the rod lit by striking it against the medal kind of like a match, then I kept the arc length fairly long till I started a pool and then just dove in and pushed the puddle. I was very happy with my results and the beads seem to look good. Its so much fun when you know how to do things like this, I cant wait to weld up my charge pipes for my turbo kit.

Second question: What pattern do you guys prefer? My teach prefers doing a horseshoe pattern, but I felt more comfortable doing circles. Does it really matter either way as long as Im consistent and leave no gaps?