Welding Tips and Tricks

I have been welding for 40 years but not full time welding back in the 70's I was working at a tractor dealer but then nothing was welded vertical because nobody could do it so everything was welded flat .. this sometimes caused problems!!
when I left there I went lorry driving for a number of years so I bought my own welder to use at weekends then someone asked me to repair a muck spreader which meant vertical welding so before I repaired muck spreader I spent some time practising vertical welding on scrap.. I did make a mess of things until I got into the swing of doing it sometime after a local contractor asked me to make a trailer from an old tipper lorry.. this turned out successful and I did other vertical jobs afterwards the point I am making is I was using 6013 rods with no problems and I still use them but I have just been watching vertical welding on youtube and 7018 rods were used so should I change rods??

Vertical with 6013 is not that great it doesn't freeze quick enough and usually drips out. 7018 is what I would say it "industry standard" for vertical or out of position welds.

Welcome!

+1 what Rick said. Also a trailer with live loads should never be welded with 6013. Its asking for failure and litigation.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

derwen1959 wrote:I have been welding for 40 years but not full time welding back in the 70's I was working at a tractor dealer but then nothing was welded vertical because nobody could do it so everything was welded flat .. this sometimes caused problems!!
when I left there I went lorry driving for a number of years so I bought my own welder to use at weekends then someone asked me to repair a muck spreader which meant vertical welding so before I repaired muck spreader I spent some time practising vertical welding on scrap.. I did make a mess of things until I got into the swing of doing it sometime after a local contractor asked me to make a trailer from an old tipper lorry.. this turned out successful and I did other vertical jobs afterwards the point I am making is I was using 6013 rods with no problems and I still use them but I have just been watching vertical welding on youtube and 7018 rods were used so should I change rods??

I'm guessing you're a fellow Brit, Derwen. What make of 6013 are you using? I've been doing similar work since 1977 and have found ESAB 46.00's and Zodian Universals, both on -ve are about as good as you can get for positional work with 6103's. Our brothers over the water don't seem to have the choice of good quality 6013's.

However, if you try 7018's you will find once you get used to the bloody awful restarts that vertical up is a bit easier. They burn off a little bit slower and it's easier to fill in the toes without undercut. Always +ve. For general repair and fabrication I've found Bohler and BOC's own brand 7018's pretty good.

thanks for replys
i have used different brands of rods over the years it depends what local agricultural shop has at time