Welding Tips and Tricks

any one here use 6013 for anything? if so what is it good for?

6013 gets a bad rap. You'll hear it called "farmer rod", and there's a fair reason for that. It will weld fine on the old beat-up AC machines you'll find on very many farms, and it's ability to weld through rust, mill scale, and crud makes it useful for the farmer who has to get his equipment fixed "now".

That said, it's designed for low depth of penetration with a broader puddle, so it's suitable for thinner sections. It works well on thicker welds if done in multiple passes.

More years ago than I want to think about, I built boat docks, and we used 6013 on ancient machines for production work, because in flat position you can really crank it up and put a lot of metal down fast.

I used it recently to build two carts for our vacuum pumps. Steve S

it is apparently used for a fair amount of pipe welding outside the USA.

I use it a lot but that is probably because I'm a farmer

Welds good on many things.
That and 7018 and nowadays I have a mig as well.

Otto Nobedder wrote: it's designed for low depth of penetration with a broader puddle, so it's suitable for thinner sections.

For instance, car exhaust tubing.

ryanjames170 wrote:any one here use 6013 for anything? if so what is it good for?

I use it for general fab - it's good for mild steel.

I like 7014 as well - I also use 7018.