Welding Tips and Tricks

Well, this is the story, I've been playing with Stick Welding in my workshop and "yes it is all your fault."

So I have been having problems with porosity in my beads. I finally figured out that it was because of moisture in the rods. I searched High and Low for a Rod Oven but alas, no-one seems to know about them around here, and those that do say "Heck boy ya'll welding in the dark ages, git yerself a Mig"

Well... I HAVE A DAMN MIG I wanted to try something different!!!!

Finally, The welding consumables rep stops in a says to me "Hey I know where you can get a Rod Oven! A fabrication shop down by the old boat yard is closing shop. get in there before the liquidator does."

So into the petty cash and into the car and away we go.

Yeah I bough a Rod Oven and a WAY BETTER Arc Welder.

Now here's the kicker, I turn the oven on set it to 220 degrees and load it full. Leave it for the night

When I came back in the morning there is about 1/2 cup of water all over my damn bench.

The Rods??? DRY AS DRY CAN BE.

Weld Quality? Damn Near Flawless.

Must have steamed that water right out and as it condensed and dripped out of the weep hole at the bottom.

I'm glad you didn't waste your time and money on "the old fridge" nonsense. There really is no better way than to have a rod oven. And they really aren't that exspensive. $200 for a 50lb.oven.http://www.rodovens.com/models/portable ... g-oven.htm

My old school welding instructor once told me that if you're stuck welding with damp rods, just strike the rod and short it out for a few seconds at a time to get the rod good and hot. This will drive off the moisture from the flux. It works in a pinch.

There are some welder which doesn't need welding rod to work, I think you can try.

A professional welder just cannot run 7018 that are not in a rod oven. Found some old 7018 1/8 that had been out a long time they were darker than a 7024 , and smelled really wet flux was still there so why not try and run them. Grabbed some 1/4 flat bar in t-joint, set the Invertec V 275 s on 125 amps ,max dig ,hot start on , they ran okay, puddle looked good, but the slag came of tough but the weld looked like a sponge full of holes . So I through the rest of them in my rod oven 250 f overnight , next morning they where lighter in color, flux was more solid ,so I ran another bead and they ran really nice slag peeled right off. So what can you say ,a shop can't live without a rod oven so look at getting one, there no equal , good luck John

jpence38 wrote:I'm glad you didn't waste your time and money on "the old fridge" nonsense. There really is no better way than to have a rod oven. And they really aren't that exspensive. $200 for a 50lb.oven.http://www.rodovens.com/models/portable ... g-oven.htm

i'm guessing most every welder's done the fridge/oven thing at the start when money is tight. i was glad to trade mine in for a phoenix bench type rod oven.