Welding Tips and Tricks

just wondering what brands of 7018 you guys run ,and which brands work work best for you / amps / techniques / etc ? thanks John

always Lincoln Excalibur 7018s. I never skimp on price when it comes to welding rod. Always buy the high quality because you get what you pay for.

Esab's atom arc

Lincoln Excalibur... Straight from can to oven...

Had mixed results with ESAB. Worse with Hobart.

Steve S

Oh, and, wrong topic, but I had a very bad experience with ALcotec aluminum TIG rod recently. Ran out of Radnor 5356, grabbed the ALcotec. I have several 2nd and 3rd degree burns from trying this crap overhead... I stopped, and sent the P.A. after some Oxford brand, and life was good again.

The numbers mean less than the brand.

Steve S

lincoln then atom arc are the best low hydrogen rods imvho

Esab, elga, filarc, those are the best brands I know.
But I live another side of the world

I was trying out some Excalibur 7018 1/8 today for the first time down flat on 1/4 t-joints with my Invertec , 125 amps , going back and forth from Excalibur to my Jet LH 78 and I must say I don't think the Excalibur was doing any better than my Jet LH 78 , I don't like how flat the tip is on the Excalibur makes it kind of hard to strike at an angle , and the slag didn't come of very easy , a few taps and it came of , but my Jet LH 78 the slag curled up in one piece and the weld had better wash in , the Excalibur was more prone to crowning up with a tad of cold lap , noticed a little heavier slag coating around the puddle and it was sort of getting in my way , while my Jet LH 78 has a lighter slag coating and the puddle was easier to control , I was running both of these rods equally as I could ,both out of my 250 deg oven and my Jet LH 78 just seemed to do quite a bit better , don't know if it was just me or what thanks John

I found that if all my perimeters where correct ie angle of rod, distance from puddle and such.
That the Excalibers slag would peel up as i welded.
Just a very light tap and would fall away. That being said if I do the opposite the slag is a bear to get off.

Only used three, Eutectic, Murex and Filarc. Eutectic was easy to use but prone to spatter, Murex I still use, not the easiest but if your machine is set right the welds come out okay, and for out of position one of the best rods IMO. Filarc - enough said.

imvho i find the eutectic line of products to be over priced and on the over rated side also they have/had their own nomenclature which turned me off from the start. when i arrived at my current duty station i found a small selection in the maintenance machine shop and gave them a try. in reading their literature i believe they intentionally make the welding process confusing so they can sell you their welding "system." again, i don't want to insult anyone who swears by them but this is just my take on it in my 40+ years in the iron game.

I agree Eutectic are generally expensive - I'd not buy their product for everyday use - but despite as you point out their complicated sounding sales speak they seem to make a product that works well on almost any specialist application - in the past I found their nearly all nickel rods for cast iron good ( though ESI rods had a good product cheaper if you can find them )I had to weld some rail track & they had a high manganese compatible rod that worked well - I also used a flux coated silver / braze alloy they made that bonded any odd alloy combination.

Bottom line - I'd say their never going to be the cheapest - but their tech dept is very helpful & will usually be able to give sound advise on procedure & product to cover the most obscure / exotic jobs - I always ( maybe wrongly ) assumed they catered mainly to industries that were specialized & cost came way down the list from quality / dependable results - so asking them for a cheap rod to weld up old track hoe buckets was almost an insult !

Have'nt seen them around recently anywhere local but Soudametal made really nice rods & were not way overpriced.

i believe eutectic made it's name through low temp/exotic metal joining. soudometal is a product i haven't come across except in literature. is it used here or in europe?

I'm in the UK & can only comment on what I've used - but it was a good brand - obviously some brands span the world - others tend to be localized to their country of origin or specific to an importer & their dealer network - during the buy out wars in the 80's the likes of Esab & Boc tried to take out / over most smaller competition so many familiar names were lost or their product absorbed into the larger companies - these days it's pot luck when buying consumables where they were made & what quality they are even if the packaging has a known brand on it - same when buying steel stock - it could be OK - but alot is badly melted down (s)crap from former Russian countries - OK if making garden furniture but it's a real problem on boiler work especially as the insurance companies require the original plate certificate but the steel stockholder won't release it as it belonged to a larger sheet which you only bought a part of - & don't even ask the price of a sheet of Hardox !

noddybrian wrote:I'm in the UK & can only comment on what I've used - but it was a good brand - obviously some brands span the world - others tend to be localized to their country of origin or specific to an importer & their dealer network - during the buy out wars in the 80's the likes of Esab & Boc tried to take out / over most smaller competition so many familiar names were lost or their product absorbed into the larger companies - these days it's pot luck when buying consumables where they were made & what quality they are even if the packaging has a known brand on it - same when buying steel stock - it could be OK - but alot is badly melted down (s)crap from former Russian countries - OK if making garden furniture but it's a real problem on boiler work especially as the insurance companies require the original plate certificate but the steel stockholder won't release it as it belonged to a larger sheet which you only bought a part of - & don't even ask the price of a sheet of Hardox !

How much is a sheet of Hardox? More than 316?

I can relate. All carbon steel we use must be "CorTen".

Oddly, the stainless requires only "304" grade, which is almost meaningless when imported from India, Pakistan, or China.

The stainless parts are the critical ones; The carbon stuff could be recycled Volkwagons and rebar, and it wouldn't matter much.

Steve S

We use some Chinese 316 preformed elbows. They often rust after welding whereas locally sourced doesn't.

plantwelder wrote:We use some Chinese 316 preformed elbows. They often rust after welding whereas locally sourced doesn't.

i'm shocked, simply shocked to hear that!! lol

I know, it takes some believing...

What about Forney rods? Are they any good?

ttreb4 wrote:What about Forney rods? Are they any good?

That's a very good question. They have a cheep appearance, being sold at hardware stores and part houses, but, I have used some of there rods before, 6011 and 7018AC. Their boxes say they are made in USA. Their rods like many "other" brands of rods, will weld . many brands of welding consumables will weld, but are they premium quality? not always....
There are hundreds of brands of welding consumables, some of them consistent, some of them with mixed results, different brands vary in price, but it all boils down to quality, "you get what you pay for". Will most welding rods weld okay? "yes".
But I'm sure all of us can relate, quality is first. 2 cents John

ps, their 6013 is garbage

lincoln!!

jwmacawful wrote:lincoln!!

you got it

Kool-Aid ! Lincoln-Hobart ! Hobart-Lincoln ! Lets get really kinky ! ESAB !!! OOOOOOOo exotic !
Here's some for you. Vergnügen !
http://www.hilco-welding.com/wp-content ... 12Mo-E.pdf
http://www.hilco-welding.com/wp-content ... uper-E.pdf

Best brand of 7018, Right here Folks
I can take all the criticism you guys can throw at me