What brand 7018 electrodes work best?

[ruawake]

Hi everyone,
I am a newb at welding, and am starting wiyh a miller xl 225/150 ac/dc
Arc welder.
With 6013 and 7018 , what are the best out there?
How to store them?
Thanks,
Ruawake

 

[RedneckWelder]

Lincoln Excalibur is the gold standard.

The "proper" way to store them is in a rod oven. For noncritical application those plastic rod cannisters will work.

 

[anurag1990]

Well I'm not a welder, but on construction sites I see alot of ESAB and some D&H Secheron electrodes.
Oven use is there to heat the electrode before use, but it can heated in often not more than 2 or 3 times. More than that deteriorates the flux on electrode. Well thats my view.

 

[sberry]

I know it popular but,,, toss the 6013 and get 10# of 1/8 6011 and 7018 in 2 sizes. 3/32 and 1/8 and at this level the brand is not fussy. A little depends on your location, if you use a Tractor supply the Hobart stuff is very good and they do have a 30# box in some stores of the 11.
I havnt seen video of welding but by some good accounts there are good internet teachers, the real world is hit and miss. These 2 rods have different techniques and this is a place a guy should make every effort (instead of being one saying,,, wish someone would have shown me that 30 yrs ago) to learn a few basics you can improve on forever if you want.
This is a skill cant be faked, there is a difference in thinking one knows and actually knowing and good stick welding skills really shine fast in the work world.
The 10 or 11 freeze fast allowing for whip and pause, it can be stacked right in between 2 plates, control depth of penetration. Pre cleaning the plate would help the 18 a bit too as would some practice.

 

[EDGAR]

Never mind 6013, it is ****, instead use 6011, which welds much better than the 6013, and it also has more penetration. Once you try 6011, you might never go back to use 6013. 6013 produces a lot of slag and this can make poor welds. For someone new to welding, these poor welds with 6013 can be discouraging.

With 6011 you can weld over rust, paint, dirt, whatever. 6013 requires a very clean surface, so grinding is a must, otherwise it performs rather poorly.

 

[Farmall450]

I have good luck with ESAB but I agree Lincoln Excaliber is the most "venerable" rod brand.

 

[sberry]

This was an old box of 6010 I found and some old pipe we built a manifold from. 1/4 wall or so and all torch straight cut with very little prep and single pass seal weld. Very fast and never leaks.
I did this quite a while ago, the gap was not real consistent and we only did minor trim to fit and best I recall about 8 rods per joint at about 80% or so penetration. Basically the same machine you have,,,,, very good unit. If anyone tells you they are not they you can pretty much disregard and consider them FOS.
This is a crude job and buried as is. Its heavy and awkward. I usually wholesale cut the parts and kind of gang weld them together. I don't roll it 100% and a little depends on gaps but usually do it in about 3 pulls so a lot of this is actually welded vertical.
If I was going to do a steady diet of these I would bump up to 5/32 but it was a good job to use up some old rod I found during a clean up.
Whoops. last pic is not the same pipe.

 

[rockinacummins]

Lincoln.

I've used a lot of firepower from thermadyne too. They ain't bad. And about half the cost.

Rod oven is correct, but expensive. Anything that will keep moisture out. An old refrigerator even.

 

[wagon]

Lincoln

 

[Kracin]

Well I'm not a welder, but on construction sites I see alot of ESAB and some D&H Secheron electrodes.
Oven use is there to heat the electrode before use, but it can heated in often not more than 2 or 3 times. More than that deteriorates the flux on electrode. Well thats my view.

oven is to keep them dry

 

[sberry]

The best is pretty much irrelevant here. A little too much info and then there is a tendency to focus on the rod when the problem is the operator during the learning process.
Even many professional operators have difficulty telling one from another and more than not would be fooled by an actual blind test.

 

[Kracin]

The best is pretty much irrelevant here. A little too much info and then there is a tendency to focus on the rod when the problem is the operator during the learning process.
Even many professional operators have difficulty telling one from another and more than not would be fooled by an actual blind test.

pretty much. between the different rod types, guys could tell you what it was by how it lays down, and what the slag chips like, and how it looks in the end.

but i doubt somebody could distinguish brands unless one was just absolutely horrible. and i don't think one is...

 

[Spudland_Dave]

I agree with everything SBerry has said.

Buy what's available to you. I weld with 6011 & 7018. Mostly ESAB Atom Arc because I get it from my local Fastenal.

As for the rod oven, I wont/cant say its not necessary...but for the average farmer/fabricator/general welder, all you need to do is keep your rods in a dry container in dry place. MILLIONS of miles of 7018 gets welded with "wet rod". if your welding on a pressure vessel, or some other super critical nuclear reactor welds, A) You wouldn't be here asking and B) the cost of new rods and an oven would be nothing.

 

[sberry]

I used to maintain an oven but don't anymore. I use some 1/8 from a box someone gave me from a job where it had been punctured and a can of 3/32 once in a while and all light plate low stress. On occasion use wire feed on big build up or multi pass. The metallurgical properties are similar as 7018 in a general world.
I use way more 10/11 than I did when I was 23 and wanted to see a shiny bead everywhere.

 

[sberry]

11 is easier to strike an arc thru **** but 18 is better as a huge amount of flux carries away the garbage.
I like 11 for zippy stuff with gaps, I still clean it off some but its good on light sheet and I really should try a little switch polarity but I never do or really think about it. The only reason we would even switch to AC would be a problematic cast piece with nickel and that's pretty rare.

 

[sberry]

I use 18 down on occasion with light plate or poor fit and even for nice finish. My favorite weld is a simple single pass 7018 overhead fillet.
The one in the pic isn't very straight but will hold shelled corn.

 

[ruawake]

Wow, thank you to all of you for some great info.
I figure I might as well start out with the best or top shelf.
I know most of arc welding lies within the experience of actually welding with lots of practice. I do want to get this right, and have a friend or two who welds, but not great.
How do you find a master at this for some paid private lessons. We live in long island, NY. Thise welds from SBerry are beautiful.
Ru

 

[JimDon]

If you're using 7018, you might want to PRE-HEAT the two pieces. Even getting them hot with a propane torch helps to get it running nicely. And make sure you are using 7018 on DC. If you run an AC Buzz Box, then get 7018AC. It's made just for that machine and brand makes little difference there for what you're doing. When you go to re-strike, the end of 7018 sometimes is blurred over from the flux, so I usually have an old file or even some heavy emery paper to scratch the electrode over and make the end shiny again. Makes re-strike much much easier.
Jim Don
If you're running 7018 correctly, the slag should almost be peeling itself off the bead as the metal cools. I always think it looks like a bug that is shedding its outer shell in prep for a new one.

If you're still having trouble running the 7018 as per the thickness of the metal, try upping the amps by increments of 10 or so to run it a little hotter. 7018 tends to need more heat to run correctly and then you really see your "bug peel" as noted above.

 

[ruawake]

Thank You Jim

 

[Tim37]

Lincoln Excalibur is the gold standard.

They are a great rod and if your like me and you strike arc about once every two weeks they make you look like you can weld.

 

[RedneckWelder]

I know it popular but,,, toss the 6013 and get 10# of 1/8 6011 and 7018 in 2 sizes. 3/32 and 1/8 and at this level the brand is not fussy. A little depends on your location, if you use a Tractor supply the Hobart stuff is very good and they do have a 30# box in some stores of the 11..

The TSC Hobart 7018 has been inconsistent for me...last box I had sucked and would not run right at all. If I was relying on big box store supplies, I'd go with the Lincoln 7018 at Lowes/Home Depot. It may not be excalibur but it's OK when you can't get anything else.


Main thing you need is lots and lots of practice. Run bead pads at first and then move onto T-joints and **** joints. It's tedius, slow, and you will get frustrated at many points but enough practice and you can do some beautiful work.