ARC Welding Tips?

[DurocShark]

It's been 20 years since I touched a welder. I picked up a craptastic $80 arc welder to play with (with a specific purpose: welding a nut to a busted stud in my cylinder head so I can remove the @#%@#%^ thing).

Now, I remembered that I need to scrape off the flux on the tip of the rod, 'strike' the rod on the metal I'm welding, and hold it just high enough off the metal to flow.

My problem is it's hard as hell to get it to start flowing after striking.

After 40 or 50 tries I do eventually get it going. But I've gotta be doing something wrong? I'm practicing on an old muffler to get the hang of it. I've tried a couple different rods, all with the same result.

 

[boomerang]

How old is the welding rod? They have a tendency to pick up moisture in the flux (outer shell) and will give you problems.

Have you played with the settings? You may not have enough current.

An old muffler. Rusty? Difficult to weld rusty metal, but arc welding is the most forgiving.

I haven't arc welded in 20 years either so what do I know? Just some ideas.

 

[GalvanizedYankee]

Use no extension cord to the welder's power plug.
Turn up the amperage.
Make sure the polarity it right for the rod being used as someone before you could have reversed it.
Use thinner rod. 6010 is a good penitrating rod that's easy to work in horizontile.

When you go to the welding supply store buy Rapid-Tap for drilling, hacksawing and tapping. Buy Nuts-Off=The*best* penitrating oil I have ever used. In 24 hours it will melt rust. If you buy and use these two products, PM me a TY.
(Sure would be nice to have old Roger back )

...Galvanized

 

[DurocShark]

Originally posted by: GalvanizedYankee

(Sure would be nice to have old Roger back )

...Galvanized

Agreed.

The rods are new, but I just read the box and they're rated for 240v/50a. Bleh. I have 120v/70a. I'm off to see if Ace has any better rod. I'll check out 6010 if they have it.

The studs are in aluminum heads. No rust. Tried drilling into the stud, but none of the bits I've tried seem to cut it. The threads are too beat up to do the double-nut thing. They don't bite.

(But on the off chance, I've been using PB Blaster on them for 2 days now.)

 

[GalvanizedYankee]

Practice first. There might be corrosion between steel & aluminum, not only will this make removal tough, it will make conductivity for welding a problem.

The two chemicals I reccomended...........I have used for >>15 years=none better afaik.

Someone in the past could have switched the leads at the welder, for reversed polarity welding. You had better check that.


...Galvanized

 

[DurocShark]

I figured it out...

The rod I had was too thick for the low power of my 120v welder. Of course I figure this out after dropping another $5 for some 6011 (no 6010) rod. There were 3 itsy-bitsy sample rods that came with the welder. The clamp is so cheap it can't clamp that small so I hadn't used them.

I folded over the end of the rod for the clamp to grab and it worked beautifully!

Here's what the stud looked like after I got it out. Note all the crappy attempts at welding.. heehee

Stud

 

[Antisocial Virge]

Now, I remembered that I need to scrape off the flux on the tip of the rod, '

My dad was a welder for like 15 years, I weld and I work with people every week that have R stamps for welding pressure vessels and I have never heard of anyone doing this.

 

[GalvanizedYankee]

A big part of the *majic* in doing this type of stud removal from aluminum, is that the heat is so intense but quick that the stud expands w/o damaging the parent material.

Good job in getting it out :thumbsup:


...Galvanized

 

[DurocShark]

Originally posted by: Antisocial Virge

Now, I remembered that I need to scrape off the flux on the tip of the rod, '

My dad was a welder for like 15 years, I weld and I work with people every week that have R stamps for welding pressure vessels and I have never heard of anyone doing this.

It depends on the quality of the rod. Good ones (like the 6011 rod I just bought) don't have a blob of flux on the end. So I didn't have to scrape it on the concrete to get it off. But the cheaparse "Campbell Hausfeld" ones they sold me with the welder had a blob on the end so I had to.

Maybe with a quality 240v welder it would burn through it with no problem. But with this POS... heh

 

[Gillbot]

I don't scrape the tip, I just tap it on the metal to be welded. That usually busts the flux off and starts the arc.