uphill welding

[hellskustumz]

hey just wanted to say thanks for all ur guys advice on the uphill welding . ill be trying it this weekend , a big problem i knew right off the bat was i stayed in the middle so ill try the side to side and well c how it goes. thanks again woop woop

[beamwalker]

try pushing wire at 5-10 degrees uphill angle also from parrelel to floor. works 4 me on thin stuff running 072

[Jolly Roger]

I have burned tons of ESAB7018, also known as atom arc. Now I buy the rods and it is strictly last resort (as in I absolutely cannot get anything else). I buy 7018 in this order: Lincoln Excalibur, Harris E7018, Lincoln LH70, anything else I can possibly get, and then ESAB. ESAB's 6011 is a different story. It is a great rod.

[fun4now]

Jolly Roger, what is the shelf life of 7018 ?? just kept on a shelf not in a hot box.

[jwsrep]

Jolly Roger, what is the shelf life of 7018 ?? just kept on a shelf not in a hot box.

James,
I wouldn't worry about 7018 for just welding up coupons as practice. Now if you were doing code work, 7018 has to be kept in a rod oven. The new 7018 electrodes today resist moisture pretty good, but if you are doing code work like say bridge repair 7018 out of the rod oven is good for aproximately 1 hour (don't quote me on that it may be 2 hours). Anything longer than that would have to go thru a be-bake process. Which if I remember right has to be at 500 degrees for either 8-10 hours. I'm a little rusty at remembering...it has been a long time.

[fun4now]

i have herd of the re-bake, was just wondering about the sitting on the shelf time ?? i just about burned up the 1/8" you brought me but got a 5lb box of 3/32" that i have not gotten started on yet. so how long can it sit in the little box or after i open it and still give me consistent results?? or will it still burn the same just not have the same holding property's ?? i'm just using it for practice so as long as it burns the same and looks the same the rest is no biggie. thanks

[swamp donkey]

jwsrep are u sure for code work that 7018 has to be kept in a rod oven? Cause after goin to collage thats what i thought too but then i got to my workplace were i am and we use 7018 a fair bit for structural and we dont keep our rods in an oven...
Cause apparantly my boss told me after a speech that hes been doing this for 35 years that as long as you put the rods in a rod tube after opening the box they'll be ok and as long as you only take what you need for 2 hours and close the tubes theres no need for a rod oven. and he said that complies with cwb standards. Now i thought that was kinda hokey but i found out later that we did have a rod oven but our boss who has been doing this for 35 years blew it up after cooking a can of raviolli in it and now just doesnt want to buy a new one.

I dunno if its right or wrong but thats the way its done but if its up to CWB standards than i guess its ok

[fun4now]

wile we are on the subject of the welding tubes, do the plastic boxes the 5 lb box of rods come in seal up ok for keeping them or do i need to move them into another tube that i know is air tight ?? i have some military ammo tubes that are definitely air tight i could use if the plastic box dose not seal well enough ??

i'll pop a pic of both later

[jwsrep]

Swamp,
What I was refering to was a New York State Department of Transportation code for welding structural steel on bridges. There are codes in place for building construction in most instances. Most usually on job sites construction companies will open 7018 and then put it in a heated rod oven. I have seen jobsites where they literally hand out 7018 at a rate of 10-12 electrodes at a time.
The fact of the matter is 7018 is not 7018 after 1 hour of exposure to moisture (ambient air).

James,
The plastic boxes that the electrodes come in do not seal. The seal has to be a hermetically seal. The 10 # rod cannisters that you buy that have a rubber gasket seal will buy you time, but not forever.

[fun4now]

thanks. i'll switch to the ammo tube (see pic) as soon as i open the new box of 7018.