On Sun, 1 Jan 2006 05:16:20 +0000 (UTC), Christopher Tidy
wrote:

Happy New Year everyone!

Thanks for the wealth of suggestions. I'll offer responses to your
comments individually.

Gunner: That photograph is a bit misleading I think. The weld is very
close to the camera, plus I don't have enormous hands. I've just
measured the leg length of the fillet in that picture and it's 1/4". The
weld pool is therefore a little over 1/4" in diameter. On other samples
I measured the length of deposited bead compared to the length of rod
consumed. I am pretty consistently depositing 5 1/2" of fillet for every
11" of rod consumed. When I try to get the weld pool much smaller than
1/4" diameter I find that the bead becomes uneven and looks rather like
fish scales. Were you suggesting that 6011 should work as a drag rod?
The welds I photographed were not done using the "drag rod" technique
and 6011 rod - those were a disaster. Most of the welders I know locally
are hobby welders like me. I did know a guy who was a pro, but he had a
lot of family problems and I lost touch with him. If I meet a pro I
might well do as you suggest.

Wayne: What you say about a shorter arc reducing the power output makes
sense. I figured this out for myself at one point in the past, but
wasn't sure whether or not to believe it because, as you say, it's
rather counter-intuitive. I'll practise working with a short arc. At the
moment my arc is about the same as the rod diameter (1/8"). I find if I
make it much smaller than this I struggle to see what's going on in the
weld pool.

Tom: I'm pretty sure the ring and strip were both mild steel of a
similar composition. I think the quantity of slag and low penetration of
6013 just allowed the crevice to fill with slag. That's the way it
seemed. I'll try to get some 3/32" 6011 rods. Welding a fillet with 1/8"
I find it hard to get a weld pool smaller than 1/4" across. At the
moment I have 1/16", 5/64" and 1/8" in 6013 and 1/8" in 6011. I couldn't
weld that ring with 5/64" 6013, but was fine with 1/8" 6011.

Richard: Thanks for all the advice and links to your website. You
mention that dragging is for root-running a butt weld with a
V-preparation. Something I want to do soon is make a box from 1/4"
plate. This is an electrical enclosure, but is load bearing too. I don't
want to use intermittent welds as I want the enclosure to be sealed from
moisture, plus I want it to look neat. Do you think that if I grind a V
at every joint, I could drag a rod using the V as a guide in order to
produce a narrow, neat bead? My welder is a Cytringan (180 A @ 50 V, 120
A @ 80 V), which is very similar to an Oxford. From the opinions
expressed here it looks like it will be fine for welding 1/4" mild
steel, and that with experience the coarse current control won't prove
to be a problem.

RWL: The lack of availability of rods is strange. The place I got my
welder from only keeps 6013. They have it in a variety of diameters, but
that's all they keep. They do seem to be specialising in MIG now as
there are a lot of automotive and auto-related businesses in the area.
Another place down the road keeps 6010, 6013 and some 70xx series rods,
although I didn't inspect those closely. I bought the one box of 6011
they had.

Best wishes,

Chris

Hummm..I wonder if there is some special "educational" rate by which
we could all send Chris some samples of the various rods we have. I
think I alone have 9 different types.

Im not sure what 10lbs of rod shipped to old blimey would cost.

Anybody know? Id donate 10 lbs of rod, single or assorted if it werent
too expesnsive

Gunner

"Pax Americana is a philosophy. Hardly an empire.
Making sure other people play nice and dont kill each other (and us)
off in job lots is hardly empire building, particularly when you give
them self determination under "play nice" rules.

Think of it as having your older brother knock the **** out of you
for torturing the cat." Gunner