Christopher,
I run a lot of 6013 rod, and love it ... most of the time. There are
situations where it can be terrible for slag inclusions. Poor fit-up can
trap slag; if fit-up is an issue, do an initial pass with 6011 (using a
whipped motion) to "seal" the gaps. Even if the fit is good, I find that if
I don't get the 6013 started well on both sides of the fillet, I inevitably
get slag trapped, and it is hard to overcome this mid-weld. (Well, let me be
clearer -- there is no way to go back and take care of the problem without
stopping and grinding, and if you're not careful the problem will propagate
down the rest of the weld.) Two things that I have found contribute to the
problem is failure to keep the tip of the rod steady and right down at the
weld -- too long an arc gap tends to invite slag to get trapped, as does
accidentally backing up because I didn't have my hand steadied adequately.
The other thing is not running quite hot enough -- I find that the hotter I
run it, the less trouble I have with slag ... though of course, then burn
through can become an issue!
Have you used much 6011? I find that to be an essential complement to 6013
(or 7018 or 7014, for that matter). Not only does it deal nicely with fit-up
issues (if you learn the whip motion), but also it can be a fast fix of
sorts where there is a slag inclusion that you just don't want to bother
grinding out -- i.e., the weld is already more than strong enough, and
you're wanting just to improve the cosmetics. Or at least that is how I
treat it, but then again I'm still relatively new to welding, so maybe
that's a major no-no -- Roy? Randy?
One last word -- you seem to be objecting to the idea of 6013 as a "drag
rod" because of the thickness of the flux. Yes, the flux on 6013 is thinner
than on 7018, but on the other hand, it is thicker (and an entirely
different composition) from the flux on 6011. More importantly, it leaves a
relatively thick slag behind, whereas something like 6010/6011 leaves only a
very, very thin "scum" of a slag. You can, as a previous poster noted, do
some weaving (such as the J motion), but you do have to use the proper
technique -- this would be equally true for 7018. If you try to weave back
and forth in the direction of travel -- i.e., back over the weld puddle --
you are asking for slag inclusions. If you keep the tip of the rod just
ahead of (and pointed into) the weld puddle -- i.e., the tip never gets back
into the weld puddle, but leads it -- then you can do some weaving
*perpindicular* to the direction of travel to get a wider bead. The J motion
is somewhat contrary to what I've just said, but the motion is designed to
push the slag where it needs to be (at least that's what I was taught). In
any case, the point is that you never want to let the slag get ahead of
where you're welding.
Contrast all of this with 6010 or 6011, for which it is routine to "whip"
the tip back and forth *along* the direction of travel -- these rods leave a
very thin slag coating, and are very aggressive, so they can go back on top
of the weld puddle and burn through the little bit of slag and float it to
the top.
HTH,
Andy
"Christopher Tidy" wrote in message
...
footy wrote:
6013 is indeed a drag rod. You do not use a whipping motion. And you
should not weave more that about 2-3 times the diameter of the filler
metal.
6013 should give you a beautiful weld. The reason you are getting
inclusions is that you are moving the puddle back over flux that has
already solidified. You can get away with this a bit with a rod like
7018 which is more penetrating, but not with 6013 which is designed for
sheet metal.
The way to get equal length legs on bot plates is to favor the top plate.
Instead of your electrode splitting the angle between the two plates, it
needs to be laid a bit down toward the bottom plate so that the tip
points more towards the vertical plate than the bottom plate. Gravity
will bring the molten pool back down towards the bottom plate.
If a simple drag motion does not make a big enough bead, just make
multiple passes.
Can you get 6013 drag rods and 6013 non-drag rods? My 2.0 mm 6013 rods
have a flux coating which is perhaps 2/3 the core diameter, but my 3.2 mm
6013 rods have a coating which is only about 1/3 the core diameter. I
wasn't sold these as drag rods. Mostly I weld angle sections, tubes and
channels with a wall thickness of 2 to 5 mm. How suitable do you think
6013 rods are for this work?
By the way, is there a good site anywhere which gives information about
the different types of electrodes? I couldn't find much by doing a Google
search.
Best wishes,
Chris
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