rich r
Member
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- 645
At the weekend I needed to do a bit of welding on a gate, and found I'd run out of my usual Siftrode E6013 rods in 2.5mm. Didn't even have any Aldi ones either. But I did have a half used box of Oerlikon Fincord 2.5mm that a friend gave me when moving house. The box has been stored opened in a draughty garage, with no plastic bag or anything for at least 7 years. So I wasn't expecting them to be much good without a session in the oven. I just took them with a couple of welding clamps that would otherwise have gone in the bin and put them on a shelf in my garage.
So I stuck one in the clamp of my Aldi buzzbox, guessed at 80A (I was welding 4mm steel plates to 10mm diameter gate bars, outside in the wind), and struck an arc immediately. It was easy to maintain the arc distance and weld pool size. Very little smoke and spatter too. Completed the welds which looked spot on, although strangely blue in colour (does this mean too hot? Less amps needed maybe?). Slag peeled off with a slight nudge at one corner too, but I'm finding I get that most of the time now. I guess I must be getting better at maintaining the correct movement at last!
Have I just been lucky that they've not absorbed any moisture? Aldi or Sif ones would have gone white and fluffy if I'd kept them out like that for a few weeks let alone years. I keep them in ziplock plastic bags, rolled up in the cardboard box. Or do Fincords have some sort of coating maybe?
I think I've found my new favourite electrodes anyway. I tend to use 2.5mm more than any other size, but I might see if I can get small packs of 3.2mm, 2.0mm and if they do them, 1.6mm to try.
So I stuck one in the clamp of my Aldi buzzbox, guessed at 80A (I was welding 4mm steel plates to 10mm diameter gate bars, outside in the wind), and struck an arc immediately. It was easy to maintain the arc distance and weld pool size. Very little smoke and spatter too. Completed the welds which looked spot on, although strangely blue in colour (does this mean too hot? Less amps needed maybe?). Slag peeled off with a slight nudge at one corner too, but I'm finding I get that most of the time now. I guess I must be getting better at maintaining the correct movement at last!
Have I just been lucky that they've not absorbed any moisture? Aldi or Sif ones would have gone white and fluffy if I'd kept them out like that for a few weeks let alone years. I keep them in ziplock plastic bags, rolled up in the cardboard box. Or do Fincords have some sort of coating maybe?
I think I've found my new favourite electrodes anyway. I tend to use 2.5mm more than any other size, but I might see if I can get small packs of 3.2mm, 2.0mm and if they do them, 1.6mm to try.