brands of good arc rods

zardoz · Nov 20, 2007

Even though i did 50 or 60 hours of Arc welding at college last year, i just realized whilst reading though the Arc forum that i have no idea about what are good brands for arc rods. Can you guys give me some ideas of reliable brands of rods.

irondarren · Nov 20, 2007

Esab miltrodes, nice 6013 welding rods
Murex Satinex or vodex

Cappy · Nov 20, 2007

Murex, Oerlikon, Lincoln, Stubbs and Bohler are all pretty reliable names to go for. Maybe not the cheapest but at least you know that every rod in the packet will do what it says on the box.

Within each brand there will be a selection of GP rods 6013 or Low Hydrogen (LoHi) 7018 to choose from. Quite often it's a case of finding a favourite and sticking with it.

Watch out for some of the 'mickey mouse' good offers of unbranded rods that crop up from time to time. They might be ok, but then again. I'm not saying don't go for the unbranded ones as I'm sure there are some good ones around, just 'buyer beware'

snowcat · Nov 20, 2007

It really is user prefrance, I used Oerlikon and bohler's for years, But unless its something special (or done to a spec) I now use the boc premier ones, I used the everday ones when they were lincoln made, then when they sourced them from china changed to the premier brand which are euro made... TBH much of it is as cappy says getting used to the brand.... Theres much slaging pardon the pun of cheep rods however in my experance is often operator not rod giving the issues thats not to say some of the cheep ones dont have issues, but many excuses are blaimed on them

weldequip · Nov 20, 2007

MUREX Zodian Universal... little difficult to strike but give a very nice weld appearance. ESAB OK 46.00 Miltrode

weldequip

Welderpaul · Nov 21, 2007

weldequip said:
ESAB OK 46.00 Miltrode
weldequip

Yes - a nice rod! :welder:

HughF · Dec 4, 2007

Bohler Union get a big thumbs up... spent 8 hours working with them on saturday on my chinese inverter, a real nice rod!

Hugh

Cappy · Dec 4, 2007

Vodex or Vortic Marine - almost identical.

All that's different is the colour of the flux coating - the chemical composition is identical :welder:

MarkG · Dec 6, 2007

Also depends on what position you want to weld... uphand, downhand, overhead etc etc... Different rods for different positions...

Murex Zodian Universal, Lincoln Omnia 46 & Oerlikon Overcord Z (new name for Supercord) are all positional rods and give great results.

Oerlikon Fincord M are a cheaper rod, but no good for overhead but still produce a good weld.

Murex and Oerlikon offer a plain white box 6013 general purpose rod which are a good budget alternative to Fincord M's, but don't run as smooth...

flange jockey · Dec 30, 2007

cappy i don,t see the vortic marine much now,but i do get the chance to use vodex now and again,its a great rod all round, especially on roots.the bolher union is nice for capping hugh f just a bit harder on root. these are the only rods we seem to get hold of but the staple would be fox sum by bolher.

these are vodex and union in that order.f/j

Ciaran-Rob · Jan 10, 2008

Ine

Try INE Rods.. 3.25 electrodes are the best!

mart · Apr 19, 2008

MarkG said:
Murex and Oerlikon offer a plain white box 6013 general purpose rod which are a good budget alternative to Fincord M's, but don't run as smooth...

After reading these threads (originally started by Zardox, and who’s thoughts and concerns I share), I bought a box of 2.5 rods yesterday from a welding supply shop in Sheffield. They are (allegedly) Oerlikon. I use the word allegedly due to the “plain white box” with just E6013 on it.

They cost £17. This supplier also had Oerlikon Fincord at £47. On the end of the box, 282 pieces is stated. The box (according to my scales) weighs 4kg (not the 5kg that I was assured of at the time of purchase).The box is sealed in the usual shrink-wrap manner, but there does seem to be more space in the box than I would have expected. I shall reserve judgement on the weight issue until I have verified it on another set of scales.

I was assured that the rods were from the same factory as the Oerlikon Fincord. Still, I do wonder why a reputable company would not want to put their name to one of their products-even if they called them “Oerlikon budget“. I mean this in the same way that we see budget tyre with the brand name on the side, and budget airlines etc.

As usual, I welcome your thoughts and guidance on these issues.

Wozzaaah · Apr 19, 2008

I have some 2.5mm 'white box' 6013s and they are lovely to use, no way of identifying them at all but I wish there was. I also have two boxes of lincoln electric 'omnia' ones, some 3.2 and 4mm ones and they are an absolute pig to use, hard to strike, unstable arc and the slag needs a jackhammer to remove it. It might just be down to operator error but I'm really not impressed with them.
If I was to take a pic of the markings on the white box ones I wonder if anyone else would be able to identify them or at least say "they're the same as my ******* ones"?
Mart, any chance you could post a couple of pics of your box and rod markings?

TechnicAl · Apr 19, 2008

Wozzaaah
PM me
no rush cos Im on holiday next week

MarkG · Apr 19, 2008

mart said:
I bought a box of 2.5 rods yesterday from a welding supply shop in Sheffield. They are (allegedly) Oerlikon. I use the word allegedly due to the “plain white box” with just E6013 on it.

As usual, I welcome your thoughts and guidance on these issues.

Oerlikon and Murex both offer a 'white box' alternative to their 'name' brands.

Murex have their name on them, whilst Oerlikon (now Air Liquide Welding) don't.

The 5kg weight is approx, not a set standard unfortunately, but they do contain the number of rods stated on the end of the boxes.

mart · Apr 19, 2008

Wozzaaah said:
Mart, any chance you could post a couple of pics of your box and rod markings?

Certainly Woz -i would be happy to do that. I wanted to ask on here if i could send someone 2 or 3 to try out. As you seem to possibly have the same rods i could send some to you to check out. If acceptable PM me your address.

Mart.

Drains · Apr 19, 2008

Wozzaaah said:
I also have two boxes of lincoln electric 'omnia' ones, some 3.2 and 4mm ones and they are an absolute pig to use, hard to strike, unstable arc and the slag needs a jackhammer to remove it.

TechnicAl said:
Wozzaaah
PM me
no rush cos Im on holiday next week

Hey Woz, let us know what "hints and tips" Al gives you re using those rods, won't you?

gavuk · Apr 20, 2008

hey woz got some vodex and gritec lohi 7018in 2.5 mm here u can try ,both good rods ,gritec take some getting used to not easy for tacking up as they burn back inside the tip more than i was used to ,but your welcome to try some

,makes my welding look better than it really is

mart · Apr 20, 2008

Wozzaaah said:
If I was to take a pic of the markings on the white box ones I wonder if anyone else would be able to identify them or at least say "they're the same as my ******* ones"?
Mart, any chance you could post a couple of pics of your box and rod markings?

Here are two not very good pics, but there really is not a lot to see-just a plain white box. The writing on the side is just some safety label advice etc. Nothing refers to the contents.

I got the PM Woz and will sort that. Maybe between us we can come to some conclusion with the rod type.

Wozzaaah · Apr 20, 2008

Well Mart, I can confirm that the box is identical

. Hopefully someone might be able to say 'yes, I sell those, they're xxxxx brand'.
Have you tried them yet? I'd be interested to hear what you think of them, I really like them, I'm sure with a bit of practice I could get the slag to peel as it doesn't take much to get it off.

brands of good arc rods

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