thats expensive i got 2 full boxes of 3.2 boss welding rods free the heating engineers left em in the boiler house at a school i work at sumtimes .2 month after job was finished they were still warm so i relieved them verry nice rods . and they were in a white boxLot of chat about rods from Lidl. Bought some Murex white box 3.2's & 2.4's - £15 + vat ea.
Works out at:
2.4's - £18.00 / 266 = 6.7p ea.
3.2's - £18.00 / 182 = 9.8p ea.
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Today’s unholy effort...
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These electrodes came from Screwfix and strike me as a real bargain. There was only one review on their website and it said the rods were the worst he'd ever used, so that's why I decided to try them. The reviewer is probably a troll from a competitor..
I've tried the Screwfix 2.5mm electrodes and still have a lot to use up. I wasn't impressed, the coating is uneven and with gouges sometimes. The slag seems thick and hard. I don't like them.
Now, they are not 6013s, they are J422s which is titania-lime not titania-cellulose and I think they are a cross between a 6013 and a 7014. At least the ones I bought were J422s with a dark coating.
The nicest 6013 2.5mm rods I've used are Elga P45S and the difference between them and the Screwfix offering is huge. Admittedly, the price difference (3x) is also huge, but not a case of diminishing returns.
Looking at the Screwfix site, there seem to be positive reviews of the 2 and 2.5mm rods, but the 3.2mm rods get slagged off.
I didn't post a review but I thought they were poor and poor value for money. Having tried the 2.5 mms I shan't be chancing my arm with their 2s or 3.2s.
PT.....after the J422 is there any more letters or numbers. I dont have a copy but I think the J422 only tells you the strength and ductility. Therefore as you say it could be 6013, 7014, 7018, 7024. Having said that the 6013 type is the most likely to give that level of mechanical properties. The 70XX grades should be J463 or J464 or similar( but being chinese !!!)
All the chinese 6013s I have seen have only said J422
They came in a white box with nothing printed on, inside a brown cardboard sleeve, with the name of a company and product code. It also says "Welding rods 2.5mm 5Kg". No recommended applications, current, polarity, OCV, positions. No H&S warnings or storage instructions. In fact no details at all.
The rods only have J422 marked on them. They are rather dark for 6013s. They are 300mm.
The wire doesn't seem particularly round, could just be the cropping. The coating is quite thick in comparison with other 6013s and occasionally there's one with a chip out of the coating or a gouge in it. Sometimes the wire is exposed.
I was curious about them and found things like
http://www.docstoc.com/docs/20556200/Mild-steel-welding-electrode
http://www.globalgrabber.com/product/464270-carbon-steel-welding-electrode/
which suggests that J421 is equivalent to E6013 and J422 doesn't really have an AWS equivalent. I've not seen an ISO equivalence given. The table also says that J422 is equivalent to the old British standard type 4303, but I'm not familiar with that.
If you enter "J422 electrodes" into Google, there are dozens of Chinese companies wanting to sell them by the ton.
I found the Screwfix rods were usable but not very nice and I regret buying them. The local BOC agency was selling 2.5mm Nexus rods at £10 inc VAT for 5Kg, I don't know whether it was a special offer. I wouldn't make any special claims for them but they seem a lot better than the Screwfix offerings for about the same money.
PT........whilst that grade E4303 did exist there were never any rods that met it. Originally they were 5133 and they were shipyard rods, Vodex, Vortic Marine, WRX50, WRX453. These were Lime Rutile types (Lime Titania). It was difficult to acheive that grade so most (maybe all) were downgraded to 4333 (lower strength). Due to the demise of the shipyard they all but disappeared. To be honest the ships plate they were used on really demanded a low hy but they got away with it. Nowadays they insist on LH.
What I was getting at was that the old BS spec had a suffix so it would be E4333R or RR. Maybe the chinese dont do that.
The Nexus rods were made by Lincoln in Portugal. I thought they were decent rods.
I think a conclusion could be avoid any with J422 on them.