Hello guys,
I have a cheap Rossi Arc welder and was wondering what electrodes is suitable for welding square tube steel.
Is there any size or brands you recommend? and where would you guys buy electrodes part from Bunnings.
Also please let me know what amps you run it at etc.
Thanks in advance.
SuperCheap Auto sell Cigweld too.
The thickness of the material determines the size of the welding rod. Google it. Welding tube implies a thin wall so roughly a 1.5 - 2.0mm rod will be required. And a lot of practice.
E6013 rods. Good, general purpose rods. Depends on what you are welding that will determine the diameter of the rod you will need.
E = electrode
60 = tensile strength (x1000 in psi)
1 = welding positions/directions (1 = all)
3 = flux type.
Just remember to keep your electrodes in a dry place. Keep them sealed up. Water/wet rods = shitty welds.
^^This. Keep electrodes dry or bake them in an oven for 1hr at 150°C.
welding square tube steel
Would that be the small sizes of square tube steel like you see at Bunnings? A lot of that duragal stock has a 1.6mm wall thickness - that's really easy to melt holes in if you're anything like me. Maybe consider getting 2 or 2.5mm wall thickness even if you have to buy a 6m length from a metal supplier in an industrial area. It'll be a lot cheaper per metre.
I recently used 2.6mm CIG Satincraft rods to fillet weld 3mm flat plate to the ends of 25x25 SHS, 2.5mm wall thickness. I think I had to run them at least 90 amps - I needed a really short arc to keep it down in the corner and stop it jumping to one face or another. Any lower than 90 wasn't hot enough.
I've got the 1kg pack of Cigweld 1.5mm rods, from Total Tools. The smaller they are the easier to weld at lower amps, especially when you're starting out.
If you're doing a big job then it's more time consuming swapping them out, given they won't last as long as a thicker 2.5mm electrode, but for odd jobs they work pretty good. And being Cigweld you know what you're getting compared to a generic pack on eBay (I did look anyway, but shipping kills it for me).