3lb. welding rod

Date 02-28-2007 05:18

Hello JA, you may very well have seen one of the electrodes that was used prior and even after the introduction of the wirefeed process. Many of the large fabrication shops that were engaged in bridge building and possibly even some shipbuilding used these to lay down flat welds on heavy sections and decking. I have seen a similar eletrode that was actually an E7018 rod that was 5/8" diameter and roughly 3 1/2 feet long. I was told by the individual that showed me that one that they used some sort of rolling guide to support the end of the rod as it was fed into the puddle. My $.02 Regards, aevald

By Fredspoppy (**)

Date 02-28-2007 12:28

Gents,
I think what you have seen is either (1) a sales gimick or (2) an electrode used for repair of large castings, such as ladles used in the steel mills or for die repairs, called flood welding. I have seen up to 3/4" diameter electrodes that are held in an electrode holder with the assist of a small come-along type winch. These do indeed need 1000+ amps to run. 1-1/8" is larger than I have seen for this application, thats why I posed choice (1) also.

Check out one link I found on Google:

http://www.mpdwelding.com/floodwelding.htm

By 803056

Date 02-28-2007 15:27

One of my clients is a forging company that repairs their dies with very large electrodes similar to those mentioned by "Fredspoppy". They are huge!

I have also seen it refered to as "massive electrode" welding. Some of those electrodes can weigh several hundred pounds each. There's a reference to it in "Modern Welding Technology" forth edition by Howard B. Cary (of Hobart fame and past President of AWS).

Best regards - Al

By jon20013 (*****)

Date 02-28-2007 15:46

Yep, I had a welder in once upon a time who had one probably 3.5" in circumference and maybe 2 feet long(maybe even more). I did a little reasearch for him and in fact it was a die repair rod... massive. Not even sure how the heck you'd hold a stinger for that bad boy!!!!

By Lawrence (*****)

Date 02-28-2007 20:41 Edited 02-28-2007 20:46

Something like this ?

We use em for sheetmetal

By 803056

Date 02-28-2007 22:40

If I remember correctly, you're using the farm code out where you live, right? That's the code with a cover, a back, and several blank pages in between. I see it used on some of the structural steel jobs erected in New England. I'm sure you've seen the same crew out your way. It's the crew where the oldest member is 21 or 22 and has two years of experience painting automobiles before taking the job as erection forman two weeks earlier.

Al

By Lawrence (*****)

Date 02-28-2007 23:17

The lad pictured above says he could out produce any pulsed, flux-cored, tandem wire, variable polarity, hybred watchamacallit whether its painted red or blue.

The only thing slowin him down is that durned speedglass strapped to his noggin!

By Molten Metal (**)

Date 02-28-2007 23:35

Oh No !! Not again!!!:) All kidding aside,that electrode that young gentleman is holding is scary big enough.Whatever the ampre's required for that,I bet you dont want to weld with it in the rain...lol.:)

By raftergwelding (*****)

Date 03-13-2007 05:38

that stinger he's using must get really hot wearing them tig gloves before he gets to the butt of the rod

By ssbn727 (*****)

Date 03-01-2007 02:22

We used to call those "Baseball Bats!"
Down in the old Brooklyn Navy yard, there were plenty of those stored in some of the most peculiar of places if ya get my meaning!!! Yeah, this old boss I had up in "Rotten" Groton, Ct used to tell anyone that used to complain about running 3/16" diameter rods - that back in the day when he was starting out in Brooklyn, his boss used to tell him: "Go ahead son! once you get the machine set up right, you can get it started real goood, and hit a home run just like the Babe - Ruth that is!!!" Then he would proceed to tell the whiner that if he did'nt conform, he would certainly earn a trip off the boat and a week's suspension for refusing to perform part of his designated job description & the attached responsibilities... If he still refused to conform afterwards, he would be handed a grinder & the appropriate job ticket and if he still refused, he would be told to turn in his badge at the security bldg next to the gate he came in and given the appropriate numbers to contact in order to pick up his severence pay & told: "Best of luck to you" - PERIOD!!!

I've seen this happen to many a fool who did'nt comply to reasonable job assignments on many occasions up in "Rotten" Groton, CT in the "Friendly" confines of the Electric Boat Division of General Dynamics... Looking back, I had a GREAT TIME and I learned a hell of alot up there when I was young, dumb and full of - well you all know - at least most of you all know what I'm talking about!!!
Ahhh YES!!! Those days of my youth, when nothing was impossible so long as the testosterone was flowing in me blood!!!

Anywho, when I find a pic that I have layin around somewhere, I'll post it because this pic will show someone SMA Welding with a rod that makes those 2 to that the youngster is holding look small in comparison!!! So, please be patient because it's always alot of fun & real interesting when looking back at welding's visual history...

I will post ASAP, and I think you'll be impressed because I sure was when I first came across the photo.
Spring Training is just around the corner!!!

Respectfully,
Henry

By JA

Date 03-18-2007 14:21

henry , have you found those pictures yet..............????????

By TimGary (****)

Date 03-02-2007 16:28

I ran across an ad in the February issue of "Welding" Magazine that shows a guy welding with a big rod.
Man, that's one big stinger!
pic attached.

Tim

Attachment: big_welder.JPG (62k)

By raftergwelding (*****)

Date 03-13-2007 05:39

dont wanna get to close to that bead do ya ?

By dhammock Date 05-17-2007 16:02

I just ran across this thread and it may be dead by now, but............Weld Mold Company, Brighton, Michigan has been making these large dianmter welding electrodes for over 50 years, and yes, they are still used today for high deposition welding. We run up to 1,800-2,000 amps and have been able to deposit in excess of 100 lbs per hour. Large cracks- no problems! Weld Mold invented "flood welding" back in the 50's which is now used worldwide with flux cored wires along with the electrodes. we may get 30 lbs per hour deposition with the wire while the electrode is still the choice for for big jobs. We recently completeed a repair and averaged over 1,000 lbs per 16 hour days for most of the job. Of course preheat, maintaining interpass temperature and stress relieve are critical to the success of these jobs, along with other procedures. This job is hot and gets done quick. Vist our website at www.weldmold.com. Any questions give me a call. Darryl Hammock 800-521-9755 ext 110.