Just made my Saturday that much better. Unlike other RUclips videos, your honesty is appreciated as is your willingness to admit that there are struggles that even you have.
It’s hard welding with the mini rods. Tonight by 5:30 two videos are also going to go live where I do much the same with flux core wire and the results are much better and far easier to achieve. Stick welding has its place, welding sheet metal is not really what I would consider it’s place lol. I am sure someone somewhere is exceptionally good at stick welding sheet metal, but it’s the last process I would want to use for it lol.
Powerweld makes some 5/64" 6013 rods. I've used their 6013 in 3/32", 1/8" and 5/32", they're very easy to run and they make a nice weld. You do have to make sure the slag doesn't catch up and bury your arc. Princess auto sells them in Canada.
I was just screwing around with the 1/16th and 5/64 rods again today. The 6013s are a wild one for sure, my first 2 short test welds were too low in amperage and I swear there was 4x as much flux as metal 😅. Once the amperage is right they are useable.
Handle them like you write with a pen. The working length is shorter then they won't shake. With small thin stuff I use the dap dap method like asian welders do with higher amperage and sometimes with really thin sheetmetal texas tig method to prevent holes.
Definitely with thin material you have to do what you need to. Penetration is never an issue, but holes are, so whatever it takes to get thin material fused is generally good.
Love those mini rods, had a vw t5 shock bracket ripped clean out, had to remake bracket and weld it onto chassis, used 1.5mm 7018, worked like a charm, lovely running rods, just dropped the rod in and let it run, was lucky to get last packet in welder shop. Great stuff.
They are lifesavers on the right job no doubt. It’s kind of funny how the mini 7018s run very similar to bigger ones. Other than how difficult it is to keep them from shaking lol. Glad to hear you had them to use and got the job done 😃.
@@makingmistakeswithgreg cheers Greg, thanks got the hang of the mini 7018 building the bracket then underneath the van, rods sailed in like a bird, great channel have picked up a lot of tips. 👍
I have done a lot of vehicle rust repairs with these mini rods. Incredibly frustrating but sort of doable from sheet thicknesses of 1mm (19 gauge in moon going) and up. Thinnest I've done have been from 0,7mm sheets but at that point you are just tacking one tap next to another. My favourite rod for thin material is Esab's 1.6mm OK 48 (basically 1/16''' 7018) and it just happens to be only thin rod you can USUALLY pick locally. You have to mind the gaps, but other than that they burn fine, make solid connection and are not that bad to start. For structures that are not under heavy load I use el cheapo 2mm (~5/64'') made in Turkey Magmaweld 6013's simply because Esab's are 30€/kg while Magmawelds on sale are 3€/kg... I can put up more smoke and less clear melt pool for that price difference. :D After few days of stuck rods and blowing holes running a MIG feels like sipping milk and honey on bed of roses.
I had a pretty good laugh at how you said when you’re used to stick welding sheet metal mig is like milk& honey 😅. That’s is definitely the truth. Sheet metal stick welding is one of the best tests of patience out there lol. I have not seen Esabs mini rods, I need to find a pack to try. Most of the mini rods I have seen are Hobart brand. Esabs rods tend to run better in my experience.
Mini rods are the best shot you got. I won’t sugar coat it, welding with small rods is tough and no fun. Flux core wire is far easier and faster. But It can be done with the mini stick rods. 😀
Yep, those 1/16 and 5/64 low hydrogen mini rods are pure fun :-) To battle wiggling end I'm usually fold rod in half and burn it on a scrap piece of steel to get two shorter rods. But anyway string of tacks with 6013 is some much easy for thin stuff. Chances to make error with continuous bead is high and correcting it is quite messy, a.k.a. a lot of wasted time
Haha great tip on the fold it in half and make two rods. I got to say, in the top 3 most angry times I have ever been when welding, 1/16 stick rods on auto body has to be up there. I made the mistake of trying to run a continuous bead 😅. Once a hole existed it was quite the experience filling it 💀.
You've found my expertise... pushing holes in metal. ;) I'm always starting too hot or something. Never heard of mini rods. Why do you use tig gloves for this? I've been trying to do stick on thin stuff... I have noticed if I change to electrode neg I burn less holes. I end up getting pissed and just grab my mig to finish and do the job.
I use tig gloves to get a better feel/control. The truth is the mini rods are a bear to use and anything that you can use to help out is good. Electrode negative will help quite a bit, it limits penetration. The odd thing is I don’t find the 1/16th rods to really give that much more capability over 3/32. When you’re down to paper thin material and you only have stick, you’re in trouble. The way you described getting pissed and just doing Mig I understand fully. I welded in a shock tower once with 1/16th stick rods and got so mad I was to the point of a melt down lol. It’s amazing how much less frustrating using mig or even flux core is when welding thin material.
I would have been interested to see you run that 6011 on those gaps in the small square tube and Im sure those small rods are frustrating 😂 the welds looked pretty good with the 7018
The little rods are one of those things that when you’re down to running them you know you’re in dire straights. Anytime I am using them all I can think of is how I wish I had a flux core welder instead lol. Honestly auto body with stick might be the single most frustrating thing I have ever done welding.
There were some good advices in this episode. First, the attitude to overcome initial issues with practice. Second, your comment to use flux-core running a corner uphill - i.e. don't even try to stick weld this, it will blow a hole. You mentioned briefly, that you normally tack in the middle, and not in the corner on thicker materials. Was this typically only on tubes, thus, can you elaborate a little about the rational around this. Cheers.
So on thicker material I generally tack center and not the corner. There a few reasons for this. 1: most people (myself included) tend to run tacks too cold. If you have a cold tack in the corner, welding to it or over it won’t fix a lack of fusion in the root. 2: on square tube and many other materials/weldments put a ton of stress on the corners. If the corners are not fused well and they are stressed, a crack could easily propagate from there. On thicker material by tacking on the center (of say square tube) and welding completely around the corner, you are 100% going to have better root fusion. The reason is you are carrying a stabilized molten pool to or around the corner. A poorly fused tac at the center of say square tube is less of a defect than a poorly fused tack at a corner, if that makes sense.
Most of my welding is 1/16" or thinner, buzz box, 45 or 70 amps. The South-Asian / Middle Eastern RUclips welders, all of them only use 6013, do a tight string of short tacks, which allows the metal to slightly cool between dabs. I don't know if this is correct or not, but you are less apt to blow holes. Entrapped slag is often a problem. I'm still practicing this method. It does not look as nice as a straight line used on thicker metal, but with practice the welds can look quite neat. Have you tried this welding method on 1/16" or thinner metal?
So stick welding thin material can be one of the most challenging things in all of welding. I welded a shock tower in a vehicle with 1/16th rods once, and it was unbelievably frustrating. The material was probably 1/32 thick. In my opinion there are only a few options. 1: 1/16th 6013 run DCEN, it will be slightly better than DCEP. Short spot welds and using an air gun to cool the metal between spot welds. 2) 1/16th 6011 run DCEP. The benefit of 6011 is far less slag inclusions. To me 1/16th material is doable with 1/16th rods without tack welding. It’s the moment you go any thinner that it becomes extremely challenging. Another thing you might not be aware of is(not sure what country you live in) but many countries have a different blend of 6013 than the USA. They have a 6013 that seems to produce less molten flux which is a big benefit at low amperage. To me the common 1/16th 6013s almost produce way too much molten flux. Flux core wire welds thin material so much better, it makes what it very difficult with stick rather trivial.
![Eminem - Fuel (feat. JID) [Official Lyric Video]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/t5H_CewqpKA/mqdefault.jpg)
Just made my Saturday that much better. Unlike other RUclips videos, your honesty is appreciated as is your willingness to admit that there are struggles that even you have.
It’s hard welding with the mini rods. Tonight by 5:30 two videos are also going to go live where I do much the same with flux core wire and the results are much better and far easier to achieve. Stick welding has its place, welding sheet metal is not really what I would consider it’s place lol. I am sure someone somewhere is exceptionally good at stick welding sheet metal, but it’s the last process I would want to use for it lol.
Powerweld makes some 5/64" 6013 rods. I've used their 6013 in 3/32", 1/8" and 5/32", they're very easy to run and they make a nice weld. You do have to make sure the slag doesn't catch up and bury your arc. Princess auto sells them in Canada.
I was just screwing around with the 1/16th and 5/64 rods again today. The 6013s are a wild one for sure, my first 2 short test welds were too low in amperage and I swear there was 4x as much flux as metal 😅. Once the amperage is right they are useable.
Blue Demon 5/64 in 7014 - work well at 60 amps or so, D.C.E.P.
Excellent Video, Thank You, the more mistakes I make the more I learn
Mistakes are awesome because when you figure out a solution and get past them you get a sense of accomplishment 😀👍
Handle them like you write with a pen. The working length is shorter then they won't shake. With small thin stuff I use the dap dap method like asian welders do with higher amperage and sometimes with really thin sheetmetal texas tig method to prevent holes.
Definitely with thin material you have to do what you need to. Penetration is never an issue, but holes are, so whatever it takes to get thin material fused is generally good.
Love those mini rods, had a vw t5 shock bracket ripped clean out, had to remake bracket and weld it onto chassis, used 1.5mm 7018, worked like a charm, lovely running rods, just dropped the rod in and let it run, was lucky to get last packet in welder shop. Great stuff.
They are lifesavers on the right job no doubt. It’s kind of funny how the mini 7018s run very similar to bigger ones. Other than how difficult it is to keep them from shaking lol. Glad to hear you had them to use and got the job done 😃.
@@makingmistakeswithgreg cheers Greg, thanks got the hang of the mini 7018 building the bracket then underneath the van, rods sailed in like a bird, great channel have picked up a lot of tips. 👍
I have done a lot of vehicle rust repairs with these mini rods. Incredibly frustrating but sort of doable from sheet thicknesses of 1mm (19 gauge in moon going) and up. Thinnest I've done have been from 0,7mm sheets but at that point you are just tacking one tap next to another. My favourite rod for thin material is Esab's 1.6mm OK 48 (basically 1/16''' 7018) and it just happens to be only thin rod you can USUALLY pick locally. You have to mind the gaps, but other than that they burn fine, make solid connection and are not that bad to start. For structures that are not under heavy load I use el cheapo 2mm (~5/64'') made in Turkey Magmaweld 6013's simply because Esab's are 30€/kg while Magmawelds on sale are 3€/kg... I can put up more smoke and less clear melt pool for that price difference. :D
After few days of stuck rods and blowing holes running a MIG feels like sipping milk and honey on bed of roses.
I had a pretty good laugh at how you said when you’re used to stick welding sheet metal mig is like milk& honey 😅. That’s is definitely the truth. Sheet metal stick welding is one of the best tests of patience out there lol. I have not seen Esabs mini rods, I need to find a pack to try. Most of the mini rods I have seen are Hobart brand. Esabs rods tend to run better in my experience.
I'm going to definitely try and find some 5/64 rods. It might be just what I need to repair my rusty relic Minnesota winter beater vehicle.
Mini rods are the best shot you got. I won’t sugar coat it, welding with small rods is tough and no fun. Flux core wire is far easier and faster. But It can be done with the mini stick rods. 😀
Blue Demon sells that size. Really like their 5/64 7014 - runs good at 60 or so amps, starts right up.
Yep, those 1/16 and 5/64 low hydrogen mini rods are pure fun :-) To battle wiggling end I'm usually fold rod in half and burn it on a scrap piece of steel to get two shorter rods. But anyway string of tacks with 6013 is some much easy for thin stuff. Chances to make error with continuous bead is high and correcting it is quite messy, a.k.a. a lot of wasted time
Haha great tip on the fold it in half and make two rods. I got to say, in the top 3 most angry times I have ever been when welding, 1/16 stick rods on auto body has to be up there. I made the mistake of trying to run a continuous bead 😅. Once a hole existed it was quite the experience filling it 💀.
Yep, anger and frustration...welding as a hobby always finds it's way to say me that I should practice more :-D
I ended up cutting the rods in half to calm the quivering some. That worked good for the tight space i was in anyway.
You've found my expertise... pushing holes in metal. ;) I'm always starting too hot or something. Never heard of mini rods. Why do you use tig gloves for this? I've been trying to do stick on thin stuff... I have noticed if I change to electrode neg I burn less holes. I end up getting pissed and just grab my mig to finish and do the job.
I use tig gloves to get a better feel/control. The truth is the mini rods are a bear to use and anything that you can use to help out is good. Electrode negative will help quite a bit, it limits penetration. The odd thing is I don’t find the 1/16th rods to really give that much more capability over 3/32. When you’re down to paper thin material and you only have stick, you’re in trouble. The way you described getting pissed and just doing Mig I understand fully. I welded in a shock tower once with 1/16th stick rods and got so mad I was to the point of a melt down lol. It’s amazing how much less frustrating using mig or even flux core is when welding thin material.
Thanks for sharing.
I would have been interested to see you run that 6011 on those gaps in the small square tube and Im sure those small rods are frustrating 😂 the welds looked pretty good with the 7018
The little rods are one of those things that when you’re down to running them you know you’re in dire straights. Anytime I am using them all I can think of is how I wish I had a flux core welder instead lol. Honestly auto body with stick might be the single most frustrating thing I have ever done welding.
I have one word for you, pool...cue.
There were some good advices in this episode. First, the attitude to overcome initial issues with practice. Second, your comment to use flux-core running a corner uphill - i.e. don't even try to stick weld this, it will blow a hole. You mentioned briefly, that you normally tack in the middle, and not in the corner on thicker materials. Was this typically only on tubes, thus, can you elaborate a little about the rational around this. Cheers.
So on thicker material I generally tack center and not the corner. There a few reasons for this. 1: most people (myself included) tend to run tacks too cold. If you have a cold tack in the corner, welding to it or over it won’t fix a lack of fusion in the root. 2: on square tube and many other materials/weldments put a ton of stress on the corners. If the corners are not fused well and they are stressed, a crack could easily propagate from there. On thicker material by tacking on the center (of say square tube) and welding completely around the corner, you are 100% going to have better root fusion. The reason is you are carrying a stabilized molten pool to or around the corner. A poorly fused tac at the center of say square tube is less of a defect than a poorly fused tack at a corner, if that makes sense.
@@makingmistakeswithgreg All this make sense, I was pretty sure you had a solid explanation which is worth sharing. Cheers.
Most of my welding is 1/16" or thinner, buzz box, 45 or 70 amps. The South-Asian / Middle Eastern RUclips welders, all of them only use 6013, do a tight string of short tacks, which allows the metal to slightly cool between dabs. I don't know if this is correct or not, but you are less apt to blow holes. Entrapped slag is often a problem. I'm still practicing this method. It does not look as nice as a straight line used on thicker metal, but with practice the welds can look quite neat. Have you tried this welding method on 1/16" or thinner metal?
So stick welding thin material can be one of the most challenging things in all of welding. I welded a shock tower in a vehicle with 1/16th rods once, and it was unbelievably frustrating. The material was probably 1/32 thick. In my opinion there are only a few options. 1: 1/16th 6013 run DCEN, it will be slightly better than DCEP. Short spot welds and using an air gun to cool the metal between spot welds. 2) 1/16th 6011 run DCEP. The benefit of 6011 is far less slag inclusions.
To me 1/16th material is doable with 1/16th rods without tack welding. It’s the moment you go any thinner that it becomes extremely challenging. Another thing you might not be aware of is(not sure what country you live in) but many countries have a different blend of 6013 than the USA. They have a 6013 that seems to produce less molten flux which is a big benefit at low amperage. To me the common 1/16th 6013s almost produce way too much molten flux.
Flux core wire welds thin material so much better, it makes what it very difficult with stick rather trivial.
I started stick welding with 1/16 rods, no wonder I was giving up hope.
If you knocked the flux off in the middle of the rod, could you run one side and make the effective electrode length shorter to reduce the flex?
You definitely could. The only downside is how fast you will burn up that half lol.
Learning to stick weld. What is good amp to start with. Using 1/8" 7018 on 1/4" plate. Just running beads. Also using 35% arc force.
With 1/8th rods start at 120 for a 7018. If your machine has an accurate set point 115 to 130 will be good 👍