Practical methods to store 7018 rods?

[PaulW_NJ]

How do you guys store 7018 low hydrogen rods?

A couple years ago I got a good deal on a used Lincoln AC/DC Idealarc machine on eBay, under the recommendations of Stan and others on this site. I'm embarrased to admit it, but at last I got it hooked up, and it's a huge improvement over my old Craftsman AC crackerbox. Thanks Stan!

Now introduced to 7018 rods . . . wow what a difference over 6011, 6013! But my enthusiasm was quickly quenched when I did a search last night and read that you have to store 7018s at 250 F, and after 4 hours an unopened box starts to deteriorate because moisture is absorbed. But that's OK . . . you can reverse the process by reheating them to 700 or 800 F. Oh yeah . . . those are all practical constraints for the occasional user! I don't think rigging up a lightbulb-in-a-box, or my kitchen oven, is going to cut it.

So oh so close, yet oh so far! How do you all store these rods? Do they quickly deteriorate beyond usability, or will I really notice a significant difference if I just wrap them back up? I'm not looking for nuclear certification on my shop projects. Are these rods out of the realm of the home user. Are there practical solutions?

 

[Dusty MI]

Try some 7014.

Dusty

 

[POPPY11]

I keep mine in the kitchen cabinet where my wife can"t reach and only take them to the shop as needed

 

[Anonymous-0]

I'm by far not a pro. I think ignorance must play a role here somewhere. I get 7018 rods cause that's the off the shelf ones at the store. Just dug them out today and done a little welding. It's 30 degrees here today and these were just laying next to the welder. Done OK for me. Now, if I was smart, and knew to store them hot,they prolly wouldn'ta worked.


Dave

 

[Kentb of SWMO]

Old refrigerator and a 100 watt light bulb.

Kent

 

[Angle Iron]

If your wife has a food saver or any type of vacume sealer use it. I put about 5 to 10 lbs in a long bag, leave extra length to reseal. Then make up several small bags with a few rods in each. If the seal is good its just like opening a new can when you need them.
Angle Iron

 

[jdetig1]

just keep them dry is the main thing. mine are in my shed in containers so they stay dry. i have welded with rods straigh out of a rod storage oven and i cant really tell any difference from my rods that are stored in my shed.

 

[RodinNS]

Don't worry so much. Odds are good they're going to work just fine unless they're soaked.
Keeping them in an old fridge with as little as a 40 watt bulb is quite adequate. I had a 100W in mine for a while and it got so damn hot it wasn't fit. I mean 100 C+ inside there. Be carefull it doesn't go on fire!
Try a 100 if you like and see, but I'd be prepared to use less. The main thing is to just keep the dampness out.

Rod

 

[lucas boy]

i just keep mine in those platic tubes with a screw on lid and oring that tractor supply sell,each one holds 10 pounds,that may not be enough room for you big users..

 

[flying belgian]

All my rods are kept in a pail of oats. Never had a problem.

 

[Ecnerwal]

Much depends on how much you need them to be what they are - "low hydrogen". Moisture interferes with that. For general farm work, something like a 20MM ammo can (anything that will seal watertight and is big enough to hold the rods) is fine, and don't leave it open - just grab some rods and close it up again quick. You can even toss some desiccant packs in there.

If you are not using them much (sounds like) you might stash that sealed can near your boiler/furnace for the winter - much cheaper than running electric all the time to keep them warm, but serves the same function. Not really needed if well sealed, though. You'll note that the sealed cans from the factory are not stored at 250F at the welding store.

Guys with engine welders sometimes have a rod oven built into an exhaust pipe.

 

[eastexan]

I was talking to an old man years ago who owned a welding shop, and he said that using 7018 in very critical applications such as high pressure pipeline, boilers, etc., would require using an oven and you would need to use the rod right away.

He mentioned though, that in most non critical applications, using a sealed container would suffice. But you would not want to leave it laying around very long, especially in high humidity, as the low hydrogen coating soaks up moisture and ruins the rod in short order.

He told me though, that 7014 is a good easy to use rod and has been around for many years. He said it's very strong weld and was used in the building of ships during WWII. And since it doesn't have the low hydrogen coating that 7018 has, it's easier to maintain.

Since then I've used a lot of it. It has a thick coating on it and leaves a lot of slag, but it just flakes off real easy when you go to chip it off.
I agree with Dusty, 7014 is the hassle free way to go IMHO.

Ronnie

 

[Welding man]

Unless you are making X-ray quality welds, don't worry about it, I keep mine inside sealed tubes in a cabinet in the service truck. Never a problem.

 

[Anonymous-0]

First off, you have an excellent welding machine. 7014 is in no way a substitute for 7018. 7014 is designed for static loading, while 7018 is designed for static and dynamic loading. No comparison. An example I recently read involved a steel welding table. If the table needed to hold 1000lbs. just sitting on it, would be a static load. If the table needed to support 1000lbs. dropped on it would be a dynamic load. Like others have said, just keeping them dry is the main thing. The plastic rod holders with the screw on lids should work fine. If you were doing x-ray quality welds, you'd want them in a rod oven but for just general welding, it isn't necessary. If they have moisture in them you will notice when you're welding. The weld will have porosity and the arc will be different. On the other hand, if you warm them up enough that you need to wear a welding glove to hold them, you will notice that they weld smoother and nicer than rods at room temperature. Just something you could experiment with. A lot of shops have used a light bulb in a fridge to keep 7018 warm and dry. You don't need the fridge to seal really good cause if there is any moisture, it has to have a way to get out. Commercial electrode ovens have a hole in them to let moisture escape. Hope this clears things up for you. A good DC welder is the best thing a non professional welder could get if they want to do better welds. 7018 is the rod of choice if you want a strong weld. Dave

 

[old]

An old fridge with the light set up to stay on all the time works well to store rods in. Keeps it pretty much moisture free ad a tad warm most of the time. Now as for the rod them self most common welding done around the farm 7014 will work just fine and is much easier the weld with also. I have been using the 7014 for decades and was told by an old now dead pipe line welder that it would work real well for most welding on the farm. He was also the welding instructor for the oil field pipe line for the company he worked for so I figure he knew what he was talking about

 

[Anonymous-0]

I'm wasn't trying to imply that 7014 wasn't a good rod for general welding. Only that it wasn't comparable to a 7018 in terms of strength. 7014 is a much better rod than 6013. 7024 is a common rod used in welding shops for faster welding speeds. Dave

 

[old]

And I was not trying to imply anything to or about what you said. Now as for how strong each one is they are both rated at 70,000psi as is the 7024 just the 7018 digs in so the speak better. Or if you want the 7018 penetrates deeper. As the 6013 is a 60K psi rod so yep not near as strong and I may self almost never have any of the 60 type on hand I.E. 6011, 6013, or any other 60 type.

 

[eastexan]

And I wasn't implying that 7014 is comparable in strength to 7018, only that it's easy to use like 7018 but without the hassle of trying to keep it dry and out of the humidity all the time. And it's plenty strong for most farm applications.

Ronnie

 

[Puddles]

Paul W as stated many times here, if you’re not doing code or real critical work don’t worry about it. Especially if you’re doing single pass welds! Splicing beams / plates that require multiple passes yes, by all means use properly heated 7018!
I use to build a lot of steel beam falsework for concrete bridges, and overpasses. Never paid any attention to the weather, rain or snow, we never built tents to work under, and most of the time we would have to pour the water out of the can of 7018! Just placed the electrode in the holder, stuck the rod to the beam, let it heat up / dry out before continuing to weld. Never ever had any falsework collapse during a concrete pour! :wink:

 

[Ultradog MN]

Most of us don't have the welding skill for a bit of moisture to make much of a difference in our welds. Makes heated rod ovens a waste of electricity. If I have something that I want to do my absolute best possible work on I'll grab whatever amount of rod I think I'll need and heat it in the oven for a while. But I'll rarely even do that.

 

[Anonymous-0]

The tensile strength is only a small portion of the characteristics of a welding rod. In almost all applications a 6010 weld of equal size will be stronger than a 7014. 6010 is for dynamic loading, 7014 is not. 7018 is not stronger just because it has more penetration. 6013 aren't worth having around in my opinion. My teacher used to say the only thing 6013 were good for was practicing running beads or sheet metal. 7014 is a much better rod than 6013 but for high strength applications not anywhere near 7018. That's all I was trying to point out. Dave

 

[Bus Driver]

By my calculations, 150 deg is plenty to keep humidity below 30%. I use an old wall mounted kitchen oven with the heating element powered by 120 volts and a furnace high limit switch to control temperature. The element will last forever under such service.

 

[Leland2]

get a old fridge rig a 100 watt bulb that stays on all the time rods will stay fresh and dry for decades

 

[barn E]

Welding rods stored on top of the hot water tank. Don't really know if it makes any diff.

 

[PaulW_NJ]

Thanks for all the responses. I learned a lot. I just picked up one of those tiny 2 foot cube refrigerators somebody had put out at the curb. Sounds like that might be perfect for storage.

 

[rockyhawaii]

I was given a five gallon bucket full of 7018 rods about ten years ago. Been left open all this time and they still work.

 

[Anonymous-0]

Friend and stopped at a pile of stuff on trash day.He got a chain saw and I got a 50 lb can of 7018.There was about a pound missing.I use it with no problem.Bought 38 lb of 6011 at a yard sale for 2 bucks.I dont weld on boilers or pipe lines so 7018 works fine for me.A lot of 7018 gets thrown out.

 

[kito169]

I have always used a 20MM ammo can and never any problems with it. I "acquired" it while in the USAF 50 years ago.

 

[eastexan]

(quoted from post at 22:28:16 01/28/10) I was given a five gallon bucket full of 7018 rods about ten years ago. Been left open all this time and they still work.

That surprises me, unless you live in an area of low humidity.
Do you have them in your house where the outside air don't get to them?

I'm not being critical. I always liked using 7018 on the job. But now that I'm retired, I don't have an rod oven, so I'm using other rod instead.

Thanks,
Ronnie

 

[rockyhawaii]

Eastexan, I don't live in an especially wet area, but it's not dry either. The rods were in an open bucket when I got them, and had been in the bucket for a few years. I am just too cheap to throw them away. I run then on DC reverse polarity and they seem just fine. I've got about fifty pounds of them to go through.

 

[eastexan]

Thanks for the info, Rocky.

Hope you are enjoying the weather there in [b:e08d10bc12][i:e08d10bc12][u:e08d10bc12]PARADISE!![/u:e08d10bc12][/i:e08d10bc12][/b:e08d10bc12]
Have pity on us poor folks that live on the mainland. :mrgreen:

Ronnie

 

[Anonymous-0]

I keep a box of rods upstairs under a bed and 7018 in the attic over the kitchen.Hotter than blazes all summer and 50% humidity in winter.I keep some in the shop in a plastic container.