Welding rods welding using a torch

[Farmallb]

I see on the puter an ad about welding rods that they use with a torch to weld. Is there a rod that I can use with a torch, as I dont have 220 outside the house.

 

[Farmallb]

I should have added, for welding steel

 

[funky_g00]

Yes, there is welding rod to use with an oxy/acetylene torch setup. Any place that sells welding supplies should carry them. I do not know how many types are available, but I do know and have used rods for steel, brass rods for brazing, and rods for welding cast iron. For what little I weld with gas I just grab a coat hanger!

 

[el6147]

certainly, it is referred to as oxy-acetylene welding.

Its one of the first procedures that was taught in welding school.

I haven't bought rod in a long time as I have plenty, it was once a preferred method of welding thinner metals before mig welders became affordable. Theoretically you can use a good coat hanger as filler rod but actual gas rod is preferred.

In school one of the procedures was welding schedule pipe in place.

 

[MarkB_MI]

Most likely the advertised rods are actually brazing rods. There are two distinct processes you can do with a torch: brazing and fusion welding. Both steel and aluminum can be welded with either process, but fusion welding is trickier. If you want to weld light material, say 10 gauge or less, you can do fusion welding with most oxyacetylene torches. For heavier stuff, brazing is easier because it doesn't require so much heat.

Brazing rods and steel filler rods are available at any welding supply and at many hardware stores. Brazing rods are typically flux-coated, although you can buy the flux separately. Steel filler is used without a flux; actually the neutral torch flame is the flux. (By keeping the tip of the filler rod inside the edge of the flame where there's no oxygen, oxidation is prevented.)

Gas welding takes practice, but it will make you a better welder. In fact, if you buy a TIG welder you'll find it easy to use if you've already mastered gas fusion welding. There are plenty of resources on the web and in books, but the main thing is to buy some materials and start practicing.

 

[SETX]

I?ve used a coat hanger many a time!

 

[MarkB_MI]

> I?ve used a coat hanger many a time!

I never understood why folks would use coat hanger wire when proper filler is cheap and readily available.

 

[Richard G.]

Coat hangers are cheap and readily available also.
Use them a lot.
Never had a problem unless my wife sees me stealing them out of the closet.
Richard in NW SC

 

[dr sportster]

Copper coated steel rod , brazing rod , any rod advertised for TIG will work for gas. Google gas welding rod for info on many types.

 

[dr sportster]

Sometimes I read something here that leads me to google search for more info on the subject. I read: Use welding rod[cheap] use coat hangers to hang up your clothes

 

[Ellis Kinney]

Three foot gas welding rods. copper coated. Either 1/8 or 1/16 dia. Ellis

 

[unc]

Coat hangers are made from the crappiest, cheapest, dirtiest low quality steel available. Proper welding filler rods are made from certified, traceable steel containing alloying elements, anti-oxidizers, and a known carbon content. Take your pick. unc

 

[ArleninOr]

Tried the coat hanger trick. Ended up with a big puddle of plastic. My bad.

 

[teddy52food]

Looks like I have been doing it wrong my whole life! Before I got an arc welder I was
welding axle shafts together building small tractors. Never had one fail.

 

[David Snipes]

Arlen, I have some old wooden coat hangers you could try. At least they won't puddle.

 

[BarnyardEngineering]

The ads you are seeing are for those "magic" rods for "welding" aluminum with a propane torch. The rods are a zinc alloy and it really isn't a welding process. It's more closely related to brazing, but it's not brazing because there's no brass involved.

What you want to do is, as others have said, called "oxy aceylene welding." It's an old welding process predating the electric arc welder.

Nothing special about the rods. You can use TiG rods from the welding shop. You can even break the flux off of a regular welding rod and use that. It's kind of a lost art. The technique is similar to TiG welding but you're using a torch flame to heat the metal and create the puddle instead of an electric arc.

 

[MarkB_MI]

> Coat hangers are cheap and readily available also.

Coat hangers are cheap, readily available and crappy. Funny how you never see anyone TIG welding with coat hangers.

 

[MarkB_MI]

> It's more closely related to brazing, but it's not brazing because there's no brass involved.

Brazing is a process; it doesn't require brass or bronze as a filler. The AWS says brazing occurs when the filler melts above 840F/450C but is not hot enough to melt the material being joined. If the temperature is below 840F, then it's soldering. I think those magic aluminum "welding" rods melt at around 730F, so I guess their process is technically soldering rather than brazing.
Brazing

 

[Leroy]

The coper-brass collord rods are for brazing, not welding. The welding ones have a white powdery type flux that at times will work OK. The profesional torch welders use a flux that comes in a can and is a thin paste. Just dip rod every little while. No mater if it is a coat hanger or other type. Friends got a hold of some thick steel cable and I am talking over an inch thick with the wires an eighth of an inch thick. cut cable into about 3' lengths and unwind. Then dip end in that flux can, covers about 3" of the wire. Amish so no electric welders. one is a machinery repair shop and sells both new and ysed horse drawn machinery, other is his cousin and is a horse machinery jocky and runs a construction crew so he gets to a lot of places, that is how he found that heavy cable. And keeping machinery last made 70 or more years ago for the community requires a lot of welding. I think they use a regular brazing rod for that.

 

[smileykeith]

baling wire is what I was taught to weld with back in the 70's when i was in school cheep and works well and a small roll lasts a long time

 

[teddy52food]

The white flux is powdered glass on the brazing rods. Coat hangers don't use flux.

 

[jacksun65]

When I first went to welding school that was the first thing they taught. Gas welding with a torch. Most of what was done was thin stuff 1/8 or under and we never used a rod. Was taught that only use a rod to replace lost metal.