Lincoln Electric. 5P+ and Excalibur 7018 are pretty much industry standard for critical work.

My only option for purchase, without driving a couple hours, is the local Air Liquide. I don't remember what I paid last time I bought rod, but I could be anywhere from $60 on a Home Depot special to $200 for the no name customer off the street at Air Liquide.

I use those two exclusively, as far as stick rod goes. No use for 6011 as 6010 does a better job, likewise with 7014. Excalibur is way better. If I need to weld something thin, I reach for the wire, not 6013.

 

Lincoln Electric. 5P+ and Excalibur 7018 are pretty much industry standard for critical work.
I use those two exclusively, as far as stick rod goes. No use for 6011 as 6010 does a better job, likewise with 7014. Excalibur is way better. If I need to weld something thin, I reach for the wire, not 6013.

Yep, I agree. I pretty much use a bunch of 7018 and some 6010.

For 6010 Lincoln 5P or 5P+

For lo-hy, I like and use a lot of ESAB AtomArc. But I also like and use Lincoln Excalibur. My favorite was McKay, but it's really hard to find now.

 

Hey Hillbilly when you say you weld thinner with wire are you referring to Mig, Tig or O/A Rod?

 

Yes.

Thin stuff almost always gets welded out with MIG, unless I'm after a nice aesthetically pleasing weld, in which case I'll TIG it.

I rarely use O/A for welding. It simply puts WAY too much heat in to the piece, and it isn't a great quality weld compared to other processes, and it's also way slower. I have used it on multiple occasions, mostly out in remote villages where electricity either wasn't available or was logistically difficult for me to access. But those instances are uncommon; I almost always have a power source available to me.

 

Hmm thanks for the reply Very educational.

 

Sure thing.

 

With my small inverter welders, and even my Lincoln V350-Pro. I find ESAB’s 7018 Acclaim, and ESAB’s Sureweld 10P Plus 6010 run the best.
Strange my Lincoln engine drives, could care less what brand of rod I run with them.

 

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i like Hobart 6013 from Tractor Supply and have found it works very very good on a HF welder that cost me $200 and came with Tig torch
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i find Lincoln 180 rod which is 6011 made for low open circuit voltage welders is better at pulling longer arc lengths on inverters and i get at Home Depot
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i show chart i use for welding rod size and amps for different part thicknesses. of course i mention arc force as high arc force setting on a short arc length rod like 7018 just increases actual amperage. thus i hear at 100 amps it welds like 150 amps. it helps to understand how to set welder. also many a old timer would reset amperage knob setscrew 100 amps off and watch young welder struggle with machine as they often do not know how to recognize proper amperage by puddle size and how it acts.
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7018 rod i got McKay rod like over 30 years ago. obviously i do not use much 7018 at home although at work thats what i mostly used.

 

the debate about the best welding rods can go on indefinitely. the absolute worst welding rods are welder's choice. stay far away.

 

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only bad rod i ever got was airco 7018 long ago (30 years) when you strike arc the flux would fall off rod for 3 or 4 inches. we complained and they adjusted what ever machine they use to mix flux. i assume they had something off a bit thus flux was too brittle.
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i have also seen flux so strong it was difficult to strike a arc without filing the flux off end of rod as it was too strong and would not break off tapping rod end against part

 

I had to go to TSC to get some 6011, but they were out, so I went to ace and picked up some Forney 6011. I fell in love with forney 6011 just felt so much smoother than the hobart!

 

using welder's choice 6010 is like welding with a wet mop. a glob of flux obscures the puddle and makes it hard to manipulate the rod.

 

Lincoln 6010 5P+ is my new favorite rod. I use these with my Lincoln Invertec 275 and SA200. They don't work well on small portable engine driven welders. I use Lincoln 6011 but the slag is a bitch to remove more smoke and ugly welds. Excalibur 7018 and I use Hobart MIG wire and stick electrodes when I can't get Lincoln rods. I like Crown MIG wire too but I can't always find it it's inexpensive and makes nice beads.

 

Lincoln 6010 5P+ is my new favorite rod. I use these with my Lincoln Invertec 275 and SA200. They don't work well on small portable engine driven welders.

What are you defining as a "small, portable engine driven welder"? Why do they not run well for you? Nationwide, 5P+ is probably THE most commonly used welding electrode with an engine drive welder. With a good machine, it runs BEAUTIFULLY.

 

I hate to say it but i use way more 6011 because that's the rod I have to practice with for my tests in ag mech and ag metals (the only 2 classes i'll miss when I graduate :laugh but I use 7018 on just about everything I can but I like to keep the other stuff because it has it place in the old toolbox.

 

 

Is the 6P better for inverter welders?

 

By the way.... TomB, thanks a HEAP for that chart. Excellent!

 

I don't know. Some inverters suck with 6010 and some weld like a dream. Usually the cheaper inverters don't have arc force and hot start. Those features are important for 6010.The regular 6010 Lincoln red rods suck. They don't start they stick more and produce a foul smoke. This dust mask looked like this after 2 hours of burning Lincoln 6010 red rods.

 

For 7018, I have had some decent luck with the Hobart 18AC rods when using my AC only welder. But when I have DC available, Lincoln Excaliburs are by far the way to go. Not a fan of the Hobart 418, it struggled on restarts and tended to toenail bad, even straight out of the oven. If I can find them, I wouldn't mind giving the Hobart 7018XLM a try.

I also keep 7014 around, since it doesn't need an oven. Last box I had was Forney, and it worked well. Have some Hobart 7014 now, but I haven't cracked it open yet to know how it compares.

 

A small welder is one that can be lifted by one or two people. The same size as most portable generators. Usually less than 300 lbs. The Multiquip 135 only weighs 114 and it has a duty cycle of 40% @ 135 amps. I have the older version of the Multiquip 180. I can lift it in to my truck bed but it's rough on the back. It weighs about 250 lbs. I could get by with 135 amps because I don't usually run larger than 5/32" rods. The only drawback is the price. A new Multiquip 135 cost $2700 and the 180 cost $4000. I bought mine used for $400. It looks like crap but it welds like a champ.

http://www.multiquip.com/multiquip/welders.htm

 

It seems like I only run 7018 on my engine driven miller 2e. I ran lots and lots of 6011 on a miller bobcat ac/dc machine for a guy I worked for this summer building fence. I hate working for people that think they know about welding and try to manage the jobsite but cant even really strike an arc would have rather ran 6010, thanks for your suggestions guys. I have decided to buy 50 pounds of lincoln 6010 and 50 pounds of excalibur 7018. Is airgas the cheapest way to go or is there a cheap website?

 

You think a guy doesn't know anything because he gave you 6011 instead of 6010 to build fence with? :dizzy:

Who cares?? It's fence!!! Personally I'd be burning it in with flux core and skipping stick altogether on that job.

6011 has been the farmer's rod of choice for decades; there's nothing wrong with it for that application and it was probably a little easier to use than 6010 would've been.

Like a few others who've posted here, I also carry Excalibur 7018 and 5P+ on my truck. The 6010 not because I dislike 6011, but because it's what certain customers expect to see on there. I keep both in 3/32, 1/8, and 5/32 sizes. Also a can of Stulz Special Alloy for weird stuff I run across.

Agree again with whoever above said they ran wire for the thin-gauge stuff. I don't think I've ever bought a box of 6013, and haven't regretted it either. If you have the option, MIG is the go-to these days for that type of thing.

EDIT to add that I don't mean to be hard on you about the 6010 / 6011 thing. There are people here who parrot what they hear from someone else with no personal experience, and somewhere along the way the difference between the two rods got built up a lot more than it really is. You've got your wannabe pipe welders who look down their nose at 6011 like, "Are you going to weld with THAT?" Having never welded with it themselves and having no clue what they're talking about, but it must be true because they read it on the internet. It's a keyboard commando thing.

 

Not because of the 6011, But because of the fact he didn't want to take the time to level the post or cut them off level. Didn't know anything at all about welding in general I have built many of things including fence with 6011. But I would have rather ran 6010 you read in to it wrong. Any ways are forney stick electrodes good at all? I have a few more questions, but don't have the time right now have to go see my friend in the hospital.

 

With regard to where to buy, you'll have to compare what your particular Airgas prices stuff at to what you find online. Different accounts are charged different markups. There are very few consumables I can buy online cheaper because of the volume discount I get from my LWS. The next guy behind me in line, though, is paying a completely different price for the same thing.

 

I just bought a 50lb box of 7018 and 6010 on the HomeDepot website using the Laredo as my store, and is was insanely cheap 132 for both with free shipping. Should be here next week. You do have to really hunt around on their site to find the rod though. It took me several tries before I found it.

tbone is definitely right about the LWS giving people different pricing. If I really start to use a lot of rod I will definitely be talking things over with them. Right now I was mainly curious as to if I could order the rod, and what shape it is in when it arrives.

 

I just bought a 50lb box of 7018 and 6010 on the HomeDepot website using the Laredo as my store, Right now I was mainly curious as to if I could order the rod, and what shape it is in when it arrives.

I got roughly 40% of the rods I ordered from there to be good. 60% of the rods were damaged on the tips. All shipping damage. They use UPS to ship the rods so you can expect them to be pretty beat up when you get them

 

From left to right:

Lincoln 7018 5/32"
Lincoln 6010 5P+ 5/32" Look at the flux on this rod. It's grey like a 7018 and the slag removes like 7018
Lincoln 6010 Red rods These SUCK!! they're the devils spawn Smokey poor weld appearance and wont run on my Multiquip
Lincoln 6011 1/8" from Home Depot. They actually run good on all of my welders but slag is tough to remove
Lincoln 6011 3/32" from Home Depot. They are good for thin metal 1/16" to 1/8" the flux color is different from the 1/8"?

Does anyone know why the Lincoln 3/32" 6011 has a different color flux than the Lincoln 1/8" 6011 both from Home Depot?

Lincoln makes more than 10 different types of 7018. They all have different properties. They also make a lot of different types of 6010 with different properties. The reason I like 5p+ so much is because it burns through rust, mill scale, oil, paint, and galvanized and still leaves a nice bead appearance. The flux lifts all the impurities to the top with an easy to remove slag. I mostly use stick welding to repair heavy equipment and MIG all of my other projects. I've only been using it for 4 years when a friend told me about it. I hated stick welding because the 6011 was so difficult and time consuming to remove. If you don't have a wire wheel for your grinder good luck cleaning the slag for a second pass. Try them all and see what you and your machine like.

 

Lincoln Electric. Made in USA at their OH electrode facility.

 

I found a 10 pound can of 1/16 6013 that's so old I can't make out who made them, can was sealed till about a year ago when I found them. I'll look at it better tomorrow and see if I can identify who made them.
I love them for exhaust repairs on our outside lift..move fast and they're small enough to not blow holes in old muffler pipes