Arc Welding Project
SWAG off Road Jeep Bumper

Arc Welding Project - Bumper Kit from Swag off road (swagoffroad.com)

For This weekly video , I am making an effort to make a few videos using very basic welding equipment.

Why? 

Because there are a lot of folks out there who would like to tackle some welding projects but wonder if their basic welding equipment is up to the task.
In this video, i am using the good old Lincoln Tombstone welder.  Its strictly AC so I will be using 7014 rods designed to welding on alternating current.

That is a consideration when buying an ARC welder. Or if you already have an arc welder....  What rods can you use?

Here are a few welding rods that work on AC.  

6011, 6013, 7014, and 7024.  Also, there is a version of 7018 called 7018AC  designed to run well on AC buzz boxes.

( FYI... there are some square wave tig machines that will run a plain 7018 on AC really well)

• 6011 can be run downhill and penetrates deeply.
  
• 6013 start easily, dont penetrated very deep and work pretty well on thin metal in a pinch.  downhill welding is tough except for thin sheet and even then the slag can run ahead of the arc.
• 7014 rods run almost exactly same as 6013 maybe a bit better but deposit more metal.
• 7024 rods are good for laying down a hot heavy bead but are not good for anything other than flat or horizontal welding.
•  7018 AC rods are good all position rods that run well but dont do well for downhill welding and restarts are not as easy as with 6011 or 6013

 Recently I filmed a 7014 rod welding with nobody holding the stinger.

So I figured that would be a good choice of rod for this arc welding project.

This isnt so much an arc welding project as it is a "kit". 

There is no cutting required and it assembles very easily because that is how it was designed.

The sheet metal piece holds the tube braces in place and you could almost hold it all together with one hand and tack weld with the other if you wanted to...But some pony spring clamps make it really easy.

I used 1/8" (3mm) 6011 rods to tack weld and 1/8" (3mm) 7014 for welding it out.

6011 rods start easy and dont deposit a very heavy tack weld so they make tack welds that can be welded over without leaving a hump.

Also, 6011 require a bit less amps than 7014 so tack welds are crisp and hot without needing to adjust amperage on the welder.

I settled on an amperage setting of 150  by welding a couple of outside corner joints and making sure slag came off easily with no wormholes.

That might seem hot for a 1/8" (3mm) rod but that is what it took on this welder to provide enough arc force to keep the flux pushed back.
I did use some 6011 for some downhill welds that had slight gaps just cause I knew it would work.

see more arc welding videos