Arc Welding with 6010  Padding beads

Arc welding is often called stick welding and vice versa.

The proper term for stick welding is Shielded Metal Arc Welding or SMAW for short... But I dont get hung up on terminology.

Call it what you want. Stick welding is a fundamental process that is still used an awful lot... especially 6010 pipe welding.

This weekly video is about padding beads using 6010 welding rods.

Padding beads like this is some of the best practice you can get when

you are learning....But one thing to remember..

Do it with intention.
What do I mean by that?

I mean dont just run beads all willy nilly and expect to learn how to weld with 6010.

Try to think about what you do and constantly be paying attention to things like:

• Arc length
• size and shape of puddle
• edges of bead
• electrode angle
• travel speed

rythym of whip and pause



It might help you to remember it this way.

CLAMS

which stands for :

• Current
• Length of Arc
• Angle of travel
• Manipulation of electrode
• Speed of travel

There is a popular acronym in welding called CLAMS to help remember the essential things in stick welding

Current

Length of Arc

Angle of Electrode

Manipulation of electrode

Speed of Travel

dang...thats a lot of stuff.  Thats why I say practice with intention.  Do things intentionally so that later on, it will be correctly ingrained into your brain housing to the point that you wont need to think much about it.

When I was in welding school, we started the first day running beads with a 6013 rod.  

looking back, I am not sure thats the best choice and here is why I say that.

After welding school, I never saw a 6013 rod on any construction job I worked.
6010?  yes 7018? yes.  But never any 6013.  

6013 is a good utility rod for general maintenance and Its great for farmers and folks that need to weld only occasionally because all it takes to run a 6013 is an inexpensive AC buzz box welder.

But if you are in welding school, its a good bet you would like to get a high paying job when you get out.

6010 open butt pipe welding is definitely one path to a high paying welding job. 

6013 offers no such path...at least not in the USA

So , that is why some welding schools are starting off padding beads using 6010 rods instead of 6013.   

In this video, I am using Lincoln 5p+ rods which are designed for open butt root pass welds. A plain jain 6010 or even a 6011 rod would work just as well for padding beads.

 I used 80-90 amps on DCEP using my Lincoln Powermig 350mp. ( mp stands for multi process so this machine does dc tig lift arc, stick, and mig)

I used 3 pieces of 2" x 8" x 1/4" thick steel and tacked them together to make for a piece big enough to hold some heat even though I dunked it in water every 2 or 3 beads to make the slag come off easier and to keep it from getting way too hot and not welding the same.

I also showed some open butt root pass welding and am working on a video for that so stay tuned for that one.   Its been a long time coming.

see more arc welding videos