I went to a local place and tried to get some RG45 rods and the guy said they dont make those anymore and they have been replaced with RG60 rods. He said they are the same thing, so I got some of those anyway my problem is I cant get them to melt. They will turn bright orange, but thats all. I can hold the torch on it for 30 seconds or more and it still wont melt. Do these rods have some crazy high melting point or something...surely I am just doing something wrong? Ive been using a bigger tip and finally got a smaller tip, I thought it would be more precise and would result in less hammer and dolly work being needed. But is the welding tip the source of my problem? Do I need to adjust the settings on the torch for this tip? Anyone know what it is that Im doing wrong? I feel really stupid. Im using an 000 tip, the welding rods are 1/16, and Im trying to weld 18 gauge sheet metal.
I think the guy at your welding supply might be full of ****. I just bought some R45 (not RG45) rod about two months ago.
Yeah I used painted clothes hangars for years. Give it a try, and if you like the results, as Coldwar said, get some R-45 someplace. I just replaced my a/c torch that I sold years ago, so I'll keep those folks in mind. Thanx, Coldwar....
Do you have to use rod on this project? I had a gas weld cl*** about a year ago so I'm no expert but 18 ga. seems thin enough where you could just fuse it together with the heat of the torch. Get a small puddle going and just push it along the seam.
thanks for the replies...I guess I will just order some more welding rods on the internet... Lucky77 - never thought of that, but I will try it sometime...I think I've probably made the gap too big for this though. I made the gap as tight as possible, then I cut through it with a 1/16" cutoff wheel to get a consistent gap.
Hey, OOO seems alittle small for 18 gage. Do you have a 00 or 0 tip,? Are you using a good netural flame i.e. equal parts oxygen and acetylene? What are your gages set at? Try turning up the heat a tad. S****ey Devils C.C. "Meanwhile, back aboard The Tainted Pork"
an 0 tip was what I was using before I got the 000 tip. I have the acetylene set at 5 psi and the oxygen set at a little over 20. When I bought the torch (same place I was referring to that I got the rods from) that's what he told me to set it at so that's what I have always used for both cutting and welding.
You want your oxygen and acetylene set at the same rate for welding. You want a neutral flame, having more O2 is for cutting. Are you using a neutral flame?
Hey, Most of the standard welding regulators arn't very accurate when you set them on the 10-15 lbs. and below settings. The gage may say "10 lbs", but actually be between 7-5 lbs. You'll know this when you start to get an irradic flame at the torch tip. Try and turn down the oxy. and turn up the acc. by 5 lbs or so. try a test p*** without rod, a fusion weld. better, good? If so, the mixture of your g***es, the pressures may be the problem. S****ey Devils C.C.
I guess I really need to "play" with the settings on the gauges more until I get something that works better... I think I've just been afraid to change it from what the guy told me to set it at cause i figured I would screw something up.
I have found over the years that if the flame has the bacon frying/sizzling sound when you have a netural flame the pressures are about right. Real small tip will not make as much sound as a bigger one of course. The inner flame cone should be sharply defined , if the tip of the cone is very rounded looking open both valves abit untill you have the pointed flame. Different brands of welding handles and tips will use slightly different pressure settings for the same size. If the flame goes out easily try opening the handle valves or increasing the pressure. A hissing flame usually is to much pressure for the tip size.
I learned to weld and braise with gas rigs first. acylene should be about 7 p.s.i. oxy 7 p.s.i. to no more than 10 p.s.i. It gets too twitchy to adjust for neutral flame if the settings are too high. if you need more heat bigger tip. adjust to neutral then add a tad of acy until you have a small light blue feather.that yeilds a slightly carburized flame. avoids a brittle weld.sparks mean too much o2.
So when you dip the rod in the puddle, it doesn't melt in the puddle? Does it stick in the puddle since it isn't melting?
That sounds a hell of a lot like an oxidising flame. With a small tip there is virtually no sound at all. The best way to get your flame right is to experiment. You won't **** up your gear ( unless you screw the regulators in like you're turning off a tap ) so give it a go. All the newer wire coat hangers I've come across are made of the dodgiest Chinese **** metal known to man. If you're going to use coat hangers, use good OLD Western Hemisphere ones. I like to use black tie wire like concreters use for tying off reo. Really smooth and soft. Also, 1/16 gap is far too big for 18Ga. Try for zero, but it will end up a little bigger and uneven. Don't worry about it, just weld past it. The link below has a great explanation of gas welding - well worth reading. http://www.metalmeet.com/forum/showthread.php?t=10453
Coat hangers? The guy already has problems. If you can't melt the rod you do not have enough heat. A 0 tip has enough heat to melt a 1/16 in rod. Sounds like your flame is to cold, so you need more oxygen. Start the torch, turn the acc up untill it just starts to make sound, then back it off till the sound goes away. Then turn the ox up untill the feather goes away. This will get you a neutral flame. Different people have different methods when it comes to running a weld. If you have a tight fit you can run a bead with no fill, but it will often leave the weld undercut, thin and pron to cracking. I would rather give it some fill and grind it down to get a strong weld. Even if you don't plan on adding fill, follow along with the rod in case you need to give it a dab or start to burn through. If you have a small gap to fill I will lay the rod in the gap and run the weld like you would fusion welding. For me this helps avoid blowing holes. Otherwise I dab it in, keeping the rod close to the flame. Practice up. Jeff
yeah the guys full of ****. they still make it, when i was at the community college we got about 100lbs of the **** in. the numbers after just stand for the tensil strength rg45 would be 45000 tensil strength and so on and so fourth i know they make 60 and 80 but i dont know if it goes up any higher than that
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