welding rods

[caroleb]

I have chanced upon some welding rods, of sorts. Two packs. One pack is of low temp welding alloys for aluminium. They are going to be useful, of course. But the other tube is of some hardfacing electrodes. Now these look interesting. I am told they are for treating metal to make it very hard, like JCB digger tips. So, my (probly daft) question is this ; what do we think of there potential to treat steel for use as a chisel/plane blade/ etc etc. Are they of any use I may be missing?

I can weld - I have been using oxy-acetylene for some years, but have never used anything like this. I guess they are for Arc use?

Anyone here had any experience of these?

Thanks

Caz

 

[MMUK]

If they are electrodes they are for Arc use. If they turn out to be filler rods then you'll need a TIG welder.

IMHO, the use you have suggested is way over the top for our use. It's a treatment used in heavy industry for digger teeth (as you say), boring mole teeth, etc.

 

[-Matt-]

Very useful for patching up anvil surfaces as well.

 

[caroleb]

Thanks guys - I do have an Atlas Copco petrol driven breaker (a cobra). I have some tips for it but some are in a bit of a state of disrepair; could they be used to service these? They are indeed electrodes; rutile (?) coated depositing a tough chromium alloy weld metal. Mmmhhh, surely I could use them to toughen something.......cutlery,my glasses,the car.....the list is endless.
I do have an anvil out the back. It is all good at the moment, but rather than sell the lot I will keep two or three for this purpose - thanks Matt.
MMUK - I used MIG, TIG, Arc, OxyAcet, Plasma cutting and other amazing techniques when learning to weld, and managed all with little problem but for TIG. Boy oh boy did I have trouble with that. (and still do). My tutor was amazed I could manage the others so easily but fell flat at TIG. So, with that in mind......


Thanks folks.

Caz

 

[cedarwood]

Hard facing electrodes are just that they deposit a hard wearing layer of metal onto other metals they do not treat the part being welded and they will distort thin metal pieces when the weld cools and contracts.

 

[siggy_7]

I've used hard facing rods on agricultural equipment. If you're planning on using your plane irons to rip up mile after mile of abrasive soils then hard facing is the way to go. For intended use I would strongly suggest giving it a miss. Aside from issues with distortion, inclusions at the cutting face etc, you'll be there for a month of Sundays sharpening something that's been hard faced. I guess one reason tools aren't made of harder steel in the first place is so that they are acceptably soft to sharpen again in a home workshop environment.

 

[dickm]

Can't remember the details, but if you want to use hard facing electrodes, don't you have to put an intervening deposit of another alloy between the hard stuff and the normal steel?