Electrode production: modern technologies. How to make do-it-yourself welding electrodes How to make welding electrodes

The main consumables for manual arc welding are welding electrodes. Their presence is indispensable for every master, otherwise there will simply be nothing to cook with.

This product probably cannot be called scarce - today the choice of these materials is huge, there are products for connecting different metals. The cost of some types varies within reasonable limits due to the high competition in the market.

You can make a welding electrode with your own hands for the purposes of the experiment, well, or in extreme conditions. You need to understand that for the manufacture you will need various raw materials, which may not be on the farm.

Expendable materials

To make homemade electrodes, we need:

• binder in the form of liquid glass;
• limestone or chalk;
• low-carbon wire of suitable diameter;
• roller or brush.

"Liquid glass", with its frightening name, is a fairly common product and is sold in almost every hardware store.

Manufacturing process - step by step instructions

So, we have decided on the materials and we can start making electrodes with our own hands

1. First of all, we need to grind the chalk to a powder state. This can be done with a heavy metal object, but it is better to use a blender. So the particles will have a uniform structure and have a fine fraction.

2. We take steel wire and cut it into rods. You can focus on the factory dimensions and make rods 250 mm long.

3. The next step is to coat the steel bars with liquid glass.

4. The crushed chalk is carefully distributed on a flat surface. With a steel rod smeared in liquid glass, we roll it over this surface, evenly distributing chalk particles over the body of the steel billet.

5. We wait until the electrode dries up, check that the liquid glass has crystallized and set it to calcinate in the oven at 100 ° C for half an hour.

The welding characteristics of such an electrode will be low, it will give a lot of sparks, it will be difficult to burn and stick. But when choosing correct modes welding and the necessary preparation of the surface to be welded, good results can be achieved. Share your techniques for making electrodes or other welding consumables.

The carbon content of cast iron makes it difficult to weld. With the wrong approach, deep pores and cracks may appear at the junction, and indeed, the workpiece to be welded can be easily damaged.

For this reason, special requirements are placed on the welding of cast iron, one of which is the use of a suitable type of electrode. Cast iron electrodes differ in the materials of manufacture. They can be made from both cast iron bars, steel wire, and copper with its alloys.

In this article of the site about MMA welding mmasvarka.ru it will be told about what types of electrodes for cast iron exist, and whether they can be made by hand, so to speak, at home.

Types of electrodes for welding cast iron

For welding cast iron products, special types of electrodes are used. If steel wire was taken as the basis for their manufacture, then the electrodes for cast iron are marked as follows - SV-08 A and SV-08. There are also so-called universal types of electrodes for cast iron.

TsCh-4 - with electrodes of this brand, you can get an even and strong welding joint on cast iron and products made from it. TsCh-4 electrodes are applicable for welding at almost any temperature.

EMChS - for their manufacture, a low-carbon wire is used, on which a three-layer coating is applied during the manufacture of EMChS electrodes. Due to this, during the burning of the electrode, a gas protective layer is formed, which protects the welding seam from the formation of air bubbles and oxidation.

Ficast NiFe K electrodes - a special kind of electrode for welding cast iron and steel together. They are iron-nickel rods for high-quality welding of cast iron with steel.

MNCH-1 - electrodes of this series are made of an expensive alloy, which includes: copper, nickel and monel metal. Thanks to the use of these electrodes for cast iron, the seam is easy to further process, it does not form pores and cracks.

How to make do-it-yourself electrodes for cast iron

The cost of electrodes for welding cast iron is quite high, and today it is quite difficult to find high-quality consumables for working with cast iron and products made from it. Therefore, many experienced welders resort to one trick, they make cast iron electrodes on their own.

For their manufacture, copper wire up to 2 mm is required, and the most common electrodes for welding, for example, the same UONI, ANO-4 orUONI 13/45 . The process of converting conventional electrodes for welding cast iron is very simple. To make do-it-yourself electrodes for cast iron, you will need to wind copper wire onto ordinary electrodes. Thus, with conventional electrodes, it will be possible to cook cast iron.

An equally popular method of manufacturing electrodes for cast iron and using the following components:

• Liquid glass;
• Copper rods, up to 5 mm in diameter;
• Metal powder and crushed electrode coating.

The manufacturing process of home-made electrodes for welding cast iron using these components is as follows:

• Copper rods are cut to the required length, after which they are carefully cleaned with a fine sandpaper and degreased;
• A previously prepared and carefully crushed electrode coating is taken, which is mixed with fine metal filings (proportions: one to one). After that, approximately 30% of liquid glass is added to the resulting mixture;

• Next, chopped copper rods are taken and lowered several times into a home-made coating for electrodes until their coating becomes approximately 2 mm thick;
• Then the electrodes are dried;
• And be sure before welding cast iron, home-made electrodes are calcined in an electric oven. The temperature of calcining electrodes for cast iron is approximately 200 degrees plus.

As you can see, making electrodes for welding cast iron is not difficult at all. Thus, it will be possible not only to save on consumables for welding, but also to achieve best quality performance of work.

Copper- one of the oldest known metals, which was used several thousand years ago. Many consider it universal and still, therefore, the widespread use of copper in our time does not surprise anyone. Looking at the widespread use of copper, you may be thinking about welding some copper product.

Copper has a number of excellent qualities that are not characteristic of other metals. These include high electrical and thermal conductivity, corrosion resistance and ductility. Also, its technical qualities include aesthetics, because of which the metal is very much in demand in decorative finishes.

So, copper welding is a very popular business, because copper has a wide application. However, copper welding electrodes cost a lot of money, and many people find a way out in making homemade electrodes for their own use. In order to weld copper, you need to clean the copper surface of the metal from oxidation, because copper is a highly oxidizable metal. Also, when welding copper, you need to use all kinds of additives, such as silicon or phosphorus.

Since copper has poor casting properties, it is recommended to use filler materials. Materials are mainly used, which contain a large amount of phosphorus, zinc, sometimes silver, etc. For welding copper, carbon electrodes are almost always used, which are famous for their low price and quality.

In order to make do-it-yourself electrodes for copper welding You need, first of all, to stock up on all the materials that are needed in order to make the right coating. These materials are: ferromanganese 50%, fluorspar 10%, liquid glass 20% and 8% ferrosilicon. All these components must be thoroughly mixed and applied to the electrode rod in an equal layer. The rod itself should be made of a copper rod 30 - 40 centimeters long.

You can apply a layer of coating by simply dipping it into the solution or making a special device that will press the rod. However, many people do not make such sacrifices and buy ordinary carbon electrodes or apply the coating by dipping the rod into the liquid mass of the coating. After coating the electrode, it must be allowed to dry, and then it must be placed in a special oven for calcining electrodes at a temperature of 500 - 600 degrees for 50 minutes or one hour.

After annealing, the electrodes must cool down from optimum temperature and completely ready to use. However, it seems to many people that it is difficult and time-consuming to make electrodes on their own. so they are ready to buy them from us. If you consider yourself one of these people, then you can make a purchase from our

The principle of current transfer in such electrodes is simple. One of the ends is uncoated for 3 cm so that it can be gripped by a holder for contact with the current circuit. The other end is slightly stripped of the coating to make contact with the object when the arc is ignited.

During melting, complex processes take place in the arc. As a result of the redox reaction in a gaseous medium, alloying, deoxidation and oxidation occur at the interface between slag, metal and arc, which create a seam.

Classification of electrodes for welding

The classification of welding electrodes is carried out according to the following criteria:

• rod coating thickness;
• rod material;
• the type of slag that forms during melting;
• type of coverage;
• purpose for welding special steels;
• metal seam properties;
• polarity and type of current used for operation;
• permissible spatial positions of surfacing or welding.

Electrodes for manual arc welding must ensure stable combustion and simple ignition of the welding arc. In addition, it is desirable that the electrode coating is melted correctly, and the slag coating of the seam occurs evenly and is easily cleaned off after work is completed. When working in the weld metal, pores and cracks should be avoided.

Before choosing electrodes for DC welding, you need to familiarize yourself with their classes:

• UONI 13/45 - has a basic coating, and is used for low alloy and carbon steels. It can be used to process thick metals, pressure vessels and eliminate casting defects.
• UONI 13/55 - has the same purpose as UONI 13/45, and you can weld not only pressure vessels, but also building metal structures.
• OZS-12 - used to work with structures made of low-carbon steel. Work can take place in any position except vertical.
• OZS-4 - makes it possible to work on an oxidized surface, suitable for low-alloy and carbon steels.
• MP-3C - suitable for the same steels as the previous type, in addition, it creates a neat seam, which makes the whole process easier.

Typology of coatings for welding electrodes

To do right choice electrodes for welding, you need to take into account all the subtleties of the coating, the type of metal and the type of seam. According to the type of coating, some types of welding electrodes can be distinguished, for which we will indicate a few words about the composition and application.

materials acid-coated contain oxides of iron, silicon, manganese and, in some cases, titanium. The weld metal has an increased tendency to form hot cracks. You can use these electrodes for welding with alternating current and direct current.

Options with basic coating consist of magnesium and calcium carbonates, fluorspar CaF 2 . They become indispensable for welding hardenable steels, which are prone to cold cracking as a result of the action of hydrogen passing into the heat-affected zone of the metal.

These low oxidative coatings help move the alloying elements out of the electrode and into the weld. In addition, they are used for welding high-alloy steels. The metal deposited in this way is resistant to hot cracking. It is possible to connect rigid structures and use for thick seams when surfacing in several layers.

But they also have disadvantages: a low constancy of arc burning, a tendency to the appearance of pores with an increase in the arc in the seams during welding, if there is rust or scale on the metal surface.

Materials from cellulose coating based on cellulose. The metal deposited by them includes an increased amount of hydrogen. They allow welding from top to bottom, while with other electrodes a poor-quality track is obtained with this algorithm.

electrodes rutile coated include rutile in the base, which consists of titanium dioxide TiO 2, as well as carbonates and aluminosilicates. Before work, they need to be dried at a 200-degree temperature for 1 hour, and only after a day can they be worked with. They can cook steel, on the surface of which there is rust and scale, pores will not form. They are more resistant to hot cracking than acid-coated electrodes.

Their advantages can be considered: easy ignition, high fatigue resistance of welding joints, low tendency to pores during ignition and fast arc lengthening. Such electrodes can be used to weld low-alloy and low-carbon steels; structures that operate at elevated temperatures cannot be welded.

Anyone who has ever dealt with welding has probably paid attention to the clamp of the electrode - one awkward movement, and the rod changes its angle, or it may even fall out. Of course, professional welders do not have such situations, but an amateur would like something more reliable - rigid fixation of the electrode will allow high-quality and accurate welding work.

What materials will be needed

• Bolt (35 mm) and stud (70 mm) threaded 12;
• Extended nut (25-30 mm);
• Two regular nuts;
• Coupling nut (wing nut);
• Plastic holder (side handle) "Bulgarian".

Preparatory work

Assembling an exclusive reliable electrode holder

What should not be forgotten

Trial

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