Information for garage and suburban welding works. In serious industries, this is not done. But for our everyday tasks, this trick can sometimes help out.
There are situations when it is impossible or very inconvenient to get to the welding place with a new electrode. After all, everything is not always convenient and easy. Then they resort to different tricks.
The electrode can be simply shortened by cutting it in half or as needed with a grinder. You can take a cinder that has not yet completely burned out. It is a good habit not to throw out the stub, which can still serve, let it lie with others in a pencil case.
And there is one more method. The electrode can be bent into an arc and thus you can get close to even the most inaccessible places.
It is quite convenient to control the welding process with such a bent electrode. After all, the welding arc will be much closer to the grip handle, relative to the new straight electrode. Who did this, they will confirm.
But not all electrodes can be bent in this way. The coating may simply crumble and it will be simply unrealistic to weld in an inconvenient place.
Electrodes with rutile and rutile-cellulose coating are well deformed without shedding the coating. These are the brands
ANO-21
MP-3
OK-46
MONOLITH
But electrodes with basic coating cannot be bent into an arc without loss of coating. We'll just screw them up. I will list the brands so that beginners know about it.
SSSI 1355
LB-52U
MTG
When you weld something in your garage, at home, in the country, just try bending the rutile electrode and adjusting a comfortable position in the holder for comfortable welding control. Just experiment. When a difficult situation happens, you will already know how easy it is to solve it.
Be sure to read and write comments. There are many useful additions to the article from experienced and skilled people. But there are other guys, but they are fun to read. Comments are the second part of the article!