An article for those who have just bought a welding machine for their household welding. This person does not have any welding experience yet. Together with the apparatus, you need to buy some pack of electrodes. The store is full of this good, and which ones to choose for the first welds? I'll just tell you which electrodes should not be bought right away, for a person with no experience.
At home, in the country, at a construction site, we need welding to weld a fence, a door, a barbecue, and other necessary structures for the convenience of our life. Most of these structures will be made of thin-walled material. Nowadays, the most commonly used profile pipe.
When welding shaped pipes and other thin metal, even an experienced welder often has to cook with a separation, otherwise there will be frequent burn-throughs. Not all electrodes can easily be re-ignited when welding is interrupted. It is advisable that these electrodes be cooked and not on perfectly clean and new metal. Rutile or rutile cellulose coated electrodes are suitable for these requirements.
Names of brands of such electrodes:
ANO-21
MR-ZS
MONOLITH
OK-46- excellent electrodes for beginners and pros, this brand is often praised in the comments on our channel.
But electrodes with a basic coating immediately, without experience, should not be taken for home welding. These are special electrodes for critical structures, pipe welding for work under pressure. They are heavy in frequent re-ignition, ignited and boiled without interruption - for this purpose they are made. It is easier to cook thick metal with them. The welding surface for these electrodes must be clean and well prepared, free from dirt, rust, etc.
Basic electrode grades:
LB-52U
MTG
UONI-13/55
These are excellent electrodes for their own purposes, but for a beginner, especially without experience, it will be almost impossible to weld them from a shaped pipe in his area.
This summer I only used such electrodes once, it was the LB-52U brand. We had to cook the platform and attachments for the manipulator on the truck. The metal is thick and the requirements for structural strength have been increased. That's all, I cooked all other work with rutile and rutile-cellulose electrodes.
Friends, that's the whole educational program! I hope this article will help you not to spend money on electrodes that are obviously not suitable for you.