Experienced welders always tell beginners one phrase - learn to distinguish between slag and metal during welding and learn to cook much faster. There are plenty of tips on how to do this, but after working for many years in this profession, I understood how to show this with a simple example. Any beginner will understand by burning 1-2 electrodes. Go.
We take the electrode and spoil it a little! We upholster the coating from the rod from the beginning of about 50 mm, then we leave the area with the coating, also about 50 mm. And so we alternate these sections to the end of the electrode. Why did we make such a strange electrode? See further.
In the photo, the role of the electrode is played by a piece of round timber, and the welding seam is a track made of cutting discs of the grinder!
You will need a piece of thick metal, at least 4 mm, so as not to be distracted by burn-throughs. Place the electrode at 45 degrees, look as if from the side and from above. We light the rod without coating, we do it by striking it against the piece of iron. It may stick, then tear it off and repeat. It caught fire, there will be a strong crackling and smoke, we hold a long arc of 10 millimeters so that it does not stick again.
At this moment we move our eyes a little further than the end of the electrode, also by about 10 millimeters. In this place, it will be seen how the seam is formed, growing with new scales.
The section with the bare rod burns out and the section with the coating comes into play. In the photo I have marked with chalk. And at this moment, the whole picture that we saw during the combustion of the first section of the electrode changes very much.
Everything is relative. As soon as the area with the coating begins to melt, a portion of slag abruptly enters the weld pool. This portion envelops the weld pool and is seen as a wave on the surface of the molten metal.
The contours of this wave are very well distinguishable near the end of the electrode. Its border-the border of slag and metal is in constant chaotic movement, everything is clearly visible.
Two photos above, the first electrode burns without coating, you can see how the seam flakes are formed and quickly grow. The second photo - the area with the coating caught fire, the slag wave flooded the flakes and we can observe the moving boundary of the slag with the metal. Several such repetitions with and without coating, and the beginner begins to understand what the experienced welder told him, he himself saw this difference.
Friends, the video with this process will be released on the channel tomorrow, October 10th. Come on in to see all the details.