never heard of it before

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A couple days ago perusing electrodes to get, I came across a rod I never knew existed. Beyond all the specialty rods that I will never hear of, I thought this was particularly interesting because there was a familiar ring to it. There was the 6010, the 6011, the 6013 and then all the 70XX rods and low and behold at the bottom of the page was the 6012. It looked like a good all around rod from the description. I wondered why it wasn't used more. I tried to get some based on my feeble knowledge of welding and found it was not sold in less than 50lb packs. Since I did not need anymore ballast for the tractor, I backed off the purchase but wondered why this rod does not hold the same stature as all the rest of the 60 rods while looking as an all around rod as it appears. Now I realize I'm looking at this as a baby does the first time it sees a pretzel, but it does have me wondering why this rod is not so popular.

 

[Shield Arc]

Most likely it's not very popular because it is an AC / DCEN rod. But Lincoln says it is excellent for vertical down hill welding.
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Most likely it's not very popular because it is an AC / DCEN rod. But Lincoln says it is excellent for vertical down hill welding.
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That explains it then. They make the claim that it is a good root rod. Perhaps for its fill in ability? I thought root welds had to be the strongest over any other top welds and I'm guessing they might be referring to AC usage. Certainly a rod that has most of the heat into the rod doesn't qualify for "strongest" weld with DC-.

 

[Arc weld]

Could be that it's even worse than 6013. It's a similar type of rod.

 

[R W]

Could be that it's even worse than 6013. It's a similar type of rod.

What is your problem with 6013.

 

[Arc weld]

Besides everything...nothing. :laughing:

 

[Gary Fowler]

That explains it then. They make the claim that it is a good root rod. Perhaps for its fill in ability? I thought root welds had to be the strongest over any other top welds and I'm guessing they might be referring to AC usage. .

Root rods have to have good penetration/ fast freeze electrodes. Rarely are they the strongest of the filler rods used, ie 6010 are root rods and can be used as filler also but commonly 7018 are the filler rods of choice especially on thicker weldments due to higher deposition rates than 6010. All rods used must be stronger than the parent metal in composition because a lot of dilution between parent material and electrode material occurs when welding. This tends to degrade the as welded condition of the filler metal but it still must be higher than the material welded. You wouldn't want the weld breaking before the metal bent or broke.

I have never heard of a 6012 rod used on any procedures in welding so it must have some bad elements to it either in position, strength or ease of use.

 

[Mark @ Everlast]

I think the 6012 went out of production a while back. It's still on the books, but not being produced. I've tried to find some and the last I saw were some old ones made in the 70's.

 

[Reverser]

What is your problem with 6013.

For most typical homeowner applications, probably nothing. It's a low penetration rod that is fine for thinner sheet metal, but not recommended for thicknesses over 1/8th inch. At least that's what we were told years ago in class.

It's popular among the non-pro's because it's easy to run and makes a nice looking bead. Also, it's probably the easiest to run on the little low amp AC buzz boxes.

On the downside though, it's susceptible to slag inclusions and has the least desirable mechanical properties of all the popular rods.
There are much better choices for an easy to run rod, e.g. 7018, 7018ac, 7014.

 

[Arc weld]

7014 is easier to use, stronger and doesn't get slag pockets as easily. In roll welding pipe 7018 has faster deposition rates but for pipelines XX10 rods are used for the root, fill and cap because it's done downhand with large rods at high amps. This is where SA200's/Lincoln earned their reputation as the best welding machines for cross country pipelines.