Sorry I'm late to the party. In the future, you may need to know the Rockwell hardness of the steel. I am retiring after 50 plus years as a welder (AWS D1.1-88 certified). Before going into business. I worked at a phosphate terminal in the port of Tampa. We ran into a situation where we had welds cracking in steel that was 8" thick. Had to send a piece to a lab and found it had come from a rock crusher with a rockwell of 60 in the first 3/8" of surface. Solution: Preheat to 400 degrees, checking with a Tempil stick, welding with E8018, multiple passes, and bringing the temp down for several hours. Took several shifts to accomplish. This was for the hubs of sprockets (two) that moved up to 3,000 tons of phosphate an hour onto ships. Railroad rails, if for structural loads, will be similar.
Stick welding rail road metal
- Thread starter BMan2005
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BTW, as far as mig.... many engineers are still specifying E70... series rods for structural, with you being able to use 7014, etc for secondary loading. More recently, some are spec'ing mig, but requiring certifying with it. For home or farm use, unless you are only working with sheet metal, you won't be happy with anything under 140- 170 amps. Your heat will be all the way up and wire speed at the minimum. Also look at the duty cycle rating. A 20% duty cycle means you can weld 2 minutes for every 10 at the rated output. Past that and the thermals will kick in and you will have to wait till the reset. Fan should still run. Helps to keep it out of the sun. Love the flux core for welding on galvanized.
jaxs
Elite Member
Looks like you've been lurking 3 years weweld1 but now you've jumped some rabbits so that's about to end. Are you saying GMAW has recently gained favor over FCAW for construction and ship building or only for in shop production on heavy materials?
The bigger rabbit involves "For home or farm use, unless you are only working with sheet metal, you won't be happy with anything under 140- 170 amps." The subject of 120 volt and discount house 220 volt wire welders is hashed and rehashed here at least once per week,,,,every week. What say you on (A) GMAW vs FCAW and (B) A single welder to cover 20 guage through 1/4tr" steel in a home shop? Thank you and don't be a stranger for so long next time.
