How to weld aluminum with electrodes at home. Electrodes for welding - studying the main participant in the work Homemade electrode for welding anniversary

Main consumables In manual arc welding, welding electrodes are used. Every master must have them, otherwise there will simply be nothing to cook with.

This product probably cannot be called scarce - today the choice of these materials is huge, there are products for joining different metals. The cost of some types varies within reasonable limits due to high competition in the market.

Make welding electrode You can do it yourself for experimental purposes, or in extreme conditions. You need to understand that for production you will need various raw materials, which may not be available on the farm.

Consumables

To make homemade electrodes we will need:

binder in the form of liquid glass;
limestone or chalk;
low carbon wire of suitable diameter;
roller or brush.

“Liquid glass,” with its scary name, is a fairly common product and is sold in almost every hardware store.

Manufacturing process - step-by-step instructions

So, we have decided on the materials and can start making electrodes with our own hands.

1. First of all, we need to grind the chalk to a powder. This can be done using heavy metal object, but it's better to use a blender. So the particles will have a uniform structure and have a fine fraction.

2. We take steel wire and cut it into rods. You can use the factory dimensions as a guide and make rods 250 mm long.

3. The next step is to coat the steel rods with liquid glass.

4. Carefully distribute the crushed chalk on a flat surface. Roll out a steel rod coated in liquid glass over this surface, evenly distributing the chalk particles over the body of the steel workpiece.

5. We wait until the electrode dries and check that liquid glass crystallized and place it in the oven at 100 °C for half an hour.

The welding characteristics of such an electrode will be low, it will produce a lot of sparks, be difficult to burn and stick. But when selecting the correct welding modes and necessary preparation welded surface, you can achieve good results. Share your techniques for making electrodes or other welding materials.

Anyone who has ever dealt with welding has probably paid attention to the clamping of the electrode - one awkward movement, and the rod changes angle, or may even fall out. Of course, professional welders do not encounter such situations, but an amateur would like something more reliable - rigid fixation of the electrode will allow him to perform welding work efficiently and accurately.

What materials will you need?

Bolt (35 mm) and stud (70 mm) with thread 12;
Extended nut (25-30 mm);
Two regular nuts;
Coupling nut (wing);
Plastic holder (side handle) for an angle grinder.

Preparatory work

First of all, mark the center of the elongated nut, and then clamp it in a vice. With the help conventional drill drill out through hole. The diameter of the drill should be about 1/3 larger than the possible thickness of the electrode. 6-8 mm. Make sure that the drill is strictly perpendicular to the edge of the nut.

Then we clamp the bolt in a vice and use a grinder to cut off the head. We weld a wing nut in this place. The length of the free thread must be no less than the distance from the edge of the long nut to the center of the hole made.

We unscrew the handle from a non-working angle grinder, drill or other similar tool.

The inner bolt is easily knocked out.

We clamp it in a vice and drill a hole for our stud.

Now you can start assembling.

Assembly of an exclusive reliable electrode holder

We screw the stud and the wing bolt into the wide nut so that they do not reach the edge of the hole made.

Next, we insert the entire structure into the handle and visually mark the place to which the fixing nut is to be tightened.

Then we twist the double nut, and on the opposite side we install the nut to the desired depth. We wind the wire going to the welding machine and clamp it with another nut, using two open-end wrenches for this.

We place the pin with the wire inside the handle and finally fix it with a double nut with outside. Insert the electrode into the hole and tighten the wing bolt with a little force. Now you can start welding.

What you shouldn't forget

Throughout all the work, tools such as a drill, grinder and welding machine. All of them require increased attention, because non-compliance elementary rules safety and neglect of personal protective equipment (work gloves, goggles, welding mask and long-sleeved clothing made of non-flammable materials) can cause injuries, sometimes quite serious.

Trial

Having carried out test welding, I can say with confidence that our homemade holder is a complete replacement for industrial analogues. It securely fixes the electrode, and in cases of sticking it is quite easy to detach it from the surface to be welded (in the factory handle it often jumps out of the clamp and remains welded to the workpiece).

The only drawback can be considered the fact that this handle is made of plastic, albeit durable. During prolonged use, heating occurs in any case, and the handle may become deformed. Otherwise, it turned out to be an excellent handle, the cost of which is three nuts and two bolts.

Many people ask whether it is possible to make an electrode for welding ferrous metals with your own hands at home?

The answer is no. You cannot make a normal welding electrode yourself. Because this is a fairly knowledge-intensive process, and the components included in the coating cannot always be purchased at the nearest store.

What does the great and terrible Internet offer us in this regard?

Numerous welding websites claim that making an electrode is not a problem. Without going into the details of such production, you will need a steel bar, chalk, crushed to a powdery state (fine fractions). Liquid glass (silicate glue) is applied to the rod, then the whole thing is sprinkled with chalk and rolled so that it evenly adheres to the surface of the rod. The result is a chalky layer of some thickness. The homemade product is sent to the oven, oven or dried with a hairdryer.

And can you cook with this?

From our point of view it is impossible. You can equally well weld with a nail, rebar or bare metal rod. There is no difference. The process of such welding is unstable, the seam can hardly be called such, and there will be practically no slag due to the absence of slag-forming elements in the composition of the coating.

If you are going to do it yourself, it is better to use the idea proposed a hundred years ago by two Americans. They came up with the idea of simply wrapping the rod in paper and gluing it onto liquid glass. At least it's easier than messing around with chalk. And the idea is very simple. The paper burns and emits smoke, which protects against the harmful effects of oxygen. Also, such a coating somehow improved ignition and had a positive effect on the stability of the arc... And this, of course, is very doubtful. Since the easy ignition of an electric arc and the maintenance of its combustion occurs due to the low ionization energy of elements such as sodium, potassium and calcium.

In other words, you don’t have to worry about the composition of the coating and the method of application. If you really want to cook, but have nothing to cook with, and the shops are all closed for the holidays, take any piece of iron of suitable diameter and length, clamp it into the electrode holder and cook - this process cannot be called welding, but it is quite possible to grab something this way in extreme conditions. At the very least, this is no worse than the options proposed above.

The principle of current transmission in such electrodes is simple. One of the ends is uncoated for 3 cm so that it can be grasped by a holder for contact with the current circuit. The second end is slightly cleared of the coating to create contact with the object when the arc is struck.

During melting, complex processes occur in the arc. As a result of the redox reaction in a gaseous environment, at the interface between slag, metal and arc, alloying, deoxidation and oxidation occur, which create a seam.

Classification of electrodes for welding

Classification of welding electrodes is carried out according to the following criteria:

rod coating thickness;
rod material;
the type of slag that is formed during melting;
type of coating;
purpose for welding special steels;
metal weld properties;
polarity and type of current used for operation;
permissible spatial positions of surfacing or welding.

Electrodes for manual arc welding must provide stable combustion and easy ignition welding arc. In addition, it is desirable that the electrode coating melts correctly, and that the slag covers the seam evenly and is easily cleaned off after finishing work. When working in weld metal, pores and cracks should be avoided.

Before choosing electrodes for DC welding, you need to familiarize yourself with their classes:

UONI 13/45 – has a basic coating and is used for low-alloy and carbon steels. It can be used to process thick metals, pressure vessels, and eliminate casting defects.
UONI 13/55 - has the same purpose as UONI 13/45, and you can weld not only pressure vessels, but also building metal structures.
OZS-12 – used for working with structures made of low-carbon steel. Work can take place in any position except vertical.
OZS-4 – makes it possible to work on an oxidized surface, suitable for low-alloy and carbon steels.
MP-3S - suitable for the same steels as the previous type, in addition, it creates a neat seam, which makes the entire work process easier.

Typology of coatings for welding electrodes

To do right choice electrodes for welding, you need to take into account all the subtleties of the coating, the type of metal and the type of seam. Based on the type of coating, we can distinguish some types of welding electrodes, for which we will indicate a few words about the composition and application.

Materials with sour coating contain oxides of iron, silicon, manganese and in some cases titanium. The weld metal has an increased tendency to form hot cracks. These electrodes can be used for AC and DC welding.

Options with basic coating consist of magnesium and calcium carbonates, fluorspar CaF 2. They become indispensable for welding hardening steels, which are prone to cold cracks as a result of exposure to hydrogen passing into the heat-affected zone of the metal.

These low oxidation coatings help move alloying elements from the electrode into the weld. In addition, they are used for welding high-alloy steels. The metal deposited in this way is resistant to hot cracks. Can join rigid structures and can be used for thick welds when surfacing in several layers.

But they also have disadvantages: low constancy of arc burning, a tendency for pores to appear when the arc increases in the seams during welding, if there is rust or scale on the metal surface.

Materials with cellulose coating They are based on cellulose. The metal deposited by them includes an increased amount of hydrogen. They allow welding from top to bottom, while with other electrodes a poor-quality path is obtained with this algorithm.

Electrodes with rutile coating include rutile, which consists of titanium dioxide TiO 2, as well as carbonates and aluminosilicates. Before work, they need to be dried at 200 degrees for 1 hour, and only after 24 hours can you work with them. They can cook steel on the surface of which there is rust and scale, pores will not form. They are more resistant to hot cracking than acid-coated electrodes.

Their advantages can be considered: easy ignition, high fatigue resistance of welding joints, low tendency to the appearance of pores during ignition and rapid arc extension. These electrodes can be used to weld low-alloy and low-carbon steels; You cannot cook structures that operate at elevated temperatures.