Perhaps ours were run-of-the-mill HM Forces kit.
They certainly work - I've done three course meals in them. Shepherds' pie was particularly successful and tasty.
I PREFER freshly cooked food but when travelling I'd rather have stored home-made food than Little Chef.
Mary
>In message , Andy Dingley writes
Oh. I haven't done any research and just assumed that keeping the interior a few degrees above ambient would do. I'd better latch on to the next electric cooker that gets flung over a hedge.
regards
Are you storing or using ?
The problem is moisture, not temperature. You want the flux layer to be dry. In general it's OK to store them any old how, then heat them for a few hours before use to bake them dry. They don't need to be "used hot" as such, just heated beforehand and dried out.
For storage, then keeping them well sealed in old ammo boxes is as good as anything.
In message , Andy Dingley writes
Er... both?
This is a farm. Things break or need hard facing or are designed to be welded. I need to store opened packs in an unheated workshop for the few occasions in a year when they are needed.
Today I repaired a field gate. Not very well because it was badly rusted but it will do for a few more years. Soon I need to fit new swivels to a pair of tractor lift arms. I want to not worry about damp rods!
Hmm.. rods for cast iron tend to disintegrate:-(
Right.
regards
Yes if they do absorb moisture they tend to break up and the flux goes powdery, at the extreme the steel rusts and spalls the coating off.
If the coating is damp then the arc dissociates the water and hydrogen can get into the weld.
I use a mortar bomb holder, this has a screw lid with an O ring. Even so over a number of openings the changes in humidity can affect the rods, so an occasional re heat in an oven at 110C dries them out.
AJH
A trick to quickly dry rods out that someone showed me a while ago, is to sharply ram the rod onto the job with the welder powered up and ready to go. Let the welder hum for a few seconds and sharply pull the rod away from the job. This warms up the rod and gets rid of some of the dampness from the flux.
No substitute for an oven - but better than nothing if you don't have one.
Cheers - ETV
In message , Eric The Viking writes
I actually use an old Black and Decker electric paint stripper to dry off rods where I am concerned about finished quality.
The advice seems to be to store *airtight*. I suppose silica gel in a perforated container might help.
regards
Isn't that what happens when you try to strike an arc anyway? :-)
If you jam the live rod into the job and hold it there it won't strike an arc, it will just get hot as the transformer tries to supply its current limit.
This way you heat the rod before you start welding.
ETV
See the smiley at the end of my post? It means I'm not being serious.
Sorry Rob, in my hurry to reply and get back to the "Easter Sunday Trading Hours Massacre" I missed the gag :-)
My apologies.
ETV
Not required :-)
No bloody use at all. In practice it tends to blow the flux off the wire. It certainly doesn't allow moisture to migrate out of the flux - that takes at least an hour or two.
You must either be using some reet crap rods, or you've got the wick turned up too high.
ETV
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