what a week with pictures

Having one devil of a time getting the correct welding rod. We was using Farm and Fleet (Hobart) electrodes 5/32" E 7018, come to find out, splatter poor penetration, is what this store handles.
What it sounds like when we fire the welder up is a telegrapher sending morse code ta-da-da-da-dash-da da da, accompanied with a lot chill balls and skips. We looked it up on the computer and sure enough, Hobart is having a heck of a lot of trouble with this type of welding rod. Guess their pandering to farmers weld and novices,who don't care what it looks like or how it holds. My son and I both are not bad welders,been at it for many years and are good at welding.I was taught by a professional shop foreman at Howe Fire Apparatus in Anderson Indiana, he also taught welders school, he was a tremendous talented individual.

Picture will show the problems we are having. We are looking into Excalibur® 7028. We have been using 1/8" E7014 from our local welding store, along with some 5/32" Atom Arc 7018 with very good results so far. I used Lincolnweld when building industrial trailers to haul dozers,and also tow dollies, this rod could be purchased at Farm and Fleet in Rice Lake,but now they don't handle it,only the stuff we first tried(Hobart). So at the pictures, try not to be too critical for us. Love to weld if it comes out right,but when it doesn't, be ready to catch hammers,pliers, rods, etc. I don't feel like I should be teaching morse code with a arc welder. Was wondering what is the best rod you guys use for vertical up ,flat, DC polarity. I can say one thing Farm and Fleet will get no more money from us for welding rod.

We are using a Lincoln AC/DC welder, and it has performed flawlessly for years when welding on our dozer, 706 tractor, and quite a bit of machinery we sold already.
My son was talking with the local welding store, and was told by them, Hobart has 3 different levels of welding rod available,and Farm and Fleet handles the cheapest stuff and the local welding store has heard multiple complaints about Hobarts welding rod, it even shows up on some of the welding sites about the poor results of Hobarts welding rod (cheap),but Hobart Brothers welding rod (better and best) gets better results for some.
The 7014 we are using starts great and produces a good looking weld,restarts are also good,no tapping the restart till the flux falls of. The Farm and fleet stuff even after regrinding the end to remove the flux that rolls over the tip,it is a bear to restart, we keep a old file handy for this. The rod isn't wet by any means,just poor rod flux. I was also wondering if it could be the China steel( new) it has been sanded to bear metal where welding and chamfered on the edges for better penetration. But anyway, here is our efforts,so far. The tank is welded and no leaks,been water tested,so we wont lose oil all over the place. The I beam rail where the hydraulic cylinder and wedge travels is almost done. Just need the hinge for vert,horizontal operation, and the end piece for the hyd cyl to mount to. The axle is done,just need to grease the bearings,put the hub and tires on, have to wait till we mount the tongue for the hitch.Our neighbor who passed away,gave us a swell looking trailer hitch 1 7/8" and we have some chain for safety chains.

By the way we did get our needle scaler and it works great for chipping the flux off the welds and removing the chill balls. Beats the chipping hammer (manual),many thanks to the fellow who mentioned this a few weeks ago about the scaler.
We even picked up the paint for it,machine gray, just like the first one. The brown you see on the tank is just some primer to keep any scale rust at bay till we finish welding the motor mount and pump bracket and the filter bracket.

Sorry about the long post, but figured people would be interested in our progress, breaks the monotony of our topics.

Regards,
LOU

Knock all of the flux from a rod or two, and I expect you will see rust under the flux. I have seen it before. Buy Lincoln rod.

I have had good luck with the Atom Arc and the Excaliber. 7018 needs to be heated to keep the moisture out of it.

Hi, I am not a pro welder but with the small ac/dc
welder I use the best rod for me is arctec 222 frm
liquid aire. I know your frustration. Ed will oliver bc

Don,

Nice job, and I'm happy when any of my welds look that good. LOL
As for the log splitter, I have a couple of tips; take them (or leave them) for what they're worth.

I would suggest cutting 1-1/2" or 2" off the end of the "foot".
Then.....weld some support on each side to give it more strength.
I speak from experience...........I bought a real heavy log splitter I-beam with what appeared to be a very strong "foot".
This was a commercially built unit.
When I bought it, the foot was bent back about an inch.
I had one heck of a time bringing it back but after I did, I welded 2" X 3/4" pieces to each side of the foot for additional support. It hardly interferes at all with the setting of the foot on the ground.
I have come to the conclusion that because firewood logs are rarely ever perfectly flat, there is sometimes undue pressure placed at the end of the foot. A longer foot only adds to the problem.

Give - farmerschoice.com - a call. They sell LaGrange welding rod. Tell them you want to order some Black Beauty welding rod. You will never use anything else after you try it. I have been using it for years. Great rod.

The one on the Speeco/Husky line is pretty stout, its a thick piece too. They seemed to have their own proprietary beam design, Lou's looks a lot like it, maybe a good example to look at. I've had some tough pieces on it and that thing is solid, amazing as there are no gussets, just the connection to the beam and its bent flanges that make the guide channel like Lou shows for the ram end wedge with a bottom plate like he's building. Must be something to that connection, I was thinking the same thing, how long will it be before I bend that foot, don't think it will though at this point, whatever it is, its a solid design, the ram would bend first I think.
Speeco 35 ton

Thank you all who replied, we appreciate all your advice and comments.
We will make note of your suggestions during our next project,if ever,lol.Never thought about rust under the flux on the rod, that alone would do it. As far as bending the foot plate,it surely would have to bend the beam, although it never happened to the one we built prior to this one.

This new one will be electric start,as my son pointed out, the older you get the harder it is to pull start one.That is one of the reasons for the new one,plus the stronger pump,bigger engine hp.We didn't get nothing done today, rained all day and needed a break.It is a project to build one from scratch.
We're on tomorrow for pattern work for the hinge,cutting parts,and welding,some to the tank,some to the I-beam, it's all downhill from now,except the $ issue,ram,pump,filter,valve,hoses and locations for all the parts listed above,then painting,and 15 gallon of oil,thats what the tank holds,keeps all parts cool.
Regards to all who posted,
LOU

Now heres a log splitter we didn't get involved with,damn shame we didn't,but their asking price is $7295.00. Definitely the ultimate in a pull behind vertical/horizontal, but thats just my opinion.What a poor man has to do,is what we are doing,lol. What do you think of that one?
Regards,
LOU
poke here.