Needed, Expert welder help

I have run in to a problem welding some cast iron pieces, and need some advice. I using a stick welding rod without the coating and using my tig welder. The problem I'm running into is the weld bead is porous and won't flow( little holes and craters) and is almost black, Is it too hot, wrong gas, dirty? The rod is for welding cast iron and machinable. It's been said it can be welded this way, but I'm doing something wrong. HelpI

Are you preheating?

Call your local Lincoln Sales office, they will give you some pointers.

Joe

I think the problem is that the rod is made for stick welding. Surprisingly, arc rods are very peculiar - not just a piece of wire coated with flux !!

You'd do well to post your question on a welding site. Weldingtipsandtricks.com would be a good place to start or in the Miller forums.

http://www.weldingtipsandtricks.com/

This is hard enough to do when you know what you are doing. I'd give the job to an experienced cast iron welder, else you will just be chasing problems.

If you could braze it, you might be able to do it yourself.

http://www.toolsandgarages.com/index.php?topic=839.0

Astrobuf

Quote:

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I using a stick welding rod without the coating and using my tig welder.

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Who gave you this idea? Doubtful that would work under any circumstance but I suppose worth a try. I would have left the flux on it.

I've used the arc rods in an arc welder before and you have to really crank the heat, use a darker shade in your helmet and let 'er rip. There's lots of fire, sparks and noise: cheap entertainment. It's similar to a 6010 in behavior.

Otherwise, you can gas weld it with a cast iron rod and a large tip. I found moving the torch quickly and keeping the rod almost melting hot worked pretty good.