stacking dimes vs dragging (stick)

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I am taking an intro welding class and we're doing stick welding of steel, practicing horizontal and vertical fillet welds mostly, on 1/4" plate.Since I want to make something out of square steel tube 1/8" thick wall, I asked the instructor if I could practice on some thinner materials, and he gave me several different 3/32 electrodes: 6010, 6012, 7018 to try.When I took the 6012 and went to use the "stacking dimes" method where you make the puddle, flick the rod out and then establish another puddle right next to the first one, he told me that with the 6012 and the 7018, you simply drag the rod nice and evenly, and don't stack any dimes.  With the 6010, you stack dimes.  Why the difference in technique? The shop was too noisy for me to ask him, with ten other guys hammering on slag.
Reply:I think what you are calling "stacking dimes" is what most call  "whip and pause", where you long arc the rod to dig and then swing back to short arc the rod and deposit material. Long arcing can cause porosity and moving out of the puddle and back can cause slag inclusions with 7018. Both good reasons not to do this with 7018..No government ever voluntarily reduces itself in size. Government programs, once launched, never disappear. Actually, a government bureau is the nearest thing to eternal life we'll ever see on this earth! Ronald Reagan
Reply:6010 is a fast freeze rod, with a different flux makeup on it, so it welds differently then an 18 rod.WIth an 18 rod, the drag motion is what you want to do, while on a 10 rod, there is a few different ways(Wipping, circles,back and forth, etc,etc.) to run that rod.. Then if I have an open root and I use 6010, I usually drag the rod unless the keyhole opens to big, then I use other techniques..
Reply:Thanks for the informative answers.7018 was the first rod I tried out in class.   But after tacking a piece in place, I couldn't strike the arc a second time.  I tried scraping the tip of the rod against the steel first, and sometimes that worked and sometimes it didn't.  Is there a special technique I need to learn  to get strike a 7018 rod more than once?
Reply:When restarting 7018 I pinch the flux off the tip, usually it will start...Sometimes you have to tap the rod a few times before it will restart.
Reply:The glassy flux on the end of 7018 some times makes restarts more difficult than other rods. I usually pinch off the flux also, but if you keep a file with you a quick drag of the rod tip on the file will usually clear it for you..No government ever voluntarily reduces itself in size. Government programs, once launched, never disappear. Actually, a government bureau is the nearest thing to eternal life we'll ever see on this earth! Ronald Reagan
Reply:Don't drag the electrode on the file if the file is on the work..and electrode is in the stinger.
Reply:Originally Posted by SquirmyPugWhen restarting 7018 I pinch the flux off the tip, usually it will start...Sometimes you have to tap the rod a few times before it will restart.
Reply:I agree with the file technique or against the face of your grinding disc.
Reply:A tap on a concrete floor works also."The reason we are here is that we are not all there"SA 200Idealarc TM 300 300MM 200MM 25130a SpoolgunPrecision Tig 375Invertec V350 ProSC-32 CS 12 Wire FeederOxweld/Purox O/AArcAirHypertherm Powermax 85LN25