Cheap welding rods?

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I figured this one would have been discussed but nothing came up in my search.I haven't posted in a while... mostly because of one recommendation that was offered to me in my last post... That being, "all you need now is 500 hours of welding under your belt" That made sense to me. Well, I'm not there yet and I still suck... just not as much as I sucked last time I posted. I've put a lot of hours in and even had the luxury of making millwright friend who in my opinion is a a damn good welder. He was kind enough to spend some time with me and point out all my shortcomings... There were many.It feels like every bead I lay down I'm getting better and better... the only issue is that I'm going through a lot of rods... And rods aren't free. I've seen much online talking about different types of rods and their application...  but not brands... Does anyone have any input on name brand rods vs the no-name stuff one can get at Harbor Freight and the like?How different is a Lincoln 7018 form say, Vulcan or Chicago Electric? Is there some middle ground some of you look for? Just curious as to where money is best spent. I don't mind paying for quality if the value is there.
Reply:Just look forApprovals and Conformances: • AWS Dave

Originally Posted by TorontoJoe

I figured this one would have been discussed but nothing came up in my search.I haven't posted in a while... mostly because of one recommendation that was offered to me in my last post... That being, "all you need now is 500 hours of welding under your belt" That made sense to me. Well, I'm not there yet and I still suck... just not as much as I sucked last time I posted. I've put a lot of hours in and even had the luxury of making millwright friend who in my opinion is a a damn good welder. He was kind enough to spend some time with me and point out all my shortcomings... There were many.It feels like every bead I lay down I'm getting better and better... the only issue is that I'm going through a lot of rods... And rods aren't free. I've seen much online talking about different types of rods and their application...  but not brands... Does anyone have any input on name brand rods vs the no-name stuff one can get at Harbor Freight and the like?How different is a Lincoln 7018 form say, Vulcan or Chicago Electric? Is there some middle ground some of you look for? Just curious as to where money is best spent. I don't mind paying for quality if the value is there.
Reply:The problem with practicing with cheap rods is that you won't know when you're doing something wrong, or if it's just the rod. I found the cheap Chinese rods at Princess Auto were inconsistent. Power Fist one week, Power Weld the next... most of them seemed to weld "ok", but you could feel differences in them. I had 6013's and 7014's I couldn't tell from the Lincolns or Hobarts .... but lots of the pro's here will tell you they don't like Hobart either. I'm no pro. When it came to the 7018's I noticed a huge difference, and really didn't like the Chinese ones on AC. On DC the differences are less noticeable. Maybe as part of your practice you could try a few different brands at exactly the same settings, same metal etc. just to get a feel for the differences, and what you like or don't like. Might be an interesting comparison to post up here.The harder you fall, the higher you bounce...250 amp Miller DialArc AC/DC StickF-225 amp Forney AC Stick230 amp Sears AC StickLincoln 180C MIGVictor Medalist 350 O/ACut 50 PlasmaLes