Proper
Storage of 7018 Rods
to Prevent Defects - Part 2 Another
job I was working on was a big coal-fired power plant in the middle of nowhere.
The middle of nowhere in this case was a hundred miles from Amarillo, between
Earth and Muleshoe, Texas. At the time there was hardly any work up north and
east, so a lot of Iron Workers boomed out to Texas. (An Iron Worker who leaves
his local area to travel to another local to work is referred to as a "boomer".)
Click here to view our welding ovens and to learn about the benefits of proper storage!
There
were a lot of funny looks given in our union hall when the business agent would
tell the guys from Wisconsin or New York to take a bunch of farm roads a hundred
miles or so until you are right in the middle of Earth and Muleshoe! Anyway,
one day I'm welding on the outside of a huge girder about 20 floors up. I'm hanging
there in my basket when just a few feet away from me a refrigerator goes by heading
up to the 22nd floor. I'm thinking either they are going to provide us free beer,
or there goes a "rod oven." So I've seen these refrigerators
used by major companies who had bought into the myth. The third myth
on 7018 welding rod storage is that you can "bake" them in your oven
at home to get the moisture out. (re-condition) That sounds logical, but again
you are going to have your wife mad as heck when she sees a bunch of welding rods
in her oven. (Or your husband for you lady welders out there!) :) To recondition
wet 7018 weld rods you need to heat them to around five our six hundred degrees.
Do that with your oven and you better have a fire extinguisher handy! Thank
goodness today more and more people are realizing these myths are not cool, and
they are finding out that it really is affordable to purchase a good welding electrode
oven. First thing most people think is that a rod oven is going to cost them WAY
too much money. That ain't so if choose the Keen brand of welding rod ovens! A
portable welding electrode oven is
only going to set you back $154 bucks! You can get a killer bench
electrode oven for $500 to $700 bills! If you're a really big shop or
jobsite, you can get a super floor rod oven for a couple of thousand greenbacks,
or a fantastic re-conditioning electrode oven from four to six thousand greenbacks! Welding
flux ovens run from 1500 to $4 grand. When you purchase a product from
Keen, you are buying from a company that provides rod ovens to "industries
such as aerospace, shipbuilding, oil and construction, and are sold worldwide"
by a company that has been around since 1972. I've been in welding about
25 years and I've known of their reputation from the beginning. They are a top
notch company. The best claim they make and keep is the following
"As
a customer-focused company, we strive to deliver the highest-quality products
at the most affordable prices." In this day and age of "no
customer service" it is refreshing to know there are companies like Keen
who put the customer FIRST!
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