As a heads up I will be having a part two with 7018 in a few days where I test running different amperage’s and stepping up rod size. I believe the break test will come back higher by a bit if I had ran more amperage. We will find out 😀

Just a general comment on this fixture setup - 1) the pin in the ratchet that allows the head to swivel, when loaded as you do, is taking up load. It will anchor itself when you start pressing down, and depending on where it's placed it will take up a variable amount of fulcrum loading. 2) If that's a ratchet (I couldn't tell if it's a breaker bar or a ratchet), the slop,again, in that mechanism is going to add variance. Here's an easy way to tighten things up -- First, on that existing bar with the pocket which directly interfaces with the test coupons, measure from the middle of the weld-point of the sensor, to the loading point on the other end of the bar. Based on the bending profile, it looks to be at the far top-end and the near bottom-end, but I'm not sure what the load split would be, I'd measure 3/4ths closer out to the far end, since the bar deflects in that way also. So we'll mark this as "test coupon bar loading length" as "x". Next weld some box stock that fits your hands nicely (the bigger, the better, rigidity is the name of the game here. solid round bar stock would work real well here too, if you can mill a flat), and weld the appropriate sized breaker bar ball-end head on one end of the new piece of iron. (This will be the end which fits into the sensor module). From the center of the weld point, scribe out 1x, 2x, 2.5x etc up to whatever you think is most appropriate for your testing situation. Hopefully, you now have more leverage, less slack in the system, and a relatively known torque multiplication factor based on the scribe lines. It's not going to be a NIST cert'd Skidmore but it'll get you in the ballpark. One way to test how accurate your bar is, would be to weld a hook at your multipication point (1 * test coupon bar loading length, 2 * test coupon bar loading length, etc...that is to say, all those scribe lines) and attach, say, a 10 lb barbell into a canvas bag. Then try for a 20 lb. Then a 30 lb. You'll end up being able to read out the linearity, offset, and the overall behavior of the system. Or not, haha 3) Impulse loading is going to fuck around with your readings. You're doing a real good job at being smooth and continuous but just a heads up, lets say you take a baseball bat to the breaker bar, and when it makes contact, there is an impulse of 9000999 joules or whatever, over 20 milliseconds, sufficient to break the weld. That module won't have enough samples/sec to register that peak loading with high fidelity. Anyways, love the channel. Always wanted to get into welding but the whole bro-man attitude kept me. You've got the right amount of book-smarts, practical knowledge, and juuuuuust enough clipboard warrior (like, not everyone knows zinc and cadmium are on bolts, so you're doing a huge service by letting them know. Same with cap discharges and all.) to make the perfect entertaining stew of awesome. BTW AlphaTIG 203XI pre-order 650$ good deal? Im about to pull the trigger

Thank you. Your videos really show what poor welding techniques can mean to weld performance. Even though I have been welding for decades I still learn from your videos. Maybe you could make a video on making water tight welds like for a tank or a boat. Thanks again for all your efforts that go into these videos.

Very interesting stuff. Learning lots and really appreciate the effort that you're putting into these videos.

Excellent Greg. Im sure im not the only one here gaining valuable insights through the benefit of your experience :) Keep em coming please.

The 7018 tests are here!

🫡 reporting back: my 1st “cheapo Stick Welder” arrived … I burned down 2 sticks, practice starting/stopping, and turning up and down the amperage to see where “too cold” and “too hot” are. 🥰👍 I setup a generator to power it, working in the driveway. 😂 I’d have gone back for more, but it started getting dark on me. 🤷‍♀️ Confirmed, it WORKS! and I got at least 3 or 4 spots that look correct! (we’re not counting how many failed, I was testing for where it would fail) 😅

Nice test yet again Greg. Can’t go wrong runnin 7018. It’s like ole reliable as long as it’s not damp

good test, Greg, The bend the oposite way test will be an eye opener. Before you break the weld how about cut and etch then bend knowing what the inside structure of the weld looks like. You will need bigger plates.

Excellent tests! There have been several surprises for me..... I expected 7018/FCAW to be significantly stronger than the short arc GMAW. I'm also surprised that the 'poorly welded/defective' versions weren't *substantially* weaker than the properly welded comparisons. Some of this is making me go hmmm 🤔🤔. Thanks for the excellent content!

Very interresting! Thanks a lot!

Love these tests you are doing. So far, it's the unshielded flux core that surprised me the most as I expected the best penetration from that. The only thing is, I'll never be using 3/8" plate for projects but I could see 1/4" or 3/16" material --I wonder if that's where unshielded flux core can really shine with .030 or .035 wire? Great stuff nonetheless, Thanks!

Have you ever run brands like sayHobart against Lincoln? It seems anytime I use “cheap “ rods I do find that I can see difference in weld quality. After twenty five years of pipeline welding, and only using Lincoln rods , (as they were required by the specifications) I find that rods like Hobart, KT, Harbor Freight and others just don’t produce as well. Am I brand biased? I don’t know but if you have an opinion on it, I would love to hear it? Thanks much for your time!!

Very insightful videos, can't wait for more. Have you ever tried running flux core downhill? I have tried it on non critical stuff and if you turn it down enough it's almost usable. I know this is a big no no, but flux core is very similar to 6011 and people do run that downhill. I think going downhill won't hinder fluxcore too much since it already produces a lot of porosity in any position

I saw in an earlier response it was HF brand, but what rod size and amperage are you running for these tests? It would really help me understand how what choices I make when choosing which rod to use affects weld strength. Will you be repeating any of these tests with a slight bevel on the vertical piece? I’m wondering if even a small bevel, and slowing down the travel speed a bit to deposit enough filler material (for a decent single pass) to see if it makes any difference? My guess is it would improve the weld strength a fair bit.

last test was75.3

test a multi pass weld