Bucket Beads

[Snidley]

I've noticed that on a lot of dozer blades and loader buckets that on the sides of the leading edges there are welded wear beads. These are usually in a criss cross or a hatch pattern. I understand that they are to help hold material like sand & mud to help prevent wear.

Are these beads done with regular welding rods or stricktly with the hard surfacing rods?

I have a loader bucket I would like to try this on.

Any info would be appreciated. Thanks

[barh]

have seen it done with both. hardened naturally last longer.

[Stoney]

A lot of "hard-surfacing" is done with 7018, because of its ease of use, but you easily spend 10 times as much for true hardfacing electrode. Some of the things to think about:is this a one or mutli machine fleet? Do you use the bucket 8+ hours a day, or a couple times a month? If you're doing it yourself, do you have the time to keep doing it over, and over? Hardfacing has always seemed like an open ended application to me, beacause you can spend $500 in electrode on a loader bucket and have it last 2 weeks, or 2 months, depending on its use. All in all, I would at least recommend something maganese based, many of these cheaper electrodes sell between $3 and $4 per pound

Steve

[Snidley]

This is going to be a trial project for me. the test bucket sees irregular use. Right now its used mainly for clearing snow, so there is some wear from the driveway and yard.

The other machines are tucked in for their long winters nap and won't be disturbed until spring (April?). They stored in an unheated garage and with current overnight lows of -25 to -30 it makes it kind of cool for working on. I can wait.

I don't have a rod oven, so no 7018's. I thinking of using some 7014's 1/8" or 5/32" (shallow to med. penetration) and see how they last. The worst that can happen is I'll have to do it again sometime if they don't work.

Any other rod or size suggestions? All insights/suggestions/processes are appreciated.

[Mike Sherman]

Snidely, hard facing electrodes are designed specifically for each application, depending on what you are putting the bucket into. Such as coal, dirt, gravel, etc. each material will use a different composition. Hardfacing electrodes are available in SMAW and GMAW. You will definately get superior life out of a hardface electrode over a mild steel one.

[Hobart Expert Rock]

HI SNIDLEY..........THAT IS EXACTLY WHAT THEY DO NOT SO MUCH PACK IN THE SAND AND MUD...........BUT ARE FOR WARE BAR'S... OUR BAKC HOES, DOZERS, FRONT END BUCKETS..............ETC..... AND YOU WIL FIND THE STICK ELECTRODE'S SEEM TO HOLD UP BETTER...........IN MY HUMBLE OPINION..............THEY DO ON OUR EQUIPMENT.....................................ROCK
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[Snidley]

I've looked at our local supplier catalogue and they have a decent vairety of hardfacing electrodes made by Stoody. At the low end of the scale is the build up rods which have a decent hardenss and then a range of metal to earth impact and abrasion electrodes.

I see that if you use hardfacing electrodes you had better be careful of how you do your work since is is stated that some cannot be cut by flame, and others are not machineable. It seems to me that if you do screw up, you can't just grind away and try again.

Of the next item is the cost. The build up electrodes are merely 2 to 3 times the cost of 7018's and such, and the hardfacing are 5 to 7 times the cost. But cost and value are something that can be justified to the end use.

I've still got lots of time to decide on what I'm going to do and how to approach it. Thanks for the info.

[Hobart Expert Rock]

SNIDLEY.............IF WERE TALKING 955 MICHIGAN LOADER BUCKET THEN I WOULD GO WITH THE NON MAHCINEABLE ABRASION ROADS.....QUITE SIMPLY THEY JUST HOLD UP BETTER.....IF YOUR TALKING BOBCAT BUCKET GO WITH THE MACHINEABLE HARDSURFACEING RODS......... MY BROTHERS AND I HAVE A ROCK CRUSHER AND WE USED THE NON MAHCINEABLE RODS ON THE DRUMS IN THIS THING.........THEY STILL WEAR DOWN........ AND OUR D-6 IS ALSO NON MACHINEABLE ON THE BLADE..................... ALTHOUGH COST IS MANAGEABLE, IT ALL BOILS DOWN TO WHAT THE ROD NEEDS TO HOLD UP TO........
YOUR CALL, YOUR MONEY.................................ROCK
[email protected]

[Snidley]

Rock .... The bucket in question is from a Cat IT18F. I'm doing this to work on the application and location of the wear welds. It's our yard machine which does some snow clearing and light use as such, it's mainly got forks on for moving pallets etc. Then end result is that later on we have some buckets and teeth on a Cat 966 and Michigan 175 that will get the hardsurfacing. Same as you, my brother and I run a small stone quarry. Crushing (jaw) is only a small part of the operation. It's new to us.

I've been out of welding for about 20+ years and have been easing back into it the last year after picking up a portable (Big 40) welder. This is just another part of my re-education and the more I've been doing the more I remember. I don't think they were even offering MIG when I took welding. I'm strictly a stick man.

There will be losts of welding to do with the shaker feeder, grizzly, conveyors, loaders, trucks and my side projects.


I think I'll be buying in bulk.