Own business: manufacture of welding electrodes

Production of electrodes can be a great idea to start your own business. For the organization of such production will require a mini-shop and minimal equipment. Despite the fact that such a business has a certain narrow specialization, it is considered very profitable and promising.
Electrode for welding is a metal or nonmetallic rod of electrically conductive material, which is intended to supply current to the welded product. Welding electrodes are used as manual welding of various carbon and alloy steels and are divided into two main types: melting and non-melting. Non-consumable electrodes are made of refractory materials (for example, tungsten, electrical coal or synthetic graphite) according to GOST 23949-80 “Non-melting tungsten electrodes”.

Currently there are over two hundred different types of electrodes. The predominant place is occupied by melting electrodes for manual arc welding, which are made of welding wire. The latter according to GOST 2246-70 can be carbon, alloyed and high-alloyed. In the production process, a metal coating is applied to the metal rod by pressure testing under pressure, the role of which lies in the metallurgical processing of the weld pool, protecting it from atmospheric exposure and ensuring a more stable arc burning.

In addition to the above classification, electrodes are divided into several main classes:

electrodes for welding heat-resistant alloyed types of steel,

electrodes for welding high-alloyed types of steel with special properties,

electrodes for welding structural steels using arc welding,

electrodes for metal surfacing,

electrodes for welding non-ferrous metals,

cast iron welding electrodes.

Also, welding electrodes are divided into classes, depending on the type of coating:

A (acid coated electrodes that contain oxides of iron, silicon and manganese),

B (the main coating, which has calcium carbonate and calcium fluoride in its coating),

C (cellulose coating).

The main components of the cellulose coating include flour and other organic components.

These components are added to the coating specifically to create gas protection during welding. There are also P-class electrodes with a rutile coating (plus a large amount of additional organic and mineral substances that guarantee a slight spatter of metal and provide gas protection during the welding process). Finally, electrodes are divided into four types according to admissible welding positions: all possible positions; all possible positions, except vertical from top to bottom; lower, horizontal and vertical from top to bottom, as well as the lower position.

So the range of products that you can make is very wide. Welding electrodes are in steady demand, which is explained by the increase in the volume of construction of objects using reinforced concrete structures. This product has found its application in many other areas where welding of metal elements is required. An additional advantage of this type of business lies in the very specifics of the goods being manufactured: the electrodes belong to the group of consumables, so their reserves are regularly replenished. High profitability and relatively low production costs with its quick payback – all this makes the business of producing welding electrodes attractive for entrepreneurs who only choose the direction for their work.

Organization of production of welding electrodes
For the production of welding electrodes, as mentioned above, a special line is required. The process of manufacturing welding electrodes with its help seems quite simple. The raw material used is steel wire, which is unwound, straightened, cut into blanks, equal to the length of future electrodes. Most of these operations are performed automatically. The worker only delivers the reel with a wire on the machine. Then the pieces cut from a wire are carefully cleaned with an emery paper, as a result of which the top metal layer is removed from them.

After this procedure, the wire acquires a rough and clean surface, which ensures good adhesion to the coating material. In the next step, a special solution is applied to the cleaned surface of the wire. All components in this solution have a powder state: this is the only way to avoid the appearance of heterogeneous formations on the electrodes and to achieve better adhesion with the metal surface of the rod. The main component of the solution is chalk, which, together with other special additives, passes grinding in two stages. At the first stage, it is simply crushed into fairly large pieces.

And grinding to a powder state is carried out at the second stage. Then, the resulting crushed mass is sieved on sieves to separate large particles.