Submerged stick welding
 

Any of you guys know of a welding rod/stick that can weld under water?
A machinist told me that they make a special rod that is able to weld under water, and was wondering if any of you guys know of one or a brand and part number or link to where I can find something like this.

From getting my scuba certification I know that underwater welders get paid a LOT, so I'm guessing you won't find it cheaply.

I would check at a large marine supply shop or a marina.

What are you using it for? There may be an alternative thats easier to find.

Not looking for a fully covered equipment submersion like scuba (I think they use a torch for that?), from what I was told is you can set the part in a pool of water and the arcing tip of the stick can be submerged as well.

I thought that some of the proficient welders that are cruising around here would chime in from experience hopfuly.

whats the application?

Well I haven't tried it, but it seems the arc wouldn't conduct on the exact spot u want to weld if its in the water, it would hop around. Are you submerging the piece so it doesn't warp when welding? Jusk keep a 1gallon water jug at your side and splash it liberally.

Dont undwater welders get paid alot.. because they die alot? thats my understanding

what? under water welding is only for big projects where you need to secure something in a lake or ocean. UNder water welding works off DC -ve, what welders call straight current. It uses special welding rods that do not have a flux core as you don't need sheilding gas under water since there almost no free oxygen.

I you are thinking of taking your home depot lincon electric and filling up your plastic pool and welding think again.

If you want to weld thick peices together without warping you preheat the two peices before welding and quickly weld and put the peices back in teh oven and slowly bring the temp down.

yep

?

brother! some of the things that come up on this site, anyway when I was a kid WW2 we saw a motion picture showing a person welding the bottom of a ship in the water , the reason it came to mind was a pic of my grandmother welding on the side of the same ship above water, Boston Navy yard circa 1943, but lets face it them people were made defferent back then they did what they were told , good or bad and won the war. RON

my sisters fiance wants to get certified in underwater welding. you have to go to hawaii. its expensive, your gone for months on end, and your underwater like 12 hrs a day. but you get paid 100-300k a year. im sure the training is expensive as hell.

When Im working Im constantly stick welding in about knee deep water with the metal getting splashed constantly..... I get shocked a lot. :(

you dont weld under water unless the thing you are welding is already submerged and cant be moved. if youre trying to avoid warping, heat the pieces, then weld, then put them in sand and cover them up with the sand and leave them to cool for a couple hours.

underwater welders do get paid a lot because they die a lot.

tell us the application, and I bet the guys on here can tell you an easier way.

pat

I think I read somewhere that your life expectancy as an underwater welder is a month or something insane like that!!

lmao

That’s just the thing it isn’t an application question. I am looking for a manufacture that makes, or used to make a compatible rod that can be used in this situation, or a system that is similar to the process described that is manufactured or has been in the past.

I was told that there used to be a company that sold a rod as described above that could be submerged and weld stainless underwater. This was told to me by a older guy that works at a machine shop, and I am looking for a source for just sort of a rod that is capable of this scenario.

My uncles a uncer water certifyied welder, does the colums for new bridges. I can ask him, plus we are both local.

If you could do that I would be grateful!
The question comes because I was talking to a old machinist that told me back in the day they had such a thing and he didn’t know if it existed anymore.

I looked around to find something similar, but didn’t find what he had described to me, so I thought I would post here as there are several people kicking around here with lots of welding experience, thought maybe someone would have heard of it or know something about it.