Stick welding 10 mm round rod to flat bar or plate

[FrighteningRod]

Only have a stick welder and often need to weld rod to plate with rod lying flat on plate. I usually grind a flat on the surface of the rod which touches the plate and two flats on the sides at an angle, so in section it looks like this \___/, that's so I can get a root weld in there then try and build on the weld.

Wondering if this grinding metal off the rod actually weakens the join. I tried getting a root weld into the gap without doing any grinding but thought the weld wasn't penetrating properly.

Also tried using 2.0 mm rod instead of 2.5 mm but couldn't get a decent puddle.

Any advice please.

 

[Gary Fowler]

Yes you can be weakening the rod by grinding it if you grind past the weld area.

You can get plenty of weld metal on a round rod by just welding a fillet down both sides. The round rod naturally forms a weld bevel. A fillet about 2X the diameter of the rod in length (20mm) on both sides of the rod will hold more than the rod. I would use a

 

[Gary Fowler]

Let me finish the above post.
I would use a 3/32" 7018 stick electrode to weld the 10mm rod with. A 20mm (about 3/4") long fillet weld on each side of the rod will hold more than the rod will support. A 6mm (about 1/4" sized) fillet weld is plenty of weld.