AC stick welder vs. MIG welder

The MIG was my first welder- I have never used a stick welder. My question is- are there things I can do with an AC stick welder that I can't do with the MIG?

One thing that comes to mind is using it to heat metal with a carbon stick. (where can I get this, btw?) Are there special welding rods for doing, say, aluminum? I know I can theoretically do aluminum on my MIG if I get different gas, a new liner, etc. But if there was a way to do a quick aluminum weld with the stick welder, that would be great.

Or, any other advantages of the "buzz box"?

BUT for all purpose shop or garage welding, I prefer the mig. It's speed and the maintenance free weld (no slag to knock off before painting) is nice.

USAlloys@aol.com

They are item 1252 Arc Air Electrode.

5/16 rods are 50 sticks per box @ a cost of $25.50/bx I think.

For welding under a wide variety of conditions, you can't beat a stick for quick set-up. Of course, a wire machine beats a stick hands down for extended welding. It all depends on what your needs are I guess, I'd like to have a MIG in addition to my stick. Oh, and that plasma cutter too.

As for aluminum, stick rods are useless. All they do is make a mess out of things. The welds are ugly and don't have much stength. If try to do a proper repair after a stick has been used, you have to remove all of the stick weld and area effected by it or you won't get a good repair.

The Millermatic 250 is an excellent runner of aluminum wire HOWEVER, you must use a spool-o-matic 30A spool gun for it. Depending upon the age of your 250, it may or may not have the required circuit board to plug the 30A into. If it does, you will have a connector on the upper right corner (facing control panel of machine), if it does not have the module board, you will see a rectangular blank off panel in that area. The board costs around $90 and is easy to intsall but requires removing the outer case of the machine.

Don't know current pricing on the 30A gun but best guess would be around $500. Trying to push wire through the whip is like trying to push a rope up a pipe. All it does is jam in the liner and birdnest in the drive wheels. Run 100% argon, reverse polarity. My machine runs 3/64" wire excellent at 18 to 21 volts with wire speed set on 2.5 to 3.5 (bottom of the grip on the 30A).

Miller also makes a push - pull assembly that uses the drive wheels in the machine to push while a 30A gun without the spool holder is attached to the whip. These work great but are costly to set up and you loose the steel wire capability without removing all the AL equipment from the machine. For this, the 30A is the way to go if you got the work to justify the costs.

That AC welder will also do a decent job with 6011 and 6010 rods too. All depends on how smooth the output is and what the run circuit voltage as to how well it'll weld with certain rods. Some AC machines will even lay a half decent bead with 7014 and 7018 while others will not even maintain a stable arc. As for using the carbon rods, this was the old way of doing galv sheet steel. Sharpen the carbon in a pencil sharpener then draw the arc with the welder and either do lap welds or use a bare filler rod. It worked but if you get some Esab coreshield 11 for your mig, it'll do the same thing faster and better. CS-11 runs without gas and on strait polarity (electrode negative).

I usually buy good tools, but since this is for occasional use thought this might be ok.

Would really appreciate your input and candid opinions. Thanks very much