big arc welding electrodes

In trying to imagine who might have had a use for all that rod, it occurred to me that maybe it really was obsolete. Who would have a use for 1/4" rod on a regular basis and not own a good wire feed setup which would lay down more metal faster? Does anyone know whether there's still a niche for stick welding with 1/4" and larger electrodes?

Stan

We really didn't know what MIG was at the time. Would've been much more productive as would a sub-arc set up.

What a good find for your shop!

As the other guys pointed out, heavy equipment and structual steel or just about any heavy welding requirement where lugging around a 100# of Mig feeder would be difficult to use.

I've only used 1/4" a couple times in my life but my work was always thin gauge by trade and what little heavy stuff I welded, using 1/8" or 5/32" didn't waste that much time.

For other than flat welding, the larger diameter electordes are a bear to control on most joint types. Like anything, it takes alot of practice to use the larger equipment.

When I worked at Coors, one of the tank depts set up a automatic 1/4" 7024 stick machine for welding 3/4" flat plate joints. They used a bugo machine, a motor driven track unit, that was mostly used with a cutting torch. The set up time was much less using stick than it was using Mig for this type of joint. This guy could really make this auto stick system run fast.

T_Bone