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Hi plh, Small, low power, AC stick welders are extremely hard to weld with. It is usually hard to strike an arc with one, and fairly hard to hold an arc once it is established. It would probably go better if you spent the money to buy 1/16� or 5/64� electrodes (at 3 to 5 times the cost of 3/32� or 1/8�) but then you�d be making multiple passes on anything thicker than sheet metal and you�d run into the welder�s other big limitation---low duty cycle. You usually need to crank those little machines to their highest settings to get them to cooperate at all, but their duty cycle at maximum output is normally 10% or less---often 5%. A 5% duty cycle means that you can use the machine for 30 seconds every 10 minutes. The manufacturer is not being modest about it, either. Overheat one of those little babies and they shut right down. And every time they shut down from the thermal overload breaker tripping, they are a little more heat sensitive the next time. If you have access to 220V power, get yourself a used Lincoln, Miller, Hobart, Forney, Power Kraft (Monkey Ward), or Craftsman---in about that order. Craftsman welders tend to be picky about what electrodes they like. And some Power Kraft welders use an unreliable current adjustment system so that the setting will change as you�re welding (but you can make it work by clamping it externally.) Forneys generally use individual plug-ins for settings so they�re not quite as convenient to change the current, but they�re absolutely reliable. If you have to have a welder that runs on 110V, good luck; it�s a huge limitation. There are undoubtedly good 110 welders I don�t know about, but in my experience there are only two decent 110V options---both expensive. Lincoln and Hobart make 125A-140A wire feed welders that owners seem to really like. (I�d steer clear of Harbor Freight�s Chicago Electric brand, though.) Lincoln and a few other reliable companies also make pricey little inverter stick welders. Lincoln�s 100A inverter is about $500, for instance. All the best, Stan
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