Basic welding question

Thanks

Seems like the overwhelming consensus is that your cheap welder is going to make it hard for you to learn to weld. If you need more persuasion to consider looking for better equipment, I've got a couple of things to add that nobody has mentioned yet.

1.) 1/16" electrodes are by far the most expensive size of mild steel electrodes. They typically sell for around $6/lb. I've only seen them offered on eBay a few times, and never seen them sell for less than $4/lb. Of course there are a lot of them in a pound, but you've got to burn a lot of rods to get good. My first welding instructor told me that by the time I'd burned about 10,000 rods, I'd feel like I was starting to get the hang of it. It turns out that that's way closer to the truth than I ever imagined. So it's good to be able to use 1/8" and 3/32" electrodes which can be found for less than $1/lb with a bit of searching.

2.) If you think that you'll benefit by learning to weld under adverse conditions because then later you'll be able to weld under any conditions, I'd advise you to think again. I'd say it's just as likely that the frustration you'll experience will prevent you from spending the time you need practicing, and that you may never get to the point where it's a lot of fun. I tried to learn to weld with a standard (non auto-darkening) helmet because I thought it would be like learning to drive a vehicle with standard transmission so as to be able to drive anything from the get-go. Now I think that was a waste of time. A beginner with a standard helmet spends so much time not welding that they don't get to experience the many other things there are to be learned besides striking an arc. Now I'm so convinced that learning with the best equipment available is the way to go that it's made me reconsider my lifelong belief in the value of learning to drive stick first.

3.) I'd guess that most of the people who have responded here would agree with me that welding is an activity that falls into the category of things that are as much fun as you can have with your clothes on---or at least that it's very useful. By trying to learn with needlessly difficult equipment, you increase the chance that you'll never get to the point where you enjoy it. And that would be a shame.

All the best, Stan

They are almost bulletproof and have the power to really burn some iron together... A great welder for the money.

Howard

Steve

If everything else was ideal, then sticking rods would most likely be caused by too little amperage, as previously mentioned. With a "cheap arc welder (70 amp AC only)" it's practically a given that everything else is not ideal. An almost universal characteristic of low end welders is that they have low open circuit voltage (OCV). This is the voltage that you would measure between the electrode holder and the ground clamp when the welder is on but not welding. In a quality welder, one made by Lincoln, Miller, Hobart, or ESAB, for instance, the OCV would be around 80 volts. At somewhere around 60 volts it starts getting difficult to strike and hold an arc. I measured the OCV on one inexpensive 80 amp welder at 37.5 volts, and that welder will just give you fits trying to get a rod lit.

If you found 1/16" rod it's probably 6013 because that's about the only rod that size which is commonly available. 6013 is a medium penetrating rod which I find to be subject to voids and slag inclusions unless you're very steady and very careful. But it's one of the easiest striking rods and works well AC machines. You might also be able to run 3/32" 7014, 6011, and 6013. If you could find some 3/32" 7018AC you might be able to get it lit, but my money would be on not. I'd forget about regular 7018 of any size---that machine just won't weld with it.

Watch the duty cycle; it's likely to be 10% or less at the max setting you'll need to burn almost any rod except that 1/16" (which the package recommends for use at 25-45 amps, by the way.) Duty cycle is the portion of a ten minute period you can actually be welding; the rest of the time the machine has to be cooling down. Exceed it and you'll trip a thermal overload breaker, and possibly make it more sensitive to subsequent overheating. I once owned a welder that did that.

The sizzling sound of bacon frying is not as useful for tuning in the heat with a stick welder as it is with wire feed under some circumstances.

You can increase your welding success by cleaning the metal well (bright, bare metal is best), using care in fitting the pieces to be welded, and even heating the metal a bit before striking an arc.

If it turns out that you have a terrible time getting good welds, don't lose hope. It's probably your equipment, not you. Stick welding is difficult to master even with very good equipment. With low end equipment it can be an exercise in frustration. Actually, my opinion is that only somebody who is already a very good welder can get acceptable results with cheap equipment---and they won't have any fun doing it. When I say cheap equipment, though, I mean cheap NEW equipment. Used stick welders, on the other hand, are one of the best values going. They almost never wear out, and you can often find a used Lincoln buzz box, or similar high quality welder, for about the price you'd pay for a new low quality one.

All the best, Stan