I got an auto-darkening helmet today, and boy howdy is that a treat. Only thing is, now I have to remember to make sure it's turned on again when I get done grinding. There's an accident waiting to happen. Maybe I should use a different face shield when I grind. So far, I just look away and tap the work piece to confirm that the lens darkens before I start welding in earnest.
Anyway, here's today's work.
View attachment 283328
I went out and bought a brand new box of 1/8" E6013 just to rule out bad rods as a source of my DC problems. All of the above beads were run with those rods. I was able to consistently get a DC arc struck, but I had to run the welder all-out at 140 amps to do it, which seems higher than would normally be recommended. The DC beads also seem taller than they should be, to my amateur eye. Bear in mind this is on a piece of about 3/8" thick T-stock, if that's relevant. On the AC side, I think the 6013 runs a little nicer than the 6011 I was using, although the auto-darkening hood and my slight increase in experience probably play in.