Update on my Stickweld 250
Had another get together with Shield Arc so that he could further my skill enhancement with my Longevity Stickweld 250. Many months back he had previously worked with me on 7018.
I had recently tried my hand at 6010 and was very dissatisfied with the results that I was getting. The problems that I was having could not be resolved via email and pictures. Shield Arc was trying to help but only in person could he really see what was happening. He also had wanted to experiment a bit more with the "arc force" on the Stickweld 250 since it seemed to work differently than he had been used to with other machines/inverters.
I had been using Radnor 6010 1/8" and was not very happy with what I was getting. Shield Arc with his experience could remove my inconsistencies (of which there are many) and truly tell what was happening.
What we/he discovered is that the Stickweld 250 does not really "like" several brands of rods in different types. Shield Arc had previously determined that Lincoln Excalibur 7018 runs very well on this machine and I have been using it. There were several other 7018 rods that had been tried and did not run near as well. He told me that his experience was that a lot of inverters (even very high end ones) did better with some brands than others.
He tried the Radnor 6010 that I had been using (1/8") as well as 5/32" and was very unhappy with the results. He also tried ESAB 10P 6010 1/8" with very poor results as well. Lincoln 5P Plus 5/32" had a similar result. At this point he said that my Stickweld 250 did not run 6010 very well at all from what we were seeing.
He then switched to Hobart 335A 1/8" 6011 and found that it ran a very acceptable weld. Not great like the Excalibur 7018 but acceptable. Having a very full stock of different welding rods he then tried Esab 10P Plus 1/8" 6010. That rod worked fantastic. It ran just as nice a 6010 weld as the Excalibur 7018 weld with the machine.
I then tried the 6010 and it made every difference in the world even with my limited skill set I could do so much better just by using a different rod. As Shield Arc has told me before, "these inverters just seem to run some brands better than others and you just have to find the one that works for that machine." He experimented with the arc force more and basically decided 5-10 was the only range that was worth using on the unit.
The one very interesting thing that we did find was amperage requirement. Shield Arc had been telling me from my reports to him of what I was using for amperage with the different rods, that I was running them WAY too hot. Of course the more I turned it down the worse the welds became. Today, he was amazed to find that even using the settings that I had been running that he thought it was too cold when he viewed the results in person.
As an example using the Esab 10P Plus 6010 with his Lincoln V350-Pro he was using 45 amps less than with my Stickweld 250. This is just one example of very high amperage that was being used on my Stickweld 250 in order to get the temperature of the weld correct. Interesting several months ago 140 amps was quite acceptable with the Excalibur 7018 1/8" flat and today he was using 155 amps with 5 arc force on flat and 145 amps 10 arc force Vertical Up.
Question that I have is there anyway these inverters can start to fail/degrade in such a way that the amperage displayed is not what is being used or that some other failure mode requires a higher amperage in order to compensate for the failing component? The machine seems to work very well as I put in my initial review many months back (if you use a rod that it seems to like) and I am very happy with it. For the price it is a fantastic little machine. I just question why I am having to run such high amperage in order to get the correct weld temperature.
Had another get together with Shield Arc so that he could further my skill enhancement with my Longevity Stickweld 250. Many months back he had previously worked with me on 7018.
I had recently tried my hand at 6010 and was very dissatisfied with the results that I was getting. The problems that I was having could not be resolved via email and pictures. Shield Arc was trying to help but only in person could he really see what was happening. He also had wanted to experiment a bit more with the "arc force" on the Stickweld 250 since it seemed to work differently than he had been used to with other machines/inverters.
I had been using Radnor 6010 1/8" and was not very happy with what I was getting. Shield Arc with his experience could remove my inconsistencies (of which there are many) and truly tell what was happening.
What we/he discovered is that the Stickweld 250 does not really "like" several brands of rods in different types. Shield Arc had previously determined that Lincoln Excalibur 7018 runs very well on this machine and I have been using it. There were several other 7018 rods that had been tried and did not run near as well. He told me that his experience was that a lot of inverters (even very high end ones) did better with some brands than others.
He tried the Radnor 6010 that I had been using (1/8") as well as 5/32" and was very unhappy with the results. He also tried ESAB 10P 6010 1/8" with very poor results as well. Lincoln 5P Plus 5/32" had a similar result. At this point he said that my Stickweld 250 did not run 6010 very well at all from what we were seeing.
He then switched to Hobart 335A 1/8" 6011 and found that it ran a very acceptable weld. Not great like the Excalibur 7018 but acceptable. Having a very full stock of different welding rods he then tried Esab 10P Plus 1/8" 6010. That rod worked fantastic. It ran just as nice a 6010 weld as the Excalibur 7018 weld with the machine.
I then tried the 6010 and it made every difference in the world even with my limited skill set I could do so much better just by using a different rod. As Shield Arc has told me before, "these inverters just seem to run some brands better than others and you just have to find the one that works for that machine." He experimented with the arc force more and basically decided 5-10 was the only range that was worth using on the unit.
The one very interesting thing that we did find was amperage requirement. Shield Arc had been telling me from my reports to him of what I was using for amperage with the different rods, that I was running them WAY too hot. Of course the more I turned it down the worse the welds became. Today, he was amazed to find that even using the settings that I had been running that he thought it was too cold when he viewed the results in person.
As an example using the Esab 10P Plus 6010 with his Lincoln V350-Pro he was using 45 amps less than with my Stickweld 250. This is just one example of very high amperage that was being used on my Stickweld 250 in order to get the temperature of the weld correct. Interesting several months ago 140 amps was quite acceptable with the Excalibur 7018 1/8" flat and today he was using 155 amps with 5 arc force on flat and 145 amps 10 arc force Vertical Up.
Question that I have is there anyway these inverters can start to fail/degrade in such a way that the amperage displayed is not what is being used or that some other failure mode requires a higher amperage in order to compensate for the failing component? The machine seems to work very well as I put in my initial review many months back (if you use a rod that it seems to like) and I am very happy with it. For the price it is a fantastic little machine. I just question why I am having to run such high amperage in order to get the correct weld temperature.