Shield Arc
Super Member
I have my welders on 220-volts, with 60-AMP breakers.
Interested in learning how to weld
- Thread starter jrclark
- Start date
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Mysfyt
Platinum Member
Same here. Works great for mig welding, but for tig welding, 60 amps gets used up fast when welding aluminum. If you haven't run the wiring yet, I'd suggest going with stranded vs solid. Stranded wire runs cooler.
Ah, ok. That will probably require 6 wire to my garage. Might almost make sense to run a sub panel into the garage to handle future pole barn power. I have some things to think about there.
Starting to lean towards a cheaper stick welder now. It's time like these that I really would appreciate a trust fund :/
Starting to lean towards a cheaper stick welder now. It's time like these that I really would appreciate a trust fund :/
:| I thought it was a 50 amp outlet :/ now I'm going to have to go look in the morning.
Stick welding is a bit of an acquired through practice art. My father-in-law taught me and left me his old welder along with about a hundred pounds of various types of welding rod. He described the start as being like striking a match, and that is a very close description to what is required. Preparation through cleaning and chamfering of the material before proceeding is imperative for good results. Your power settings are dependant upon the nature of the material, the thickness of the material and the size and type of rod being used. Mine is an AC type welder, DC welders have the advantage of being able to weld almost upside down on your workpiece, AC works best when gravity is working for you. The purpose of the outer coating on the welding rod is to exclude oxygen from the actual point where you are creating molten metal, that is a combination of welding rod metal and melting workpiece material. The correct term for this is penetration. If your power setting is to low, you will only be melting welding rod, as you increase the power you will be melting more of the workpiece, eventually if your power is too high you will blow holes clear through the workpiece.
that's how you can use the welder to cut steel. Thin rod is for thin material, thicker rod is better suited to thick material and lays in much faster with better spread, coverage and penetration.
Welding is fun, but 3 significant dangers to realize: the light from the arc is intense enough to blind you very quickly, in lesser exposure it will at the very least give you a tremendous headache. Make sure you have sufficient sun or artificial light on your work area so that you can see the workpice and rod while you are wearing your helmet. Secondly the fumes are very toxic, try not to breath in too much of the smoke. The third thing is electric welding is all about grounding, don't weld on a rubber tired vehicle that is not very well grounded or the vehicle will acquire an electric charge just like a giant battery! If you become the ground in that situation it will send you flying and probably blow the false teeth right out of your head :/ seen that happen to my father-in-law once.
Simple AC arc welders also have what is called a duty-cycle. You need to occasionally stop or break very briefly from laying a continuous bead of weld, or you will exceed the machines duty-cycle.
You really should either take a course or seek assistance from an experienced mentor if that is an option, do lots of reading on the subject in advance of attempting to weld. look at examples of really good welds and try to emulate those results, proper welding is to make very tiny circular "stitches" with your welding rod. It's definitely an art form to achieve good results.
Oh ya, one other thing, if you can't get good results with all the cheaper welding rods, say for instance you are attempting to weld a crack in a tractor bell housing :ashamed: get yourself some Nickel rod, that stuff is awesome!
There you go that is the worlds briefest synopsis on how to weld.
Stick welding is a bit of an acquired through practice art. My father-in-law taught me and left me his old welder along with about a hundred pounds of various types of welding rod. He described the start as being like striking a match, and that is a very close description to what is required. Preparation through cleaning and chamfering of the material before proceeding is imperative for good results. Your power settings are dependant upon the nature of the material, the thickness of the material and the size and type of rod being used. Mine is an AC type welder, DC welders have the advantage of being able to weld almost upside down on your workpiece, AC works best when gravity is working for you. The purpose of the outer coating on the welding rod is to exclude oxygen from the actual point where you are creating molten metal, that is a combination of welding rod metal and melting workpiece material. The correct term for this is penetration. If your power setting is to low, you will only be melting welding rod, as you increase the power you will be melting more of the workpiece, eventually if your power is too high you will blow holes clear through the workpiece.
that's how you can use the welder to cut steel. Thin rod is for thin material, thicker rod is better suited to thick material and lays in much faster with better spread, coverage and penetration.Welding is fun, but 3 significant dangers to realize: the light from the arc is intense enough to blind you very quickly, in lesser exposure it will at the very least give you a tremendous headache. Make sure you have sufficient sun or artificial light on your work area so that you can see the workpice and rod while you are wearing your helmet. Secondly the fumes are very toxic, try not to breath in too much of the smoke. The third thing is electric welding is all about grounding, don't weld on a rubber tired vehicle that is not very well grounded or the vehicle will acquire an electric charge just like a giant battery! If you become the ground in that situation it will send you flying and probably blow the false teeth right out of your head :/ seen that happen to my father-in-law once.
Simple AC arc welders also have what is called a duty-cycle. You need to occasionally stop or break very briefly from laying a continuous bead of weld, or you will exceed the machines duty-cycle.
You really should either take a course or seek assistance from an experienced mentor if that is an option, do lots of reading on the subject in advance of attempting to weld. look at examples of really good welds and try to emulate those results, proper welding is to make very tiny circular "stitches" with your welding rod. It's definitely an art form to achieve good results.
Oh ya, one other thing, if you can't get good results with all the cheaper welding rods, say for instance you are attempting to weld a crack in a tractor bell housing :ashamed: get yourself some Nickel rod, that stuff is awesome!
There you go that is the worlds briefest synopsis on how to weld.
Big Barn
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"Trials" synopsis:
I wish someone was around to give me this advice 50 years ago.
Terry
I wish someone was around to give me this advice 50 years ago.
Terry
HCJtractor
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I was in same position several years ago. I bought a Miller 211, and the little Everlast 200. While the MIG is great for fabrication and easier to use, the Everlast is what I use the most for farm implement repairs and for the money, is hard to beat. I have access to a nice Miller Bobcat 250, but the Everlast is my go to welder when something breaks.If you decide to go with a SMAW / stick welder. I switched welders with my brother-n-law, I have his Everlast PowerArc 200ST. This is a very impressive welder
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I dropped out of one after 4-5 weeks without seeing a welder except in a book. I think maybe the next session got to weld.
Bruce
roadhunter
Elite Member
Lots of good videos out there on you tube for just about every process and position. Jody with welding tips and tricks and ChuckE2009 are a couple of my favorites.
mikes1165
New member
I agree with the videos. also like both of those. I pretty much taught myself and you can but you can save yourself a lot of time by at least getting some help from someone that knows how. Also you can save some money and get started with a decent AC stick welder but don't go to cheap. How do I know? I started with a 110V welder mostly a toy and very frustrating. Bought a 220V 200 amp Northern tool welder, much better and did a lot of welding with it but didn't do the best job. finally bough some Fourney 7018 rods and couldn't even strike an arc with them. Friend said it was the welder so I went and bought a 220V Lincoln Tombstone AC welder. A good basic stick welder and they've been around since dirt. The difference was night and day. My welding got a lot better overnight. So at least go with a name brand. There are several out there and I'm sure a lot of these guys know better than me what would be a good choice.
Also duty cycle has never been a problem with the Lincoln because you burn a rod then clean slag and get ready to make next weld while the welder cools.
Also duty cycle has never been a problem with the Lincoln because you burn a rod then clean slag and get ready to make next weld while the welder cools.
I've watched a handful of videos, mostly that Chuck kid on YouTube. Pretty entertaining stuff, I actually like how he conveys information on how not to do stuff.
I'm looking into repurposing some old metal cabinets into a welding table. There's another thread in here about tables and it made me start thinking about making a nice work surface. Space is at a premium in my garage, so that would work out well.
The more I crunch numbers, the more I like the stick welder. This is a tough time of year to be focusing on these things. Lots of money coming and going, little to apply to fun/necessary stuff.
I'm looking into repurposing some old metal cabinets into a welding table. There's another thread in here about tables and it made me start thinking about making a nice work surface. Space is at a premium in my garage, so that would work out well.
The more I crunch numbers, the more I like the stick welder. This is a tough time of year to be focusing on these things. Lots of money coming and going, little to apply to fun/necessary stuff.