My Everlast PowerArc 300

[Haywire]

Watch this kid, he is really good.

I have a hard time with him. He's all over the place. He'll swing way wide now and then, then he'll be plodding along with no discernible pattern and all of a sudden backtrack an inch or shoot out in front out of the puddle and come back. That would be all well and good if he would run the weld, then add the audio track in afterward and explain what he's doing the way Welding Tips and Tricks does. WT&T just doesn't do enough stick. He's mostly Tig.

Ian

 

[Shield Arc]

I've never noticed that, and I've watched quite a few of his videos. I know he's kind of a screw ball:laughing:, but he knows his welding. I guess the part that impresses me the most with him is when he "shoots the gap" as he calls it. When welding pipe or tube he stick the filler rod through the pipe and welds on the opposite side. I've tried it, I don't think I'll live long enough to ever get a handle on that.
I looked for his video of shooting the gap, but couldn't find it. Here is a picture I found of someone else doing the the same thing.

 

[Sublifer]

You're gonna get some splatter with 6010 / 6011 just the nature of the beast, but running too hot, and too long of arc length will produce more splatter than necessary.

Hmmm... by too long of an arc length do you mean space between electrode and the metal or length of the run? Now that I think about it, when I tried to make a long continuous bead, when I got further the rod would start burning really fast and make it hard for me to maintain my distance between the electrode and workpiece. So maybe that means I was running too hot...?

 

[Sublifer]

Looks like good progress. You don't have to join metal to lay a bead. You can just weld a series of beads side by side, building up the thickness of the piece to get practice and learn settings.
...
Have two 4.5" grinders handy. One with a grinding wheel and one with a wire brush to clean your welds up nice. The better your welds are the easier they will be to clean but the power brush is still nice to clean the whole weld area and to clean rust from metal.

I may do that.

I have 3 grinders The 3rd has a cut off disc :thumbsup:

 

[Shield Arc]

by too long of an arc length do you mean space between electrode and the metal

Yes..

 

[Jerry/MT]

I thought I'd post my opinions and experience on my PA300 so far. FWIW: I was not asked to review it. I just wanted to share my opinions for those that may be on the fence considering it and want to hear what an owner has to say about it. Not sure anyone else has posted much about the PA300.


Okay, first off I am not a professional welder. In fact this is only the 3rd time I've used a stick welder. A total of maybe 45 minutes behind the stick with those first two times several years back. I do have a 120v flux core wire welder. 'Tis not scottish but its done the job. I do have about 10 or so hours behind that machine.

So, on to the PA300:
In short, this thing is nice! I haven't really pushed it with it and doubt I ever will. I ran some 5/32 6011 rod on some 1/4 plate. It was ugly for the most part but that is my own fault. Still working on holding it steady and learning and all. I started on some 1/8 6013 which was really ugly. Easy but ugly. I spent about 1.5 hours behind these electrodes and while it never yielded much good, it was a learning experience.

Before I go on, a big part of my crappy welding is that I'm currently doing it over a few pieces of 1" angle on the ground so I'm bent over it all trying to keep myself and the cables clear of the heat and trying to keep my body as well as the electrode steady. It hurt and it sucked. I will get or build a welding table when I can. Hopefully soon!

Okay so after the ugly messes with the 1st two rod types (I did manage the stack of dimes look for a couple of 2" runs with the 6011) then I pulled out some 1/8 7018. When I was able to keep myself steady I had some really good results with it. No its not perfect but again, it was a horrible balancing act the whole time. Here are some pics:
First is a shot of the welder and my work area. A few 6011 runs on those pieces I think.
View attachment 256490
Next 3 pics are some of my better 7018 runs.
View attachment 256491
View attachment 256492
View attachment 256493

Almost forgot to mention, the 1/4 material was a 6" wide piece that I cut to 3 lengths and laid them side by side. The edges were cut really badly by torch at a scrap yard. They didn't try for clean or straight cuts at all but the steel was free... It just made it really nasty trying to put the pieces together. I thought it would be a nice challenge instead of trying to make the edges perfectly straight. Well, it sure was a challenge.

So don't be too harsh on me. I'm pretty new to stick welding. I should be able to do much better once I'm not all bent over and unbalanced.

You just need more practice. Try cutting back the current bit and keep a shorter arc.