Why there is no love for stick welders?

Stick is fun, challenging but fun. If you can do a decent ac stick weld, you're a welder
I have the world's most unusual transformer-in-a-box:
View attachment 300142

That's a real work of art. Looks like it should be saying "take me to your leader" in a Flash Gorden episode. Cheers, Mike
 
7014 is the easiest rod to weld with. 7018 isn't bad but on the cheap ones the restarts can test your patience!

I have all three welders but my main go-to is still the MIG after 15yrs of hobby welding. I'm new to TIG and want to make TIG my go-to welding process but I find it way too slow. However, as others have said it's the cleanest of the three and that's the main reason I want to use it the most because all my welding happens in my attached 2 car garage usually with the roll up door mostly closed.
 
I learned to weld on oxyacetylene and then stick when I was in high school vo-ag shop class. That was some time ago. I got a Mig welder about 25 years ago and used it with flux cored wire and then with shield gas, then I got a Tig welder. The Tig also had the option for stick welding, so I got a stick stinger and gave it a try again. That's when I realized how much harder stick is than the other processes and how much I had forgotten. I was actually pretty good at it in high school, but the results I got were horrible. After that practice session the stick stinger hasn't left the drawer. If I had a major job on thick steel that I didn't want to clean to perfection, I would spend the time, rod and practice metal to re-acquire the skill, but until then, I will stick with Mig and Tig.
 
Stick is fun, challenging but fun. If you can do a decent ac stick weld, you're a welder
I have the world's most unusual transformer-in-a-box:
View attachment 300142

That'sa n interesting multi tapped beast. At a guess I'd say it's ell and truly pre WWII. but probably does a good job.
 
Bob: I think you're right, around 1940s- works well, makes a nice hum when you flip that big toggle
Smiths brand
 
My dad had the oxy/acetylene in the shop before I first walked in there. He had me go fetch another coat hanger more than once.
I started arc welding with a Lincoln AC "buzzbox" (so named due to the racket it made as you varied arc length, and therefore power produced).
Spent quite a bit of time on a Miller Bobcat, in the field. MUCH better arc in DC than the ol' buzzbox. 7018 got ALOT better.
Learned how to TIG on aluminum. First time I tried it on steel, I made a mess. WAY too hot:confused 3:.
Bought a 225 amp mig a few years back. I like it, it makes me look good. Almost never use anything else anymore. Don't do much anymore, either.

I never was a "real" welder with any of these processes, but I dang sure noticed that the skills required are all perishable.
 
I learned some interesting stick facts:
1) Hot material and rod strikes easier
2) Burn off some rod before doing a bead in tight quarters, a shorter rod is easier to control
3) Experiment with the settings on your auto-dark helmet, and have good lighting. See better, weld better
 
I use stick mostly because it is convenient. I have two MIG machines and oxyacteylene as well but usually the bottles are empty. I do very little welding with oxyacetylene, mostly its for heating and cutting. I think the last time I gas welded was some aluminum sheet metal on my boat. I use the MIG in the basement shop, mostly because there are no obnoxious fumes although I still have my Miller buzzbox there. If I need to use it, I just open the door to the outside to vent the fumes.

I have toyed with the idea of making my own oxygen and hydrogen. A back of the envelope calculation shows I can generate the equivalent of my S tank for under $2 worth of electricity. I have an oxyhydrogen torch and I suspect that I can convert the OA torches over fairly easily.

I would like to add TIG and plasma to the arsenal. I keep eying the Everlast 265. It just gets increasingly more difficult to justify it as I get older. :(
As you mature when it comes to tools or hobbies do you need to justify anything?
 
As you mature when it comes to tools or hobbies do you need to justify anything?
Unfortunately, yes. I have come to the realization the my remaining years are limited. Even more so are the years that I can continue working in this hobby. When I was younger, it was easy for me to justify a purchase in that it would prove useful many times in the coming years. Now, that is not the case.
I am fortunate in that I am fairly well set and if I wanted to buy a machining center, I could and pay cash for it. However, I have a wife who is more than 14 years my junior and I have to think about her future when I have passed on. Given current affairs, there is a compelling need to hold a substantial reseerve. A single medical issue could wipe out our assets. A recession like that of a decade ago could seriously reduce them.
 
Back
Top