Stick Welding (SMAW) Advice Needed

[country gent]

I put a 2x lens in my welding helmet and it helps a lot.for me .

[Dave W.]

You have received some good advice, not much else I can add. If the metal is clean I prefer a Mig, easier to use. But if I want to be sure to get good penetration or the metal is dirty, rusty or painted, out comes the stick welder,with the correct rod it will burn through anything.

Stick welding is the hardest to learn, but once a person gets the hang of it, the other welding processes are much easier. Kind of like learning to drive. The people that learn on a manual transmission can use an automatic with no issues. But, most people that learn on an automatic transmission, never learn to drive a manual.

[justindad]

I couldn't agree more.

But using cut off wheels on them--- you do need to be careful ..........

Of all the years I've spent working in a fabrication/welding shop, and hacking around in the garage-
A shattered cut off wheel is the only thing that ever sent me to the Emergency Room.
That isn't me in the picture-- Of the ones I've shattered, it ate through a heavy welding glove and ran across the back of my hand.

Time to replace my cutoff wheel.

[wilecoyote]

yes, your eyes and fingers, etc. first_
If you could find these titles, especially Welder's Handbook, you won't be disappointed about the fundamentals, stick w. included.

[Wolfdog91]

Go right dead in the middle and get a decent multi process. Ran flux for a few years got tired of it for a few reasons. Went to school ran and used stick almost the whole time plus the last three or so years at home and finally said screw it and drop probably $640 all together on a multi process with the mix gas and regulator and haven't been happier. The ability to say hay I don't wanna spend all day with stick trying to weld some light stuff or hay I need some good heavy penetration and don't wanna lug around a bottle is absolutely AMAZING!
Don't get me wrong I love stuck and it's the "manly " way to weld but amn I'll tell you, burning rod for tacks gets annoying after a few hours .
This the one I got an im very pleased !


And word of advice if your not gonna be welding every day and you have a harbor freight in town just go get a few of their 4 1/2" grinders . Give them you email and just return them when they burn up. I have four in my stand and each is ter up for something different and I have less in them then one DeWalt. Have one with a hard disk,one with a flap disk , one with a wire wheel and one with cutting disc. All I need to do is grab one and plug it in none of this taking 3min to change out discs. I've burned up mabye ... Three in the last five years put I just walked in gave them my email address and got a new one . ALOT better us of my time then trying to return a DeWalt.
Also look into getting a ole sugar scoop good and dropping the $59-100 for a auto dark lense. Sorry but those fixed shades are ...egh.... I can get two years out of a harber freid auto dark so that's what I'm doing right now

[Wolfdog91]

Also would say get yourself one of those little buzz box stickers that can run off of 110 and keep some /3/32 6011 around. I had a frobey easy weld I think I paid like $250 for a few years back at Tractor supply brand new and loved it. Could toss it in my car and had it under cars at deer stands front yard you name it I was generally pretty good as long as I had a decent extension cord. And with that 6011 ! 6011 is a beast of a rod once you really know how to work it. 80amps on a 100' extension cord had those little rods burning deep and hot ! And since their fast freeze you could go from heavy to light material really quick as long as you know how to work the puddle . Is it perfect? No but man it well definitely get stuff welded up and back to work !

[Three44s]

My preference for angle grinders has narrowed to only ones with paddle or trigger switches due to safety concerns.

Three44s

[Wolfdog91]

And I CANNOT reccomend enough you watch this guy! It's a old video but it's amazing informative. Been out of school for come up five years now and I still find my going back and watching ole Steve

[Wolfdog91]

Weld.com is another amazing source. Actual welders with decades of experience and they break stuff down Barney style

[wilecoyote]

My preference for angle grinders has narrowed to only ones with paddle or trigger switches due to safety concerns.Three44s

...I would add that I've had a bad experience with my first (and last) cheap angle grinder: the disc didn't broke, but what kept it attached to the tool broke, and I had a flying disk.
Next day I bought a Bosch, ten times more expensive, which I still use today_

[Winger Ed.]

My preference for angle grinders has narrowed to only ones with paddle or trigger switches due to safety concerns.

I got those for the shop, and the model that doesn't have the set/lock feature.
We got most power tools from Grainger, and they offered 'em both ways.

Guys would say their finger got tired holding the trigger down, and wanted ones with the lock.
Nope. I figured if they were too tired to hold down the trigger---
they were too tired to use the grinder without getting sloppy and maybe hurt.

[wilecoyote]

the ones with the lock can work if in the hands of one owner only,
but if the tool is not battery-powered but connected to the mains, and available to several workers, the next may not notice that the machine will running as soon as he plug in, if the lock has not been deactivated by the previous user.

[Alstep]

Another consideration.

With a Mig welder, you need to have your work within 10 or 15 feet of the machine. The length of your cable that feeds your wire & gas is a limiting factor. The shop I worked for had a half dozen Miller MIG machines, and they all performed well. If we had a large project, there would be a machine on both ends, maybe another in the middle.

With a stick welder, you can run the cable quite some distance as long as the cable is heavy enough. For a big job, you can run the ground to the work near the welder. Then run your welding cable where ever its needed. Much more flexible for outdoor jobs and on the farm, and jobs where you can't get your welding machine near the work. This is where your portable gas powered machines have the advantage.

[Wolfdog91]

I got those for the shop, and the model that doesn't have the set/lock feature.
We got most power tools from Grainger, and they offered 'em both ways.

Guys would say their finger got tired holding the trigger down, and wanted ones with the lock.
Nope. I figured if they were too tired to hold down the trigger---
they were too tired to use the grinder without getting sloppy and maybe hurt.

After about an hour of grinding those get mighty tiring. Prefere a lock up over everything mainly because I do stuff in steps. Might be welding for two hours straight then bringing for two hours. Hand cramps are real , especially if you have tiny hands like me lol

[Winger Ed.]

Prefere a lock up over everything mainly because I do stuff in steps. Might be welding for two hours straight then bringing for two hours. Hand cramps are real , especially if you have tiny hands like me lol

Be safe. When your hands get tired, they're telling you it's time to take a break.

In the 90s, when I worked at the auto paint store, one of our body shop customers felt that way too.
He was using a grinder with the trigger set/locked. It 'bucked', jumped out of his hands, spun around, and disemboweled him.
But he did live long enough to say his good-byes to the other guys in the shop before the ambulance carried him away.

I'll admit-- am overly cautious with various things. I used to teach the safety & survival classes in the Service,
and for the 11 years I worked for the safe company. In all that time, I was the only one that ever got hurt on the job,
and it wasn't bad enough to need more than a couple stiches.

[Thundarstick]

Boy! You are getting a lot of great advice here!

Some of the best is coming from Winger Ed! You only get ten fingers, two ears, and two eyes. How you choose to risk them is up to you! Personally I never grind or use a cutting disk for even a minute without full face protection, long sleeves, and cut resistant gloves! I had a cutoff disk shatter on me recently and it skittered across my off hand. It ate my glove and left me with a few scabs, I'd likely had stitches if not for the glove!
My profession is medical and I've seen all kinds of nasty accidents from all kind of power tools. A few years ago a fella was building a porch rail for his aging mother, when a 4 1/2 inch grinding wheel burst. A piece hit him in the neck, severed his carotid artery, and he bleed out rite on his mother's front porch before the ambulance could get to him! Safely is a state of mind!

[Winger Ed.]

There was only a couple of guys in the shop I'd even let use the 10,000 rpm angle grinders.

I'd bundle up before I even plugged one in. I had a wheel shatter one time that the big chunk hit me dead in the chest.
It bounced off my leather welder's coat, it on came up, left a big trench right between my eyes in my face shield,
then stuck in a 16' high ceiling like a ninja star.

Guys would get mad I wouldn't loan them a grinder for "something quick". I'd tell 'em, 'I'll do it, or my assistant'.
They'd ask why, and I'd point to the half disc still stuck in the ceiling.

Most realized, and grasped what they were looking at, got that 'Oh **** expression', and said, "Oh..... OK".

[Froogal]

I own a mig welder. It works good for light duty stuff. I also own an oxy-acetylene set up, which is good for cutting and heating to make bends, etc., but my go to welder for heavy duty stuff is my Lincoln tombstone with 6011 rods.

[Three44s]

An angle grinder on the loose with a locked down switch is like a “loose nuke” in my opinion. They can come out of your control in a blink of the eye and cause irreparable harm.

Three44s

[Rapier]

I have had a bit of bad experience with Chinese crapola and Chinese fraud, you pay and no product. Think I will stick, no pun intended, to US made stuff, that I can get service and parts for.