Technical Do you ever use your stickwelder anymore?

I only work on autos. Have no need for stick. Stick welder had been taking up space the past 15 years. Never even used it to weld in top hats or crossmember. We are not welding pipe or tubes or mystery metals. I know that stuff, my boy is boiler maker. When he was at trade school they only used stick

 

Sure I use it,I can fit about 6 or 7 empty coffee cups on mine.

 

Alan, some guys on here might not know about welding boiler tubes. I worked a shut down in Kethecan , Alaska, some years ago, and watched my brother in law doing tube welds. And let me tell you, I was impressed! If your a successful boiler tube welder. You go to the head of the class. Lots of people can weld pertty good under excellent conditions. But welding under the boiler conditions and passing X-Ray, that’s skill!


Bones

 

Yes they are talented however welding tube remote in nuclear facility also requires exceptional skill.. I can’t imagine having to weld perfect bead and no going back to grind and redo
Myself I do everything twice if not more

 

Back in my freshman year of high school in 1970, one of my classes was metal shop, and try as I did, I never mastered the art of stick welding. I felt like a jerk because I could not successfully do it. Otherwise the class was OK but I must have gotten a big fat "F" on stick welding.

 

That stick welder is a great power supply for scratch start TIG.

 

Tom, come to Oklahoma, bring a case of beer, I’ll have you stick welding before the beer is gone.


Bones

 

I use a stick welder because that is all I have. I also have an O/A set but I ran out O2 years ago.

 

Wouldn't weld anything over 1/8 with a mig on home voltage...thats where the stick wins all the time...any frame welds should be stick or Tig.......

 

I use Mostly the Stick
(a big old top-crank Miller-300amp...3-400#s...copper wound ..I'm pretty sure that thing could weld the GoldenGate bridge)....
I barely even use the (old Century brand) wirefeed...just for thin sheetmetal & exhaust...

 

Better yet, with all these guys who have stick welders in their garages that they're not using, one of them would probably be more than happy for you to buy his just to gain some space in the shop. Of course, the minute you offered to buy the machine, it would become extremely valuable. Hell, they might even give it to you.

 

Heck i almost forgot...I got an old Lincoln tombstone last summer...with 2 cans of 1\8" 6013... For only $20.oo ! (F.y.i. yard sales Rule!)...I suppose I should plug it in someday an try it out ?

 

What ever you use, you need full penetration. I have buzzed off some very pretty welds with an air chisel . And I’d never get rid of the stick welder, it reliable and does too many things. Sometimes in narrow areas your only option is Stick.


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Did anyone mention stick welding cast iron with nickel rod?


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Yes I did.

 

Thanks Marty


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My Lincoln tombstone sits by the garage door so I can run the leads outside if needed; it gets used several times a year. The years spent stick welding as a millwright make it my go to machine for anything over 1/8" thick. My MIG has developed problems so it's buried in the back of the garage. Still trying to talk myself into buying a TIG machine...

 

I've got a Miller Econotig....(tig /stick).....replaced a trailer hitch last week..used the stick. Haven't had a mig for years now.
Phil

 

True that, saw a guy weld a pipe against the wall , laying in freezing water with a mirror. Bent the electrodes and welded it up.

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I've welded brackets up where I couldn't even see what I was doing; did it by sound. No idea what the finished weld looked like, but they didn't fall off when I whacked 'em with a hammer... LOL.

 

Did some motor mounts in an El Camino that way, guy didn't have a helmet.

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