Welding Tips and Tricks

Last night I did my carbon arc gouging and found out just how easy and annoying it really is. Took a layer off a boat anchor and then he wanted a bunch of 3/8" plate cut from practice weld test to not waste material. Did a few with carbon arc gouging and the rest with the torch.Just glad it was that easy.

If it was loud, dangerous, annoying AND hard, no one would do it, Because it's so easy (in the hands of a trained and competent operator), that's why its still widely used.

Carbon arc is not a dying process. Outdoor maintenance work on heavy equipment is one place where it's still heavily used. Sure, you could use oxy fuel torch to remove all the wear plates from an excavator bucket, (you could also use a 5" angle grinder if you wanted) but arc air does it way faster with better control. The job is sped up and costs for the repair are reduced.
We've used arc lots on large structural steel jobs too.
Arc air is my preferred method for steel removal.

I bought an old gouge torch off fleabay some months back and today was the first time I've used it. Had to take some thick (1/2") busted up expanded metal off of a trailer to replace with a better platform. Couldn't see doing it with a grinder, especially having more grinding to do afterwards, and it was welded every 3 inches with 3 inch beads. Hooked the arcair torch up to the old airco bumblebee running at 225 amps with 5/16 carbons. After getting in the swing of things it went quick with minimal grinding and minimal metal taken from the stringers.
We got a spectrum 875 at work and I tried to gouge with that on a truck last year on a teardown, it did the job with some unintended gouging/cutting. Bottom line I wasn't happy with how it turned out.
As far as I'm concerned, carbon arc is the best way to cut welds when a grinder isn't ideal.

Slightly surprised that 225amps would get the job done - also it's pretty hard on a welder - I never used under a 400amp - mostly 500 - I'd watch how long at a time you use it on a small power source - some plasma cutters ( Hypertherm for sure ) can have a specific nozzle set up just for gouging where the orifice is larger & pressure is lower giving a broader less aggressive cut - these seem to gouge quite effectively with good control & a fraction of the power consumption of carbon arc - I do use carbon arc myself but usually only on large multi pass welds in corners where nothing else will work.

Oddly enough that old dinosaur machine did good with the 5/16 carbons, I tried 3/16 first being mindful that it's a small old machine but the carbon was going too quick with little weld removal. Even running it at 90% I'd give it a break every 10 minutes because she was singing. I realize that it is hard on a smaller machine but at least it's not mine. If it was to quit we might get a new one

Got to say the old machines were better built & likely underrated hence they last so well but I like your theory on trying to kill it so you get a new one ! - place I worked they used to do that with the tractors ! I've not tried arc gouging on AC so maybe it requires less power than DC ? got an old 330 so may give it a try sometime - if I could have moved it when I moved out of an old building I had a 550 oil cooled that would have been great for that kind of thing - never found a big enough welding rod to really test it in anger ! used to run some major size iron powder rods with it before getting a decent size mig.

Our saying at work when something breaks or is about to "they make new ones everyday"

That old bumblebee is just a different color miller dial arc.
(Begin rant)
The saying "they don't make em like they used to." goes both ways, I'd rather not need a new one because the old stuff has stood the test of time with everyone and their brother putting their hands on it, yet still works like the day it came off the truck. How long is the latest and greatest going to last? If they made everything like they used to, then a new transformer machine with 1965 technology in it would cost a million (theoretical) dollars...
Quality goes down, cost goes up.
(End rant)
That's how I've picked up what machines I got, people upgrading, go ahead because someone with a budget needs a good machine to get started.
Plug her in and let the meter spin

I was gouging last night with a Lincoln invertec v275 and 3/16" carbons. Had the invertec set at 250 amps. It did a good job.
While gouging, your amperage used on the power supply is directly related to the size of carbon your using for the job. Arc Air has a chart for this in any of the manuals for their gouging systems.