Stick Welding Tips, Certification tests, machines, projects
Poland308
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Try DC electrode positive. Depending on what rod your using. Also if it has a hot start function set it for about 10 amps, that should help with the sticking on startup.
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Josh
noddybrian
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    Thu Jan 24, 2013 12:13 pm

Unless they changed the newer models ( I have an older model year of the same welder different sticker ) when switched to stick mode the output is always DC whichever way you have the AC / DC switch so frequency does'nt do anything either- not sure if the pedal does anything on stick as I never tried before - bit surprised you had so much trouble - possibly when run on 110volts the OCV on the welder is too low for the rods you have - again never tried as we don't have all your power troubles here - only have 240volt - some rods are worse than others - be interesting to try your rods on a different welder to see if they're the problem - glad you have it done even if it's not perfect - main thing is it's fixed - bit of grinding & some paint probably no worse than some of the factory welds these days !
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I got the AC idea from a Youtube in which a pro used AC with an AlphaTIG. I assume he knew what he was talking about, but who knows? I got my machine in March, I think.

I kind of wonder what would happen if I ran a Lincoln 240V MIG on 110.
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noddybrian
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Maybe newer model years can do AC stick - I will double check mine but I'm very sure it does'nt - they do keep changing bits up each model year as people that actually weld tell them about all the messed up stuff they make - biggest mystery is why they keep on with that retarded POS toe pedal thing - I seen virtually the same bottom half casting with a really nice normal pedal on top of it - big cast aluminum thing with a heel rest - looked just like many old school truck air brake pedals - was nice to use & it came on another brand cheap Chinese import so they do make them out there - I meant to write down any numbers off it to try to find if they can be bought but forgot - bloke that owns it has moved away & I lost touch so can't even ask what make the welder was - I never stick weld with mine so I don't mess with controls but I showed a bunch of people how to get started with various imports & I would say on stick mode turn every knob you don't need to zero - some Tig function knobs produce freaky results if left on - as to the 240v mig on 110v I imagine if it's transformer based it will still work but halving the input voltage will likely half the output voltage so expect very little performance / heat - an inverter based will either work fine if intended to be dual voltage or switch itself off with an error code for out of range input if designed to be 240v only.
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set it for stick, 2T, DC, and make the electrode positive. set your amps to 90, or preferably 100 if the machine will do it without popping the breaker, and just drag the rod. No need to hold an arc as a beginner with 7018. It will still make a half way decent bead if you just drag it. Nice and slow, let the puddle fill in.That machine should do OK with 7018 on DC electrode positive. DO NOT use the foot pedal, flip up the switch from TIG to stick.
Multimatic 255
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I hit a stump and snapped one of my crappy stick welds. I needed to get the bush hog fixed, so I gave up on stick for now. I now have an adaptor to hook the MIG up to my generator, so I used it.

The generator's 240 output is not much greater than the MIG's draw, so I didn't turn the voltage as high as I could have. I made multiple passes and did what I could, using .030" wire.

Because the metal is distorted, I could not bring everything together properly for welding. I even used clamps and a farm jack, but the gap would not go away. My desperate solution was to build the lower surface up with weld until it approached the upper deck. I don't know if that's kosher, but I had to do something. I added extra welds. I am tempted to grind down the entire seam on both sides of the bush hog and lay continuous beads down.

The gap between the deck and sides is probably 3/16" in places. Pretty bad.

I suppose I should snip and grind that wild piece of MIG wire I accidentally stuck in there.
Attachments
10 01 17 bush hog welded with MIG and generator small.jpg
10 01 17 bush hog welded with MIG and generator small.jpg (66.44 KiB) Viewed 1488 times
I was socially distant when social distancing wasn't cool.
Poland308
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Lots of times doing repair work on something that was bent and broken badly or severely corroded requires extra build up until you can bridge the gap. Looks ok from here.
I have more questions than answers

Josh
noddybrian
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    Thu Jan 24, 2013 12:13 pm

Looks OK to me - a ( small ) gap is your friend for mig welds except on very thin material as mig is notorious for cold starts & lack of fusion - it has the lowest heat input of most processes - if the gap gets too big then just lay a bit of rod in there to help bridge it - but really 3/16" is not big enough to worry.
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