I've had an old GE 200A welder from the 50s for a while, and finally got the supplies to get it powered and use it for Christmas. We put a 50A outlet right at the breaker box, and wired up a 6 gauge extension cord to power the welder.
I've stick welded once before, in a class where we got maybe 30 minutes of practice, and with somebody who knew what they were doing setting up a modern DC capable multi-process machine. In that 30 minutes, I got to the point where I could strike and arc and draw a decent bead fairly consistently. Now that I'm at home, trying it in my backyard with a 60 year old welder, and little clue as to what I'm doing, it is nearly impossible for me to even strike an arc, let alone draw a good bead. I'm hoping somebody can give me a couple of pointers to get me started in the right direction.
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This is the plate I was welding on. It's some really rusty 1/8" steel plate I found. I constantly felt like I was just burning through it with the 1/8" 6011 I had. You can see the one bead in the middle, right at the end of the weld really gouged into the metal. All of the beads are visible on the other side of the plate, so they were definitely getting pretty far through the plate. The only bead I'm not completely embarrassed by is the cleanest one on the bottom right, which was done with a 3/32" or 1/16" 6013 I had found just stuck inside the welder cart.
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Most of the welding I did on the 6011 was between 80 and 100 amps as marked on the welder. I seriously doubt it is accurate at all though. Based on the looks of this weld, I'm betting I was running too hot?
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I thought the 6013 bead came out alright. I definitely had issues keeping a steady arc length and speed on any of the welds, and it shows.
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Most of the beads I ended up laying were really short, as I had a really hard time keeping the arc steady.
I've been read and been told that AC is much harder to strike an arc with, and harder to maintain once you get started. Based on my little experience with DC and AC, I'm definitely noticing a difference. The welder I've got has a fairly high open circuit voltage, 58V, so I figured it wouldn't be too bad, but on the three electrodes I used this morning, I stuck each one probably 20 or 30 times. The welder does have a hot start circuit. I've got no idea if it works or not. Having the switch in one position does seem to make a difference from the other, but it seems backwards of what you would think the On position would be, as having it down seems to make it easier to strike an arc.
The one main thing I've noticed about getting the arc started is that it takes a LONG time for the arc to stabilize. A good 2 or 3 seconds. If I don't wait about 2 seconds once I get the arc struck, it frequently ends up killing the arc, or sticking the electrode.
The other main thing I realize is probably a big detrimental factor is the fact that I don't have a welding table like I did during the class. To try out the welder this morning, I stacked a sprinkler valve box on another box to get the plate to waist height, and then just freehanded the electrode, with nothing to rest my arms on. I'd like to put together a small welding table eventually, but if I can't weld better without some free-handing, I'm not sure how I would go about putting the table together in the first place.
Any suggestions on things I should try changing would be appreciated. It's really frustrating to hardly be able to even strike an arc, and after all the parts I was gifted and the electrical work I did to get things set up, I'd hate to never use any of it because I can't actually get the technique down.
I've stick welded once before, in a class where we got maybe 30 minutes of practice, and with somebody who knew what they were doing setting up a modern DC capable multi-process machine. In that 30 minutes, I got to the point where I could strike and arc and draw a decent bead fairly consistently. Now that I'm at home, trying it in my backyard with a 60 year old welder, and little clue as to what I'm doing, it is nearly impossible for me to even strike an arc, let alone draw a good bead. I'm hoping somebody can give me a couple of pointers to get me started in the right direction.
This is the plate I was welding on. It's some really rusty 1/8" steel plate I found. I constantly felt like I was just burning through it with the 1/8" 6011 I had. You can see the one bead in the middle, right at the end of the weld really gouged into the metal. All of the beads are visible on the other side of the plate, so they were definitely getting pretty far through the plate. The only bead I'm not completely embarrassed by is the cleanest one on the bottom right, which was done with a 3/32" or 1/16" 6013 I had found just stuck inside the welder cart.
Most of the welding I did on the 6011 was between 80 and 100 amps as marked on the welder. I seriously doubt it is accurate at all though. Based on the looks of this weld, I'm betting I was running too hot?
I thought the 6013 bead came out alright. I definitely had issues keeping a steady arc length and speed on any of the welds, and it shows.
Most of the beads I ended up laying were really short, as I had a really hard time keeping the arc steady.
I've been read and been told that AC is much harder to strike an arc with, and harder to maintain once you get started. Based on my little experience with DC and AC, I'm definitely noticing a difference. The welder I've got has a fairly high open circuit voltage, 58V, so I figured it wouldn't be too bad, but on the three electrodes I used this morning, I stuck each one probably 20 or 30 times. The welder does have a hot start circuit. I've got no idea if it works or not. Having the switch in one position does seem to make a difference from the other, but it seems backwards of what you would think the On position would be, as having it down seems to make it easier to strike an arc.
The one main thing I've noticed about getting the arc started is that it takes a LONG time for the arc to stabilize. A good 2 or 3 seconds. If I don't wait about 2 seconds once I get the arc struck, it frequently ends up killing the arc, or sticking the electrode.
The other main thing I realize is probably a big detrimental factor is the fact that I don't have a welding table like I did during the class. To try out the welder this morning, I stacked a sprinkler valve box on another box to get the plate to waist height, and then just freehanded the electrode, with nothing to rest my arms on. I'd like to put together a small welding table eventually, but if I can't weld better without some free-handing, I'm not sure how I would go about putting the table together in the first place.
Any suggestions on things I should try changing would be appreciated. It's really frustrating to hardly be able to even strike an arc, and after all the parts I was gifted and the electrical work I did to get things set up, I'd hate to never use any of it because I can't actually get the technique down.
