Arc force question

[whosyourdaddy]

Ok so a few days ago I made a weld on 10” low carbon pipe that was being shot to b.31.3 severe code. I learned on and prefer old school machines and don’t have a lot of hours on these newer ones with all the settings on the front as opposed to either one or two big amperage knobs. I was running on a Lincoln ranger 305d and was up all night due to permitting I didn’t get to the fill and cap til about 5 am. Kept getting slag pockets in the fill and little pecker holes on the sides of the cap. Never had these problems before except maybe when I was just learning. So the next morning I went and took a better look at the machine to see wtf and the arc force was jacked all the way up. Does it make that big of difference? Do you guys have a preference where you like it for 5p+ and 7018? Do you even mess with it? Any responses are appreciated.

[Louie1961]

Arc force increases the amps as the arc length decreases. There was a pretty good post on here somewhere about welding on a machine with a "drooper" volt/amp curve versus some of the newer machines with a more flat volt/amp curve and how welding on them was different, required different settings and techniques, etc. I wonder if that was what you were running into. I think arc force is mostly on the newer type machines. Google "drooper welding machine" and some hits come up from miller and esab explaining it.

[whosyourdaddy]

Thanks. I will. Yes it was definitelydifferent. Had me questioning myself while the inspector was standing over my shoulder harpin on me