What small portable stick welder?

[husq2100]

@ttoks Will BOC let you demo one?

Will be interesting to see country of manufacture.

[M J D]

honestly I'm not concerned about it being limited in output, 150 amp's is plenty to run a 1/8 7018/7016/6010, if the job is big enough to warrant more than a 1/8th rod it will probably be done with a wire feeder run off of an engine drive, this machine for me is the portable small jobs machine that's light and easy to carry around.

But I'm interested to see how it go's with 6010 as well, fronius had the 6010 in a small inverter thing down 15 year's ago when they first introduced the transpocket 1500, they run a fire stick just as well as an old transformer machine so I'm hoping EWM has the same.

Yeah hopefully it has what it takes to run them at full potential. Adjustable hot start and arc force are a big sell for me. Doing stuff like thin wall hand rail, it's nice to be able to turn it down or off to avoid burn thru. I've used the smallish inverters for almost all of my stick welding for about 10 years now. I dont miss the stringing out of long leads anymore either. Only thing I still use the big machines for anymore is air arcing, otherwise it's usually wire. It takes getting used to the fact that the can of electrodes is often heavier than the machine itself. One thing I noticed with all of the small machines is that the leads are often too short.

[MinnesotaDave]

Yeah hopefully it has what it takes to run them at full potential. Adjustable hot start and arc force are a big sell for me. Doing stuff like thin wall hand rail, it's nice to be able to turn it down or off to avoid burn thru. I've used the smallish inverters for almost all of my stick welding for about 10 years now. I dont miss the stringing out of long leads anymore either. Only thing I still use the big machines for anymore is air arcing, otherwise it's usually wire. It takes getting used to the fact that the can of electrodes is often heavier than the machine itself. One thing I noticed with all of the small machines is that the leads are often too short.

Same here, I use the Thermal Arc 161 for almost everything. Leads are a nice length but could still be a little longer.

I only use my big machines for AC tig or heavy welding.

[FloridaAl]

I haven't welded anything in about 45 years. Back then I was using a buzz box and was only torching off and adding cutting blades on heavy equipment, adding to metal to grousers, repairing weird broken stuff. I tried a couple of basic AC units and was really disappointed in what I thought I might be able to do. Was advised on Welding Web to try the ESAB 180, use premium 7018 rods, and I was VERY PLEASED. The hot start is great. I've used 6010, 6013, and 7018, and, while still learning, the ESAB 180i was a perfect choice for me.