Just sold my Lincoln Tombstone (AC + DC) welder at a real good price using Craigslist. Seems like every time I wanted to join two pieces of metal, the wire feed welder was handier. Total use of tombstone in 20 years was less than 1/2 hour!!
There was one instance when I was trying to braze a broken hunk of cast iron for my portable cement mixer (round indexing thingie that holds the drum in position). My son came by and told me "since it's no an important part why don't I simply just zap it with the stick welder". As stupid as that sounds, it worked and has lasted about 15 years now.
Here's what I own:
Acetylene Oxygen setup
300 amp wire feed welder Miller 250 TIG welder Lincoln Tombstone welderI'm just a hobbyist and not a good welder. I got the tombstone back in the days when you had to learn how to flip your helmet and do 5 other things at the same time to strike an arc. Naturally (25 years ago) I used the A/O more often. Then (building 300 ft. ± of metal fencing) I got hooked on wire feed and bought a used unit. I bought the TIG so that I could learn and also do aluminum.
Question:
Everything else being equal (all my welders are on wheels, easy access, they all take the same plug etc.) how and why do you guys decide for which welder to reach? I'm talking, for example, 8-10 inches of non-structural weld on mild steel. Why would you ever reach for the "stick welder" option and start chipping slag? Are there inherent advantages to stick?
All replies appreciated,
Ivan Vegvary (who still has 15± pounds of old, old electrodes)