Wrong damn angle ...

I can't say as I have ever run 6010, but a lot of welders are noted to struggle with it. I seem to recall before he melted down his channel with a political manifesto Chucke2009 used to test everything with 6010.

Speculation that it is

Me either, but I'm more likely to be running 7018, nickle 55, or maybe

6013 in that order. I like the way 7018 runs. Even on AC it does fine.

I've got an old Lincoln 225 AC tombstone. Its okay with 3/32 rod for maybe 8-9 inches of full height/width bead at a shot. Then it needs to cool off. Not having a thermal protector I only know this because the weld destabilizes if I push it any further. I've never successfully run heavier rod, but the last time I tried I had a lot less knowledge and experience. Well, I have run 1/8 inch rod, but it was marginal in my opinion. 3/32 rod is its sweet spot.

The last time I used the Lincoln 225 was not for stick welding. I was playing with the idea of using it as a power source with a Miller TIG converter to do crude AC TIG welding. Before you say anything. The Miller unit manual clearly says you can use it with either an AC or DC power supply. Its got a relay assembly that supposedly gives a sort of high frequency start, but I was never able to get that to work. I was able to get it to scratch start. I never did any actual welds with it. Given the limited controls I decided it was harder than I wanted to work to learn to TIG weld. That's when I bought the AHP. The AHP has way to many controls, but its capable so far.

If I decided I do need to fire up the Lincoln 225 again I'll have to put different connectors on the cables. I had cut them off and put on terminals to connect to the Miller TIG converter. The cabes are terminated inside the case. The Miller Tig converter is now in my scrap/recycle stack out back of the shop.

The AHP TIG200(xx) is not a true multi process. It does not do CV processes like MIG. Strictly CC TIG/Stick. I always struggled with the idea of mixing different controls myself.

I've got a 180A Pickhill oil cooled welder and have kept it even though I have a Hitachi AC/DC inverter TIG machine that'll do MMA. I just like the old oil cooled thing and it's quiet and I typically use it on 80V OCV as I find once the 6013 rods are struck up on some scrap I can just put them down on what I want to weld and they'll just light up. The only other rods I've run are some hard facing rods to repair an anvil hardface and no problems running those with the Pickhill on AC. I also have an old Max-Arc rectifier for it and add on a Max-Arc TIG HF unit which is what I used before I got the Hitachi. I asked about oil cooled welders in the US years ago on RCM or SEJW and the answer that came back was the don't have them only air cooled.

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Odd numbers are AC rods (6011, 6013...). Even numbers are DC (6010,

7018...) per spec. Your mileage will vary if you run them else wise. I'd say the most common AC rod used by us amateurs over here is 6011 in 1/8 inch, also known as Farmer Rod.

A lot of the Pro's avoid 6013 because it's hard to see the puddle and prone to worm holes. Made me feel a lot better when I heard that because I'd always had trouble seeing the puddle. Thought it was just "me" and I sucked...

Now 7018 had always been a DC only rod but I've noticed in more recent years some manufactures have added AC settings for it too. Haven't studied it much... I don't know if it still has the same low hydrogen specs or the manufactures know it sells well and didn't want to miss out selling to us only AC machine guys.

I've used 6011 x 1/16 & 1/8", 6013 x 1/8" and an odd Forney "Noma-Cast" x 1/8" on a cast iron repair. Noma is orders of magnitude cheaper to buy than nickle rod. It was a freebie job for a good neighbor and held way better than expected.

If you have an Instagram account go lookup @icweld. Amazing 7018 & arc-gouging repairs on all sorts of heavy equipment. Try this without Instagram:

I quit keeping up with him (and several others) a couple years ago after Facebook took over and cutoff access to non-users. This was where (Instagram) a lot of GOOD welders hung out and swapped stories/helped each other out...

I ran it on AC a long time ago because it ran decent. One of the weld channels has said its always been AC/DC rod. Could have been Welding Tips & Tricks or Weld.com. I watch them both when I have my morning coffee. I had a buddy tell me many years ago it was DC only when we were working on a trailer (converting from boat to flatbed) to go get a scissor lift in Denver I had purchased on-line. Anyway, he lectured me about it, so I went and got the box. It said E7018 and listed AC and DC. Later I noticed some boxed labeled 7018AC. I asked around about what the difference was. The most knowledgeable welding people I knew at the time said, "the label." I sold that scissor lift a few years ago, but I still have the trailer. It hasn't broken yet.

Haven't

It welds well too.

I'll have to check that out. I have a small package of nickle 55 I bought when a local store was dumping all of one brand to go with another brand. I guard it like its gold. Might be nice to have another option... Well stainless works too, but I doubt its approved for anything. LOL.

Got thinking about this after I posted... went back through my welding docs on the computer and think I just blew it🙄 All my old catalogs show it as AC/DC, same with the numbers. A lot of the evens were showing AC/DC in the cats too. Normally I look at the package and/or catalog listing to see what the recommended settings are first. Use those as a starting point and make changes as I go if need be. Don't do it often enough to remember the settings between repairs nowadays...

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I was leery of it but it worked out fine for that job. Suspect nickel is the best though if you can afford it :)

I've never yet met an inverter machine which can burn 6010's well. (all multiprocess are inverters? Can't be CC (Constant Current) and CV (Constant Voltage) by electrical principles (?) - must be "fly-by-wire" electronics?)

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I measured the output characteristic of my 50A buzz box transformer after it had been rectified and filtered to DC. Without a load it is ~58VDC, the peak value of the AC sine wave. As the output current increases the voltage decreases to about 32V at 25A, as though it has around 1 Ohm in series, though it's a combination of wire winding and my added rectifier and circuit resistance plus intentionally uncoupled inductance in the transformer winding, called impedance when it isn't pure E=IR resistance. The maximum current into a short circuit or fuse/breaker being tested is at least 70A. This impedance is always present without a time delay between corrections, like in an inverter.

The stick welding current isn't "constant", as it increases it pulls down the voltage, to zero if the rod sticks, then the voltage drop is all in the transformer. The indicated design value is 22V across a 50A arc, or about half an Ohm of series impedance in the transformer.

Hope this helps, jsw

I've never met an oil-cooled stick welder which wasn't excellent. I don't know the Max-Arc rectifier. One I used was an air-cooled contraption - historic and by Murex.

I've noticed that. Recently used 6013 and knew something was harder work than usual. Switched to 7018 - could see the weld so clearly, absolutely and in-comparison.

The rectifier sounds about the same lots of air space in the box, an air cooled full wave rectifier, and a large inductor for smoothing. I still have it but it's been on loan for a while although my mate hasn't used it AFAIK. I had it back once to try and run some old hard facing rods but I guess they'd been stored badly and were degraded as no polarity DC, AC, or 50V OCV or 80V OCV  combination I tried would get them to run so binned them and bought some new ones which ran sweet. I have an oscilloscope but have never connected it up when using the rectifier so don't know how well the rectifier smoothed things, maybe one day.

Always clear. Measurement always good.

"Constant Current" - the arc for doing the welding will run only in a narrowish range of voltages, in which "constant current" would to a close approximation happen. If the current increases as the arc voltage reduces, likely as you hold a very short arc, that would tend towards constant power - which would be no bad thing...

Interesting to investigate, but the good question is always "does it weld well?"

Always clear. Measurement always good.

"Constant Current" - the arc for doing the welding will run only in a narrowish range of voltages, in which "constant current" would to a close approximation happen. If the current increases as the arc voltage reduces, likely as you hold a very short arc, that would tend towards constant power - which would be no bad thing...

---------------------- Measurement not always cheap/easy.

If the source and load impedances are nearly equal the power into the load is maximized and remains relatively constant as the current and voltage change, in opposite directions. A clue is the voltage running around 1/2 of its no-load value. In a stick welder this gives a high voltage to start the arc and limits the current when the rod sticks. The disadvantage is power wasted in the source. At full power my welding transformer battery charger is only about 50% efficient. The efficiency increases rapidly as I turn down the input AC voltage to decrease the charging current.

Solar panels behave similarly, which is why a panel designed to charge a 12V battery to 14.4V outputs over 20V without a load.

My battery charger provided the opportunity to run a welding transformer continuously at high power into a variable resistive load so I experimented with it. Rectified into a 78000uF capacitor the ripple at 20V, 20A was only about 1V peak to peak and appears sinusoidal instead of a sawtooth. I assume this is due to the transformer's uncoupled impedance which makes it CC instead of CV.

Interesting to investigate, but the good question is always "does it weld well?"

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Recording while welding tends to require an expensive datalogger that doesn't have other hobby uses. My cheap and simple DVM version can't measure voltage and current fast enough or at the same time, and my digital scope won't sample long enough. These require additional user-designed circuitry to isolate and condition the voltage and current signals.

Years ago I used to use a relatively cheap DVOM with a serial port output to prove to customers their power was "unclean." I'd just hook it to the circuit, tie the serial port to a laptop computer with a serial communications terminal program running, and leave it overnight.

12-16 hrs was no big deal on my old laptop computers. Sample time and serial port speed is of course an issue as you indicated, but I don't see why the same thing couldn't be done with a scope that has a data output. I'll have to go look to see if my cheap 2 channel digital scope has a communication port. (I've only ever used it for tuning servo drives).

Upon a moments thought I recall that there are scopes with little more than an interface that use a computer for the display and computational capability. I am sure you could do data logging with something like that. When last I looked those units were even cheaper than my import 2 channel scope.

I am aware that you used the word "Fluke." I understand that it might be beneath notice to consider a "cheap" tool, but there are ways to get most jobs done. I've never owned a Fluke meter.

P.S. Upon another moments thought I recall I actually bought that 2 channel scope (4 channels would have been ideal, but was out of my budget) to develop an idea I had for a medical heart monitor and training device. I did not work on it full time, and sadly Hewlett Packard came out with something a year or so later that performed a nearly identical function. I guess as soon as I had the idea I should have written it up and applied for at least a provisional patent. I still have boxes of electronic components on the shelf (some unopened) left over from that project idea. Its just that the only thing I actually used the scope for was tuning servo drives.

Years ago I used to use a relatively cheap DVOM with a serial port output to prove to customers their power was "unclean." I'd just hook it to the circuit, tie the serial port to a laptop computer with a serial communications terminal program running, and leave it overnight.

12-16 hrs was no big deal on my old laptop computers. Sample time and serial port speed is of course an issue as you indicated, but I don't see why the same thing couldn't be done with a scope that has a data output. I'll have to go look to see if my cheap 2 channel digital scope has a communication port. (I've only ever used it for tuning servo drives).

{{{ A DSO may be a bit much to suggest to someone who doesn't already know electricity and how to use them. I don't think my Tenma DSO outputs continuously in real time, only to internal files.

I do most of my battery charge / discharge and temperature data logging with TP4000ZC serial comm DMMs and a laptop. The limitation is that it logs no faster than one reading per second, fine for batteries or solar but not welding where the arc conditions change too fast. The advantage is the optically isolated channels that avoid ground loops. }}}

Upon a moments thought I recall that there are scopes with little more than an interface that use a computer for the display and computational capability. I am sure you could do data logging with something like that. When last I looked those units were even cheaper than my import 2 channel scope.

{{{ Common ground. I may need to measure voltage and current at different locations. Collecting accurate data from several places on a prototype electric vehicle proved tricky. The datalogger was an industrial unit with differential inputs, which helped. It programmed in some arcane proprietary language, which didn't. }}}

I am aware that you used the word "Fluke." I understand that it might be beneath notice to consider a "cheap" tool, but there are ways to get most jobs done. I've never owned a Fluke meter.

{{{ I have a very old Fluke 8800A ($25) that still reads a voltage standard to the last digit.

own AC/DC current probe is a "Hantek", good enough if you aren't fussy. In product R&D for lawyer-proofing we always had to take data with equipment that was in traceable calibration, which rules out the hobby stuff, and makes obsolete lab gear quite affordable. I have "broken" meters that I've fixed by reseating the ICs in their sockets. }}}

P.S. Upon another moments thought I recall I actually bought that 2 channel scope (4 channels would have been ideal, but was out of my budget) to develop an idea I had for a medical heart monitor and training device. I did not work on it full time, and sadly Hewlett Packard came out with something a year or so later that performed a nearly identical function. I guess as soon as I had the idea I should have written it up and applied for at least a provisional patent. I still have boxes of electronic components on the shelf (some unopened) left over from that project idea. Its just that the only thing I actually used the scope for was tuning servo drives.

{{{ I've had some involvement with defibrillators and other medical equipment. Liability and the heavy hand of the government are too much for me. }}}

My plan was a working proof of concept (secret), patent, sell to somebody like HP. I guess I should have patented first. LOL.

More recently there is a very talented surgeon who develops orthopedic medical implants in his home shop. He has tried to get me to help design and machine with him a couple times. I've always turned him down for the same reason. Liability.

More recently there is a very talented surgeon who develops orthopedic medical implants in his home shop. He has tried to get me to help design and machine with him a couple times. I've always turned him down for the same reason. Liability.

Bob La Londe

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I noticed that the engineers in a medical equipment company never put their names on anything. I couldn't determine who had designed or programmed anything that they asked me to fix.