Please excuse this diversion down memory lane...
The shop is getting more and more crowded, so I started cleaning house - moving things around, consolidating stuff into drawers and cabinets - y'all know the drill.
Over in one corner, near the electrical panel is where the welding machines are clustered. There's a small Miller Syncrowave tig machine and our second welding machine, a Lincoln Idealarc 250. (Of course, our first welding machine was the little Lincoln tombstone 225 AC buzzbox - sold off long ago) The MIG machine lives across the room under a workbench and gets hauled out when needed.
Truthfully, I haven't used the Idealarc 250 stick welder since getting the first mig machine, which was subsequently 'upgraded' to a Miller
251. We should have kept the CK 175 - this particular Miller model seems to have a problem making 100% current at arc start and nobody knows how to fix it other than getting a new machine :(Anyhow, I was eyeballing the space occupied by the old Lincoln and thinking "I never use this, I could sell it and never miss it"...
I should have acted on that instinct...
Instead, I unfurled the leads from their wall hangers, plunked in a stick of 7014, cranked the dial to an indicated 120 amps AC and tried putting a bead into a corner of a plant hanger we make a batch of now and again. After all, if we're going to sell the welder, the buyer should know if it works, right?
It _is_ like riding a bicycle... I tweaked the current down a bit, adjusted my position a little and was welding lovely smooth beads after the first inch or so. Listening to the lovely buzz of the arc was mesmerizing....
I switched to DC and tried some 6011. Got the 'weave' down just fine after about 20 seconds of fits and starts.
It's like a trip back in time - I went back 30 years to the community college night school welding classes - those awkward first tries at getting an arc to stay lit without sticking the darn electrode to everything - that embarrassing HUMMMM as the rod turns red hot and I desperately try to wiggle it loose from its captivity on the target... and finally getting to the point that real welding is produced. The school machines were those same Lincolns - we had a bond, yes indeed!
Well, you know the rest of the story - we'll not be selling the old machine, even though there's stick capability in the tig machine. It's fate, that's all there is to it...
Thanks for the memories
Carla
The only pleasure in life more overrated that natural childbirth is the joy of running your own business.