What's Arc Force?

Most anything will do that if you crank it up. You can even use 6010 to cut with, but it gives a poor kerf. But, in a bind ........... We used to use Lincoln diesel pipeliners at max amps to cut with hollow copper alloy ceramic coated rods underwater. Talk about cut like butter. We got demonstrations on railroad rail topside in school. Some scary stuff. Real fun to cut underwater with, though. Most guys didn't like to do it because it ate the chrome off their helmets, so guess who got to do most of it? I had a very used hat that was for cutting only. Looked like a beater Ford Galaxie. We used to cut a lot of wire rope out of ships propellers, too, and that was just too easy. Just be careful not to touch anything you don't want to blow a hole in. Like the bottom of the boat. But once you cut a couple of bights, mainly the one that had the tension on it, sproing, it all popped out and disappeared into the great abyss. Course, it was muddy dark underwater even at noon.

Steve

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Heart surgery pending? Read up and prepare. Download the book $10

Steve, I bet it left some really vivid memories in you... I would probably be too chicken to try anything like that!

Pintlar wrote in sci.engr.joining.welding on Mon, 14 Feb 2011 22:10:00 -0700:

You know how stick welders are called constant current supplies?

That's because the current doesn't change much with arc length, but the voltage across the arc will change with arc length. But no welder is perfect in this regard. The current will increase with a shorter arc, and decrease with a longer arc. How much it increases/decreases depends on how much of the total resistance is from the arc, and how much is from everything else. "Everything else" is the welding leads, workpiece, electrode, transformer windings, connections, switches, etc. On some welders, there is a variable resistor (rheostat) in the circuit. Sometimes called "fine adjust", and sometimes labeled "hard-soft".

By changing the resistance at the rheostat you can change how the current changes with longer or shorter arc lengths.

With lower rheostat resistance, the current will change more with variations in arc length, and with higher rheostat resistance, the current will change less with variations in arc length.

This behavior is replicated on inverter machines. Sometimes called "dig" or "arc force" etc.

Thanks Dan. . . . I am assuming then that it is like the old voltage controls that I learned on 1/2 a century ago. . . . .charlie...

Pintlar wrote in sci.engr.joining.welding on Tue, 22 Feb 2011 20:12:02 -0700:

Yup, same thing.