When I was taught to arc(stick) weld over 50 years ago by my grandpa and dad who were both industrial weldors, it was, starting amp settings were to be ~75% of the rod diameter. Then you went up or down by the way the weld reacted, lower if there was an under cut at the bead, higher if the bead was 'proud' of the work.

So for your 1/16 rod - .062 x .75 = .046 or 46 rounded to 45amps, since most welders don't have that fine of adjustment.

The size of the bead has more to do with the speed of travel, but if you have to great of distance from the rod to the work more of the rod will be vaporized into the slag and less penetration into the weld joint. To me the easiest rod to learn with is the ER7014. I've taught a lot of guys to weld using that. It's more forgiving when learning and still plenty strong for everyday work. Most welding stores have it in 1 pound bundles too, at least around here.

 

I would run it for at least 10 minutes and then let it cooling down..

 

One thing I would consider is having someone who knows how to weld run your machine for a bit and give you their opinion on how to set it or if needed to modify it to work better being the worst thing you can do when learning something new is to learn it the wrong way using improperly functioning or set up equipment and not even know it.


For a bit of welding theory, the more inductance you add to a welding arc circuit the 'wetter' (better burn in and weld flow characteristics) the weld material puddle becomes for the given current used. However the more resistance you add the less active arc voltage you have to play with which limits the amount of arc power you have to work with. (less heat in the work more in the wiring).

In a sense you can think of the current as the overall 'heat' you put into the weld and the inductance determines the 'wetness' or 'dryness' (weld flow and mixing characteristics)

The simplified reason it with a DC constant current welder the DC output goes through a large reactor coil which is basically a big high current inductor.
What that means is you are essentially trying to use a arc as a load in constant current circuit with a big inductor and resistor (your lines) in it.

On most larger commercial machines they have taps on the reactor unit so that the inductance can be adjusted to compensate for long leads or undersized leads but on the cheap machines like you're pretty well stuck with what they give you.

From what you are describing it sounds like you are running more current than you need for the given rod size due to the high amount of resistance of the undersized leads are adding to the system being you mentioned it has something like 9 ga cables that in itself will make the arc and overall welding characteristics different than what a good machine would have if set for identical arc voltage and currents.

Right now you may be running 'too hot' and 'too dry' of arc (typical of cheap minimally built machiners which tends to give splattery poor looking welds and less than stable arc characteristics like what you are describing.

So that's where having someone who is familiar with welding run your machine for a bit to tell you what needs change is worth the time. My suspicion is you need to step up to at least 6 ga leads at some point if you plan to do any degree of welding with it. 4 ga if you ever think you may be wanting to run in the 100+ amp end of it capacity or be more than 10 - 12 feet away from the machine when welding.

 

@#12, thought of something else about learning to weld. The 1/16 is probable not your friend in the learning stage. 1/8 or 5/32 is easier to weld with when learning. The 1/16 is more for sheet metal work and harder to control.

 

My next move will be thinner base metal, closer to the circuit breakers, and more sunlight.
If I'm still getting splattery welds that don't penetrate I will spring for some real welding cables.
(Yes, it came with an inductor for the DC circuit.)
I will poke around the neighborhood to see if any welders live nearby. If somebody that knows how tells me, "This P.O.S. is only good for sheet metal." I will believe him.

The 1/16 is more for sheet metal work and harder to control.

On the first day, I got better results with 1/16th than 5/32.
Probably because the machine is more capable of delivering the power required for that rod.
I get a feeling the amp gauge on my machine is announcing more current than it delivers, which would be exactly what to expect with too much resistance in the skinny cables and aluminum transformer windings.

ps, It's interesting thinking about impedance all the way from the pole transformer to the arc. Everything I did was copper and up to code. Everything anybody else did is aluminum.

 

I did some digging and if it's a Chicago ELectric Arc 180 it's definitely a Harbor Freight machine and likely one or a variant of one or more I worked on as a service tech at Praxair years ago. (picture and design looks very familiar.)

http://powertool.manualsonline.com/manuals/mfg/chicago_electric/44568_8.html

By the numbers if that manual I found is correct it should have 6 foot long 4 ga cables on it. If not and it's 9 ga as you say that's a huge part of your problems right there. The under sized welding leads are choking it resulting in the screwy arc characteristics and whatnot beyond your own lack of familiarity with what it should be causing.

As for possible improvements to consider the bridge rectifier assy on those are typically way undersized in both current and voltage ratings plus over all cooling capacity. I'd be very surprised if the diodes cross reference to anything more than 80 - 100 amps and 200 volts.

Other than that I have to say that they are not terribly bad machines. Low duty cycle and certainly over rated for their underbuilt design but for an electronics guy they are not difficult to beef up and improve to make a half decent welder out of.

As I said before I have a old Century Electric 120 volt 100 amp AC only stick welder and once I went through that it and fixed up the cheap undersized wiring and cooling system it turned out to be a half decent machine for its size and cheap design and its half the machine you have.

 

it should have 6 foot long 4 ga cables on it.

No way! I've installed dozens of 6 Ga. house wiring jobs and those cables look slightly larger than 10 gauge. They might be 8 Ga. but nowhere near 4 gauge, or even 6 gauge.

(picture and design looks very familiar.)

That's it. Same schematic, same specs. A little different in the case decoration and labeling.
(And somebody removed the handle and wheels and put a cart under it. Very convenient.)

I have a nice 18 watt squirrel cage fan and a 24 watt propeller fan of the style used in computers, except way larger, but space in the case makes placement difficult.
I would like to blow high velocity air right at the transformer but I would have to remove the propeller fan and make a fan mounting bracket. I guess I'm arguing with my laziness. I think I need to discard the original fan and cut a hole in the back of the case for a BBD (Bigger, Better Deal). That would take care of the machine relying only on convection to move air out of the case and provide better velocity hitting the transformer.

I haven't even read the part numbers on the rectifiers. If they smoke, they will get replaced with real rectifiers.
5.4 KW @ 230 VAC? That's 23.4 amps. Right at the NEC limit for the 10 gauge air conditioner cord I installed.
My house has 250 VAC. That makes 6.38 Kw @ 25.5 amps. This thing should perform better than expected with a 250 VAC power line.

Right now, I'm a bit off because I worked from 10 PM to 6 AM last night. Wrong sleeping really wrecks my pzazz.

EDIT: I found a marking on the wire with "only" a 20x magnifier. 16mm2
If that's 16 square millimeters, it's almost 5 gauge wire, but it shore don't look like it!

 

EDIT: I found a marking on the wire with "only" a 20x magnifier. 16mm2
If that's 16 square millimeters, it's almost 5 gauge wire, but it shore don't look like it!

Takes calipers to it and see what it actually conductor dimensions are. I've seen mots of heaver gauge cable over the years that was labeled to be a good gauge or two heavier than what its physical dimensions showed it to be.

Personally with some of those cheap machines I think they measure the cable gauge at the outside of the insulation not the conductor similar to how many cheap jumper cables are.

 

Another thought on this. Seeing this is an AC-DC welder, which are you using during learning? AC is much easier to learn with and is what most schools start out with.

Do you have a welding store near by? The ones around here have some set up in the back as 'samples' for interested buyers. Maybe go in and act like you want to buy, but don't know much about welding and they will show you on one of their machines.

 

Measuring 0.135" on the squished part of the crimp and 0.165" on the wide side of the crimp averages to 0.15" diameter and that is 7 gauge.
Close, but no cigar.
The specs claim the cable is 2 Ga. smaller than it needs to be and it measures 1 Ga. smaller than it claims to be, so it has half the area of copper I want.

which are you using

Up to now, I am using DC, negative on the rod, as recommended by two people in this Thread.
You want me in AC?
Well, that will take the impedance of the 4 diodes out of the equation.

 

That helped. I moved 60 feet closer to the house, changed to AC, and tried a couple of pieces of sheet metal, the brackets you use to hold 2x4s together in building houses. Full sunlight allowed me to see anything beside the arc. I wonder if the darkening lens is too dark when you need it turned all the way down and full sunlight to see the workpiece.

Is it supposed to work like that? You can't see a sixteenth of an inch away from the arc?

I burned a nice hole in the sheet metal, turned the amps down, then figured out you can't wait for the puddle to flow...it doesn't. You have to deposit the puddle where you want it. I got more than half of a 4 inch butt weld to look like it will hold. Still not a straight line, but it's a weld.

 

Up to now, I am using DC, negative on the rod, as recommended by two people in this Thread.

Unless the rod specifically states it's to be used in DC negative (rod number starts or ends in ' N,n or -) I always run things in DC postive with the stick positive being running a stick in the wrong polarity makes for bad weak all around bad welds.

Is it supposed to work like that? You can't see a sixteenth of an inch away from the arc?

How far away from the arc are your eyes? At under 100 amps with small sticks shade 8 - 9 is more than enough and almost borders on too dark at times.

I tend to try and weld at ~18" - 24" when I can. Helmet just outside of the edge of the smoke plume when possible or whatever distance I normally position myself at when doing hand writing while sitting comfortably.

By my standards if I can see more than 1/4" ahead of me in the direction of weld travel at that distance I am doing good.

 

How far away from the arc are your eyes?

The lens on the helmet was 6 inches from the arc.
The darkness was set to minimum, "9" on this helmet.

if I can see more than 1/4" ahead of me in the direction of weld travel at that distance I am doing good.

Right now, it would be an improvement if I could see the crack between the two pieces of metal.
I did an inch of bead on one side only because I can't see where the two pieces were clamped together.

 

That helped. I moved 60 feet closer to the house, changed to AC, and tried a couple of pieces of sheet metal, the brackets you use to hold 2x4s together in building houses. Full sunlight allowed me to see anything beside the arc. I wonder if the darkening lens is too dark when you need it turned all the way down and full sunlight to see the workpiece.

Pretty ambitious to be trying to learn stick welding on such thin metal! More than likely galvanized too! If so don't breath the smoke. ' It'll try and kill ya!' (really.)

Seriously if you are trying to just just learn to run a bead start with doing just that on a heavier piece like any old 1/4" - 1/2" srap you have with the larger ~1/8" rods at 70 - 100 amps AC or DC.

Don't worry about how straight or crooked you get. just burn rods until you start to get comfortable with moving the stick and keeping a steady arc going.

Grind it reasonably clean then weld away and once it starts to look real rough grind it down some and start practicing filling in the gaps between beads and or even doing plate building welds. (wide thin welds that smooth out large areas at a pass.)

Until you have turned a 1/4" plate into a solid steel block you can't pick up you haven't used it up for welding practice!.

 

The lens on the helmet was 6 inches from the arc.
The darkness was set to minimum, "9" on this helmet.

Definitely got to go bigger in the rod and higher on the amps or find a brazing lens that goes down to 6 or 7.

Right now, it would be an improvement if I could see the crack between the two pieces of metal.
I did an inch of bead on one side only because I can't see where the two pieces were clamped together.

Yep. That's welding!

One cheat for seeing where you are going when working with low contrast work is to buy a white or yellow paint pen and color where you want to weld. Paint pen paint stands up to high temperature pretty well so it don't burn off disappear before they get into visible range but will still burn off harmlessly when hit by the arc. (I have to resort to that every now and then with odd shaped weld work like on sheet metal cracks where I cant grind out the crack and there is near zero contrast in the metal to go by.)

Other than that the rest is just trying to watch the details of the weld puddle and where it's crossing the seam of which if you are working with thin metal and small rod with too dark of a helmet without experience it's a losing battle.

In most basic welding operations the pieces you are welding together have their edges beveled or physically shaped or gapped so that it's rather easy to see and follow. On thin stuff it's not so easy to do without setting yourself up for burnthrough problems.

Seriously, start out learning with with bigger and work your way down, not small and go up.

 

Pretty ambitious to be trying to learn stick welding on such thin metal!

This is getting frustrating. 1/2" is too thick and 1/16th is too thin, even with 1/16th diameter welding rod. The maximum advertised capacity of the welder is 1/4" and that's probably a lie. WTF? Are beginners only able to weld steel that is 1/4 inch thick? I don't have any 1/4 inch steel laying around.

I have some 1/8th sheet steel. I can cut that up and weld it back together or just lay beads on it. That's the best I can do unless I scrounge around in the scrap pile and find some 1/4", but I don't expect to find any. What I have right now is mostly pressure tanks for air or water. Those are welded, and they are NOT 1/4" thick.

buy a white or yellow paint pen

Is that what those "soap stone" markers are for?

find a brazing lens that goes down to 6 or 7.

I'll check for what's available. "Nine" isn't working for me today.
It might be OK now that the afternoon sun on full on the back porch. I have a white wall and mostly white concrete, so it's like a reflector oven out there in the afternoon. If I can't see through the helmet in those conditions, with eyes that are naturally too sensitive, I'm gonna have to change lenses.

 

Full sunlight helps...but not much.
I tried some DC positive and I'm laying down lines.
Most of it is in the amp adjustment. Not enough amps and all you do is stick the rod to the metal plate.
Too many amps and you blow through the 1/8th steel plate.
Just turn it down enough to avoid blowing through the background material. That seems to work.
And stay right on the puddle! It seems there's no such thing as too close unless you put the stick in the puddle, and the stick is constantly walking away from the puddle, so that seems like, "not a problem".

 

I'm a noobie's noobie regarding this subject. But I was under the impression that DC was used mainly for stainless and aluminum, while AC for ordinary steel.

Are you using DC on steel?

 

This is surprising #12. I would have assumed you had been welding since you were young, just "that type" of guy.
Whatever, never too late to learn something new. I think you'll enjoy it once you get the hang. You'll probably end up wanting to buy something better.
First welder I bought was a little 90A buzz box from sears. Outgrew that in a day and a half.
Then bought a 125A Craftsman MIG welder which can actually handle about 50% of the work I throw at it.
If I need to weld something bigger I take it to work and use the 250A Miller MIG.
I want to get a nice HF AC TIG welder so I do super sexy welds on aluminum tubing.

 

I tried some DC positive and I'm laying down lines.

Are you using DC on steel?

You don't even have to read the Thread to know the answer. Just read the post I did 12 minutes before you posted.

And don't ask me what's "supposed to be". I don't know.
What are you doing asking a guy on his second day?
AC seems to be easier to hold the arc, but then, I got my best results in DC positive.
ANYTHING that lowers the impedance of the welding rig helps!
Even moving 60 feet closer to the house made a noticeable improvement, and I ran a 6 Ga copper wire to the shed.
If I could climb the pole and put a magnetic shunt in the 50KW transformer, that would be ideal.
Failing that, I suppose the expensive machines are expensive because they use real copper which is big enough, and enough magnetic steel to avoid saturating when the current gets high.

This is a real adventure using electricity to melt steel. All sorts of balancing acts are going on simultaneously. Current setting vs metal thickness, arc length vs penetration depth, arc persistence vs impedance clear back to the power pole, eye protection vs being able to see what you're doing, dwell time vs bead width...

What? You think I know something on my second day? I don't even know if my welding helmet is working like it should.