I don't need it darker.

Well given,

OK. I found a helmet last night that has 2 ranges: 5 to 9 and 9 to 13 and replaceable batteries!
I'd probably be good with a 6 to 10, but they don't exist.

and you did say you wanted a 6 to 10 instead of a 5 - 9 range so...........

some cheap window tint film behind the plastic lens shield seems like a pretty easy way to get that added 1+ shade range you want on the low end settings!

So battery wise, button, coin, AAA or AA and what chemistry? Mercury oxide, carbon zinc, alkaline, lithium, NiCad or NiMH batteries?

 

you did say you wanted a 6 to 10 instead of a 5 - 9 range so...........

I didn't say I wanted that, I said I would probably be good with that.
A helmet with two ranges is more than I need, and each range has 5 settings, so I suppose one could build a lens that only has one range, 6 to 10 and save a buck. The manufacturer could save the price of installing a switch. That's all I meant.

If the 9 setting on the low range doesn't get weaker as it ages, I won't need the 10 setting unless I get a bigger welder.

So battery wise, what chemistry?

CR2032

 

After giving it a couple of days rest, I moved back out to the shed, 60 feet of 6 Ga. 240VAC away.
I knew what was wrong in about 3 seconds. I need to crank it about 8 amps higher at the end of a 60 ft "extension cord". Burned a 3/32 rod like I knew what I was doing. Had control of thickness, width, and penetration.
No problems with slag inclusions because I saw how to do that on You-tube.
The discoloration of the backside of the 1/8 steel plate tells me I'm getting good penetration, but never burning through the plate.

Not fighting the helmet so much. It seems you just have to admit that there is no such thing as a light that is bright enough to light up the background so you can see anything besides the arc and the puddle and 3/16ths of an inch around them. Not even full sunlight can do that. Right now, I have doubts about changing to a helmet with a 5 to 9 range. 9 on the 9 to 13 scale seems adequate. That might be false on the 1/16th rod. I'll burn a couple of those before I make up my mind. If the visibility gets much worse, I'll swap to a dual range helmet.

I will get around to burning some 1/16th rod pretty soon. I want to get better enough to do some 1/16th steel welding.
Some of those left over 2x4 brackets will be handy after I clean the galv. off them.
They are really awful if you don't. Strange white stuff gets everywhere so you can't see what you're doing or where the crack is. It is easy to understand that white stuff can coat your lungs in a matter of minutes, and I imagine a pretty awful death. "Wheeze...wheeze...croak."

Who knows. I might be able to tack some sheet metal eventually...without burning holes in it.
Right now, I'm not a complete fumble fingers. Still a noob, but I'm not dropping eggs everywhere instead of making lines.
I'm already embarrassed by what I did on the first day. I think you call that, "progress".

How do you get to Carnegie Hall?
Practice, practice, practice!

 

Yes! - Now there appeared a new chapter of this glorious history.

 

@#12, one thing about extra light, the sun or otherwise. Have the light in front not behind you. Light from behind can cause glare on the lens and make it harder to see. Don't concentrate on looking at the arc, look at the area ahead of the actual arc, to see where you are going. And like you said practice, if it was easy everybody would have a arc welder.

When I learned there were no self darkening hoods. you had to either flip the hood down or if you had the big bucks your hood had a flip lens. That made starting the arc and following the joint a little harder. Had to not move the rod during the flipping down the hood.

 

That smells like meat?
But it doesn't hurt?

Oh! It's my glove!

ROFL!

Using a 1/16th rod, 50 amps, DC positive:
I did some 0.080 steel. Side by side, welding the edges together. Made about 80% good weld.
It wasn't all that fragile (compared to 0.125 steel) that I couldn't get most of it right.

Tried some 0.060 steel at 40 amps DC positive. Made about 50% good weld.
That makes sense. The steel was 50% as thick as what I was practicing on previously.

Darn! You have to re-calibrate all your habits when the steel changes thickness.
It's hard to get a spark started with the amps that low. The speed you move is different. The width of the bead is different. The spark looks hotter next to that tiny thickness of metal. I mean, the arc is wider than the victim!
I can only assume you need to practice on the same kind of stuff you're going to work on before you start on the, "real" job, and I mean, "before every job". I was getting so comfortable on 1/8 steel with a 3/32 rod and it all goes out the window when you shift sizes.

Well, not all of it. My judgement of the sound seems to work, but how you apply the energy to the seam is all different. There is a much finer line between adding metal and making the sheet metal disappear. Much less forgiving. I didn't burn the edge back, but I was constantly afraid I would. It requires so much less rod and you're trying to balance the bead on an edge that isn't as wide as the arc. You have to melt some of the base metal, but now you're balancing another variable. How far to melt the metal back compared to how thick the bead is going to be.

Oh well. Must burn some more 1/16th rod to develop different habits. Muscle memory doesn't work when you remember a very different thickness of metal.

 

I can only assume you need to practice on the same kind of stuff you're going to work on before you start on the, "real" job, and I mean, "before every job". I was getting so comfortable on 1/8 steel with a 3/32 rod and it all goes out the window when you shift sizes.

Yep. If I have a job where I only get one good run at it I do a few test runs on something as close to it as possible to make sure I have everything set right.

 

You're trying to weld the hardest thing to weld with stick. This was one of the things(sheet metal work) that Mig was developed for, there were other reasons but that was the biggy. Don't remember the number of the rod, but years ago they sold a special rod just for sheet metal. Instead of the normal brown/grey flux it was kind of pinkish purple color, don't know if it is still made.

Once you get the hang of this what are you going to weld? If it is car repairs, frame or etc, your in for a whole new learning experience. Most car work is 'out of position', meaning not laying flat on a bench. If you thing what you've done so far is hard, just wait. Not only do you have to worry about burning through, wait till your just put down bead drops to the ground or on your arm or down the front of your shirt. Been there done that and have the holes in my shirt to prove it.

 

A tip for welding sheet steel. Don't try to lay down one continuous bead - instead, lay down 1" at the start, then 1" 3/4 of the way down, then 1" 1/4 of the way down, then 1" at the far end, then 1" 1/2 of the way down. Repeat until you have the bond that you want. If you have the time, let the beads cool before you continue so you can minimize distortion.

 

You're trying to weld the hardest thing to weld with stick.

And 50% of my bead is connecting sheet metal together on my first try! I'm half way there on my third day!

Thank you. Thank you. Please hold the applause.

Once you get the hang of this what are you going to weld?

I dunno.
I didn't know what I was going to do after I got the hang of a 35mm camera. Then my photos won contests and got published. I might sign up for a welding course, and when I arrive, I won't flinch like a little girl the first time I strike a spark.
If I had this 2 years ago, I would have fixed the stool I use at the electronics work bench.
What were you going to do with your education when you first started learning?
I bet you didn't know.

 

Yep like others said. Stick welding and sheet metal are not a good match. Even for well experienced people with very good skills and equipment it's still a hard thing to do and do well.

For beginners consider anything thinner than ~ 12 gauge not worth messing with until you are at the point you can do 'vertical up' welds and solid 'overhead' with reasonable proficiency.

Now if you really have a lot of need for doing sheet metal spend the effort to get setup with a small MIG with a gas feed and .023 wire.

Back when I worked at Praxair I used to get sales on the small Lincoln and Miller mini MIG units by welding two pieces of .5" x .020" (20 ga) steel pallet banding straps together side by side while the customer watched! (it's harder than it sounds. Like TIG welding pop cans together hard and I practiced it a lot while testing repaired machines.)

 

What were you going to do with your education when you first started learning?
I bet you didn't know.

I did. I was going to learn to do everything better than everyone else just so that I could make know it all braggarts who claimed things were hard look like fools by appearing to be some unknowing nobody that could walk right up and out do them on whatever it was they claimed to be so great at.

Everything else I would do with my education was secondary.

 

Srsly...I don't have a clue what I'm going to do with some welding skills. Probably destroy the heat treatment in something and cause it to fracture. It's just another tool. I have one in the shed. It might come in handy. So what?

 

It's just another tool. I have one in the shed. It might come in handy. So what?

That describes about 90% of my tool, equipment and general skills collection and their over all justification in having.

 

What were you going to do with your education when you first started learning?
I bet you didn't know.

You would lose. I'm still working on the thing that started me down this treacherous path. My home made electrical discharge machine(EDM). There are quite a few DIY machine circuits out there, but none that suit me. I ran one for too many years to settle for a 'toy' one. I've learned a lot but still not enough, and trying to get people that know electronics to understand why some one would intentionally want to make sparks is hard. Not Tesla coil type sparks but very small ones to machine metal. I've had the mechanical parts done for 15 or more years, even shown in a book on how to DIY one, it's the electronics that is killing me.

 

When I wrapped some "bell" wire around a nail for Cub Scouts, all I believed was that I was going to do, "science". I didn't know if it was going to be electricity, chemistry, biology, or several categories I had never heard of.

I'm still working on the thing that started me down this treacherous path. My home made electrical discharge machine(EDM).

If you knew you were headed there at 9 years old, you were way ahead of me!

 

Well if you really want to get into over engineering your welding system you can always do what I did and automate your welding power supply to automatically come on when you grab the stinger!

On my first MIG rig I set it up with automated power up and shutdown system so I didn't have to bother with flipping the big switch to turn it on and off when I wanted to use it.

I set it up so that the trigger on the MIG gun was part of a timer circuit that controlled the main contactors that way I just had to pick up the gun and tap the trigger for a second and the system powered up on its own. If I didn't use for more than 2 minutes it shut everything down and went to sleep.

 

automate your welding power supply

One of the challenges I have noticed is: Where is a safe place lay the rod handle?
I have been dropping the rod out of the handle and laying the handle down.
A telephone style, "hook switch" sounds excellent.
My day job has long been about using 10 or 20 watts to control 10 or 20 thousand watts. I probably have the parts to make the control circuits. Now that I have a welder, making a hook switch will be a walk in the park.
And while I'm in there, I can design it to leave the fan on for several minutes after I, "hang up".

 

That running fan was my #1 reason to automate my rig.

If your little one is annoying imagine one that sounds like it belongs in a service shop wall running the same distance from you.

I never did understand the design logic behind those things. The little units have fans that are about 1/3 - 1/2 the capacity they need to be and the big units have fans that are at least 5 times more than they would ever need.

 

One of the challenges I have noticed is: Where is a safe place lay the rod handle?

Are you talking about the rod holder? It is totally insulated (only the rod is energyzed). Just lay the holder with the rod either "up" or "horizontal".