The main reason those magnets are kept away from the joint is the field generated from them will play havoc with your welding arc.
It's a good design trust me.
But stick it into a corner joint and try to tack up with stick and it can drive you mad. It can be as good as impossible to make an arc to both bits of metal within 4-6 inches of the magnet. It doesn't see much use.
How much? And do they have a physical 90° lockingposition rather than just visual?View attachment 121101 received this from amazon today,nice bit of USA,it's a stronger hold than the usual ones I have & the varying angle ability is great,only disappointment is the magnets being so far from the end,to protect them from heat I guess.
i never noticed that when using the oil arc welder when i was tack welding those 3/4" steel plates to each other as the magnet was on the other side holding the steel in place so i could tack weld it
With just under 300kg of pulling force I'm surprised it's not whipping the rods out the stinger lol.I'm often using an oil cooled. If I have it the right way round dc is worse.
Maybe you're magnet isn't as powerful, or maybe thicker metal helps as often I'm on thin stuff.
Sometimes the pull is so much that I also struggle with the rod trying to move from the joint to the magnet as well.
Like one of theseI have a milwaukee block with about 275kg pull off force. A serious tool, find an overhead girder and swing off it, it won't come off.
But stick it into a corner joint and try to tack up with stick and it can drive you mad. It can be as good as impossible to make an arc to both bits of metal within 4-6 inches of the magnet. It doesn't see much use.
Magnetic plate lifts.View attachment 121146
Like one of these
View attachment 121146
Like one of these
With just under 300kg of pulling force I'm surprised it's not whipping the rods out the stinger lol.
I'm often using an oil cooled. If I have it the right way round dc is worse.
Maybe you're magnet isn't as powerful, or maybe thicker metal helps as often I'm on thin stuff.
Sometimes the pull is so much that I also struggle with the rod trying to move from the joint to the magnet as well.
i was using an aldi magnet at the time the adjustable one at rear of the 3/4" thick steel all i did was tack weld it in place then take magnet out
there was no pull on rod or anything else whilst tack welding the steel