First stick welds

[Revs1972]

despite having had my rebel for sometime now, I hadn't got round to trying stick welding. Was up in Bristol dropping it off my Erectors, so I'd thought I'd use the parents electric and have a go in the back garden as it was such a nice day.
Had a rogue 2.5mm rod, so started with that , but found it a little difficult to light up . So switched to the 3.2 rods at 120 amp and laid down some beads.
I thought they came out ok, no peelers , but the slag was very easy to chip off .
Obviously got to get a steadier hand , but dare I say it, I actually preferred this to mig welding ( based on the very limited time I have spent doing either).
At least it's easier to drag out into the garden and no gas etc to worry about

Here's my efforts so far

 

[Shoggi]

I'm thinking of getting a stick welder I can't cope with my gasless mig
And my sip migmate is very old but is 100 times better than my gasless

 

[WorkshopChris]

I would say you might be better trying to slow down the rate you feed the rod to get the runs a little wider. maybe try turning the heat down a little, start off at 100 amps and see how it looks.

 

[Richiew]

Nice one, another stick welder on here.

If you get chance you should have a go doing a "pad" as per the tutorial.

http://www.mig-welding.co.uk/learning-arc.htm

It's how I got my eye in stick welding. MMA is much more rewarding than MIG.

 

[Richard.]

but dare I say it, I actually preferred this to mig welding

It's miles more fun than Mig welding.

 

[fixedfixer]

Have been using MIG for about 20 years. Recently bought an Aldi Inverter with a discount code from @Onoff. I have to admit I’m a convert to this stick business I’m enjoying using the Aldi box and am keen to get a cheap TIG torch to hook up to it.

 

[Brad93]

120A is right for a 3.2mm in the flat.
Slow down your travel speed ever so slightly.

 

[Revs1972]

I was just messing about to start with , increasing the arc length / speed etc to see what the difference was, holding the electrode with the other hand to steady it ( found this didn't help my style and my hand got bloomin hot !). I'll try that pad idea ago and try to slow things down a bit as advised above.
Thanks

Was a case of grabbing 1/2 hour whilst the kids were at the park.
Plan is to spend the day in the workshop with one of the guys I get in to do welding for me sometimes.
He said he'd do me a good rate and as I can pay through the business it shouldn't hurt the wallet too much.
Just want to get a good idea before of what to do, so I'm not going in cold.
Now just got to find a spare day ! Always the difficult bit

 

[zzr1200]

holding the electrode with the other hand to steady it ( found this didn't help my style and my hand got bloomin hot !). I'll try that pad idea ago and try to slow things down a bit as advised above.
Thanks

Get a couple of decent pairs of welding arc gloves and just rest the rod on your finger of the supporting hand don't hold it. You'll always find one welding glove wears out before the other one, every arc welder I've known always has a few spare left or right handed gloves depending on their dominant hand.

Also I find that bending the rod a little by the electrode holder can help with getting a steadier arc length, due to a more comfortable position for your arms/hands are in while welding.

 

[Gwil]

Like a lot of people I find stick somehow a more satisfying process, and if you work in 4mm and above stick will always give the average user better penetration. Just don't try to weld your car together with it.

I've had people laying reasonable beads after an hour's concentrated trial, and I'm just a self taught amateur. There's nothing like a big stick welder, big rods, and big current! I built my boat mostly using a mate's two big Oxfords wired in parallel, beautiful setup.