What stick welder

Don't agree with the above recommendations. An AC buzz box will just make the learning curve a lot more frustrating. There are a lot of buzz boxes sitting in the corner collecting dust or listed for sale because the owners were frustrated with them. They also have a very low duty cycle especially for doing heavy equipment repair. DC current is a game changer. You can find good used or even new inverter welders for pretty reasonable prices.

Welder Dave said: Don't agree with the above recommendations. An AC buzz box will just make the learning curve a lot more frustrating. There are a lot of buzz boxes sitting in the corner collecting dust or listed for sale because the owners were frustrated with them. They also have a very low duty cycle especially for doing heavy equipment repair. DC current is a game changer. You can find good used or even new inverter welders for pretty reasonable prices. Click to expand... I'm with Dave. I never owned or used a classic buzz box, a Lincoln tombstone 180. I have owned, made do for years a Twentieth Century 295 AC only with 100% duty cycle. I found it to be perfect for thawing underground water pipes. I built a great many fabrications in flat mode, or flat/uphill. I never mastered AC out of positioned. The welder I bought new in 1974 was offered with DC capability. Years later I bought a used one. DC was dramatically better, and I started welding out of position successfully. I had had a brief opportunity to use a Westinghouse engine welder C. 1945. I found it to be wonderful! Many years later I bought an antique Lincoln Idealarc 300/300. It is a 400 amp welder, duty cycle rated at 300 amps. Its power is steady, doesn't fluctuate under load. It behaves similarly to the giant Westinghouse machine I used as a teenager. I wish I had started with a good welder.

I'll second the collusion with WD. I started with a Miller Thunderbolt buzz box. I must have replaced at least 3 or 4 diodes over the years that I tried to get by with that thing. Not enough duty cycle and a mediocre welder at best. Once I got my Lincoln LA250? diesel welder, I got a taste of what a good welder is and how much easier it was to work with. I was finally able to get some out of postion welds done in a fair manner and have enough amperage for smaller air arc carbon rods. It also powered my MIG needs when called for. Now that I upgraded the shop welder to the Lincoln V350 inverter welder, I confidently tackle out of position welds and a lot more. Lots more fine settings to tune the welds. It's upped my game on MIG and TIG as well. Better tooling => better results. If I had it to do over again, a better forklift and a better welder should have been some of my first shop tooling purchases. Live & learn. YMMV.

treemuncher said: I'll second the collusion with WD. I started with a Miller Thunderbolt buzz box. I must have replaced at least 3 or 4 diodes over the years that I tried to get by with that thing. Not enough duty cycle and a mediocre welder at best. Once I got my Lincoln LA250? diesel welder, I got a taste of what a good welder is and how much easier it was to work with. I was finally able to get some out of postion welds done in a fair manner and have enough amperage for smaller air arc carbon rods. It also powered my MIG needs when called for. Now that I upgraded the shop welder to the Lincoln V350 inverter welder, I confidently tackle out of position welds and a lot more. Lots more fine settings to tune the welds. It's upped my game on MIG and TIG as well. Better tooling => better results. If I had it to do over again, a better forklift and a better welder should have been some of my first shop tooling purchases. Live & learn. YMMV. Click to expand... With that said a engine drive with a true dc genny will always out weld a inverter or even a old copper lump ac imput dc out transformer machine. Being a pup youd think id like the new welders just give me a old lincoln mig or stick and my beloved miller 375 or whatever it is syncrowave and it will be all better

True DC generators do have a very nice arc but for stick welding some of the new inverters are pretty close. Treemunchers diesel welder is likely a Lincoln SA250. Very similar to the SA200 but diesel powered with a little more duty cycle. Uses a lot less fuel too. I have a 1961 SA200 and it's almost impossible to snuff out the arc. Outstanding for 6010, 7018 and any other rods you want to put in the stinger. I acquired a Miller Big 40 for cheap last year. It welds pretty good but not at the level of the Lincoln. It has AC power for tools though. The Lincoln only has DC power for tools so you have to AC/DC rated tools. I could sell the Lincoln for a lot more than the Miller but it is just too nice to weld with. The Miller is on a nice trailer that I'm going to keep.

Grinder and and Paint make you the welder you aint I pay someone to weld for me

For something you don't want to break it's worth it to get a qualified welder to weld it. It's money well spent. Unfortunately a lot of people assume it's too expensive. Better to fix something right the first time. Welders like anyone else hate fixing somebody else's mess.

@Welder Dave they'd hate fixing the mess I made the other day, both my welders failed and heat from multiple f--- up runs and grinding... I mastered laying dimes in there with body shop filler. (ps. It's only underside of a guard, luckily got the top done before the problems started..)

TIG welder is Dynasty 280 DX. It weighs 52 LBS but it still lives in the basement near all the time. I hadn't tried it out as a stick welder. I had one connection to do of a post under a carrying beam, used 7018. While it worked well, it was way too smokey. When I built a truck body I had several dozens of welds T configuration 2" long both sides of 1/4" X 1-1/2 inch to 1/4" wall channel. I hauled the welder to the garage to give it a legitimate try with 6010 stick. It is an inverter but it behaved very well with 6010. Younger son graduated college, his first job was truck driver. He brought home a 30 something year old Ford triaxle truck with aluminum dump. Numerous cracks had been welded over with spool gun, cracked again as predicted. I cut them out & Tigged I was surprised how much better the repairs held with TIG. It has been several years, I still see the truck on the road occasionally.

I dont know if i will try to sell the extra Dialarc I have or scrap it. I havent had very good luck selling stuff . I am 100 percent sure i can get more out of it scrapping it but it will also be more work. Right now its setting in the door way of my storage trailer.

Shouldn't be hard to get a decent price for a Dialarc if it's AC/DC. $400-$500 is normal range for them.

Welder Dave said: Shouldn't be hard to get a decent price for a Dialarc if it's AC/DC. $400-$500 is normal range for them. Click to expand... Its AC/DC but stick welding is about a thing of the past. I am going to try to get half that out of it but i have my doubts. I think it would scrap for $400.00 .

Old Doug said: I dont know if i will try to sell the extra Dialarc I have or scrap it. I havent had very good luck selling stuff . I am 100 percent sure i can get more out of it scrapping it but it will also be more work. Right now its setting in the door way of my storage trailer. Click to expand... I paid $400. for a 1969 Lincoln Idealarc 300/300. Sweetest plug in welder I tried. I did scrap an old Hobart. Maybe 30 LBS of copper in a 200 LB welder, mostly iron & steel in them.

Stick welding will always be king on heavy equipment. It's proven and can be done in just about any environment. You'll never get $400 in scrap from a 350lb transformer rectifier welder. You should be able sell it for $400 pretty easily though.

Welder Dave said: Stick welding will always be king on heavy equipment. It's proven and can be done in just about any environment. You'll never get $400 in scrap from a 350lb transformer rectifier welder. You should be able sell it for $400 pretty easily though. Click to expand... I wish i could I gave less than a Hundred a piece for the two of them at a auction . The owner helped me load them after the sell. He ask what i gave for them I felt bad telling him but he said thats what he gave for them a few years back. Things must be alot different here than other places. Before these I bought 2 smaller AC/DC stick welders . I cant remember what i gave for them but it was some were around what the leads and stuff that was with them was worth . I gave one of them to a buddy i may have gave the other away also but i know i keep the stuff they came with and didnt lose any money. I wish you guys lived closer.

The 5-pound boxes of Lincoln Electric E7018 sold at Lowes & Home Depot is marked AC. Taking the Pepsi challenge I tired the rod on both AC & DCEP. It actually works better on AC (cleaner & more consistent beads - obviously using dry rod). If you've got older 7018 rod, or if it's a brand not specifically marked AC, you should run it on DCEP. That being said - nothing beats the penetration of 6011 on DCEP for root-pass. They sell 6011 that's marked AC/DC, and it does seem to work ok on AC, but the penetration is noticeably greater on DCEP - even with slightly lower current settings.

Old Doug said: Its AC/DC but stick welding is about a thing of the past. I am going to try to get half that out of it but i have my doubts. I think it would scrap for $400.00 . Click to expand... Boy! I won't agree that stick welding is a thing of the past. Plenty of heavy equipment rebuilds going on with stick.

Maintenance Shipyards still so a whole bunch of stick welding. They buy rod by the ton.

Willie B said: Boy! I won't agree that stick welding is a thing of the past. Plenty of heavy equipment rebuilds going on with stick. Click to expand... I stick weld a lot what i meant was selling a stick welder wasnt going to be easy around here. Not very many guys that do there own welding stick weld not very many welding shops stick weld. Several guys i know race dirt track cars they all mig weld there cars . I bought a mig welder in the late 80s because i wanted to fix rust on my vehicals. I was one of the first guys around to get a mig that wasnt in the welding business.

Stick is the go to for most welders that want maximum strength. It also works outside. Dual-shield flux-core is pretty common now but has to be done indoors or with a wind shield. It can also screw up for no apparent reason. 6011 is mostly an AC version of 6010 but is a little smoother to run on DC+. It doesn't have quite as much penetration as 6010. Most welders with DC machines just buy 6010. The problem with 6010/6011 is it doesn't have the ductility of 7018. However it can be used as a root pass for max. penetration followed by 7018 and gives 7018 mechanical properties.