Why there is no love for stick welders?

[FOMOGO]

Stick is fun, challenging but fun. If you can do a decent ac stick weld, you're a welder
I have the world's most unusual transformer-in-a-box:
View attachment 300142

That's a real work of art. Looks like it should be saying "take me to your leader" in a Flash Gorden episode. Cheers, Mike

 

[stioc]

7014 is the easiest rod to weld with. 7018 isn't bad but on the cheap ones the restarts can test your patience!

I have all three welders but my main go-to is still the MIG after 15yrs of hobby welding. I'm new to TIG and want to make TIG my go-to welding process but I find it way too slow. However, as others have said it's the cleanest of the three and that's the main reason I want to use it the most because all my welding happens in my attached 2 car garage usually with the roll up door mostly closed.

 

[cjtoombs]

I learned to weld on oxyacetylene and then stick when I was in high school vo-ag shop class. That was some time ago. I got a Mig welder about 25 years ago and used it with flux cored wire and then with shield gas, then I got a Tig welder. The Tig also had the option for stick welding, so I got a stick stinger and gave it a try again. That's when I realized how much harder stick is than the other processes and how much I had forgotten. I was actually pretty good at it in high school, but the results I got were horrible. After that practice session the stick stinger hasn't left the drawer. If I had a major job on thick steel that I didn't want to clean to perfection, I would spend the time, rod and practice metal to re-acquire the skill, but until then, I will stick with Mig and Tig.

 

[martik777]

Here's my old timer. Made in the 50's in Manitoba Canada.

 

[Downunder Bob]

Stick is fun, challenging but fun. If you can do a decent ac stick weld, you're a welder
I have the world's most unusual transformer-in-a-box:
View attachment 300142

That'sa n interesting multi tapped beast. At a guess I'd say it's ell and truly pre WWII. but probably does a good job.

 

[markba633csi]

Bob: I think you're right, around 1940s- works well, makes a nice hum when you flip that big toggle
Smiths brand

 

[westerner]

My dad had the oxy/acetylene in the shop before I first walked in there. He had me go fetch another coat hanger more than once.
I started arc welding with a Lincoln AC "buzzbox" (so named due to the racket it made as you varied arc length, and therefore power produced).
Spent quite a bit of time on a Miller Bobcat, in the field. MUCH better arc in DC than the ol' buzzbox. 7018 got ALOT better.
Learned how to TIG on aluminum. First time I tried it on steel, I made a mess. WAY too hot.
Bought a 225 amp mig a few years back. I like it, it makes me look good. Almost never use anything else anymore. Don't do much anymore, either.

I never was a "real" welder with any of these processes, but I dang sure noticed that the skills required are all perishable.

 

[markba633csi]

I learned some interesting stick facts:
1) Hot material and rod strikes easier
2) Burn off some rod before doing a bead in tight quarters, a shorter rod is easier to control
3) Experiment with the settings on your auto-dark helmet, and have good lighting. See better, weld better

 

[NortonDommi]

I use stick mostly because it is convenient. I have two MIG machines and oxyacteylene as well but usually the bottles are empty. I do very little welding with oxyacetylene, mostly its for heating and cutting. I think the last time I gas welded was some aluminum sheet metal on my boat. I use the MIG in the basement shop, mostly because there are no obnoxious fumes although I still have my Miller buzzbox there. If I need to use it, I just open the door to the outside to vent the fumes.

I have toyed with the idea of making my own oxygen and hydrogen. A back of the envelope calculation shows I can generate the equivalent of my S tank for under $2 worth of electricity. I have an oxyhydrogen torch and I suspect that I can convert the OA torches over fairly easily.

I would like to add TIG and plasma to the arsenal. I keep eying the Everlast 265. It just gets increasingly more difficult to justify it as I get older.

As you mature when it comes to tools or hobbies do you need to justify anything?

 

[RJSakowski]

As you mature when it comes to tools or hobbies do you need to justify anything?

Unfortunately, yes. I have come to the realization the my remaining years are limited. Even more so are the years that I can continue working in this hobby. When I was younger, it was easy for me to justify a purchase in that it would prove useful many times in the coming years. Now, that is not the case.
I am fortunate in that I am fairly well set and if I wanted to buy a machining center, I could and pay cash for it. However, I have a wife who is more than 14 years my junior and I have to think about her future when I have passed on. Given current affairs, there is a compelling need to hold a substantial reseerve. A single medical issue could wipe out our assets. A recession like that of a decade ago could seriously reduce them.