I have some Forney, it's not bad, but I prefer Lincoln for my stick rod. I've heard good things about Esab, that's the one I would try if I was you. I'm not a pro stick welder so take what I say with a large grain of salt. :) I'm interested in trying the good stuff. I need to be making better welds...

It's the rods, I'm not sure if it's that the fleetweld 180 rods tend to dry out on the shelves sometimes, or if they just don't have as tight quality control as their professional line of rods. But over a year back I bought a box of 3/32 6011 from lowes and just couldn't get them to run right, no m...

7018 works great, but it cant beat 6010/6011 for the deep-digging arc characteristic and the better job of cutting through all sorts of crud. 6011 can be plenty strong if the bead has the correct throat size, convexity, and the appropriate toe-to-base metal angle (IOW: with the toes wet'ed in nicel...

Jtap, it's about distance. Small guage wire isn't unusual on the input side of welders but the short runs offer minimal voltage drop. My generator really sagged both voltage and frequency when striking an arc and never tripped a 30 amp breaker. Hope the new wiring helps. It at least made me not so ...

jtap, what is your power situation like? I ran a copper wound Miller Thunderbolt AC/DC for several years in the barn with no power. For smaller projects or when the weather was bad I ran it off a 5500 watt generator. Other times I set up outside where I could plug into the house. 85-90A DC was push...

Not by my experience. I have 6011s from Lowe's that I bought maybe 4 years ago, and they still run normal. Never had any issues with them snuffing out, but then again we have different machines and my material wasn't rusty. Your amperage is fine for 3/32" as they typically work just fine in th...

Ground clamp is beefy, I have one of those on my 300A MIG. Could have just been the spot you put the clamp on. I can only assume you are holding a tight arc, ≤ 1/8"? Also are those bare aluminum(?) connectors inside the machine? If so, hadn't seen that before. All the secondary and stabilizer ...

I'm surprised it can't keep 6011s lit. Surely it should be able to. What gauge leads are you running? Let's see a picture of your ground clamp? How are the connections inside the machine? Pristine condition? Or are they corroded to hell and back? The machine is pretty clean inside and didn't have m...

Ran a bunch of 1/8" 6013 the other day (a bunch to me anyway, 20-25 rods) I was joining some thick metal pipe to some propane tank wall which wasn't very thick. Worked out well. They are Hobart from a 10# box. I was playing around with these 3/32" 6011 rods and they don't want to run at al...

Hi jtap, Just to add to thee discussion. First of about the brand. I would also give +1 for Lincoln and ESAB brands for serious projects and just my personal opinion is that you should have a stick oven if you will be welding something important like structure that can endanger someone if they are ...

As I thought the specs sounded surprisingly similar, I did a little more reading and found out it was in fact made for hypertherm by miller, though I believe hypertherm made the torch that went with it. Miller owns Hobart, in other words, I STRONGLY suspect that machine and the hobart airforce12/25...

I looked up the manual and according to the specs it has a 12 amp max output and the cut specs were as followed Recommended Cutting Capacity...........................1/8 inch (3 mm) @ 12A (35% duty cycle) Maximum Cutting Capacity ...................................3/16 inch (4.5 mm) @ 12A (35% dut...

I'm curious what you more experience folks think about the Hypertherm Powermax 190c plasma cutter. Is it worth buying or too old? What would be a good price/value if it is worth buying? (let's assume it's working) Thanks! Edit: I had the thought that maybe I should look at consumable prices to see h...

i was trying to avoid that discussion. it really depends on what rod your using. don't bother doing that with rutile rods as you will get slag inclusions. with basic rods you can get away with it, but again its not best practise. i'm open to correction as always but afaik with basic rods your actua...

It is common to fill a hole with 6010 and then pad beads of 7018 over top. Seems reasonable, especially on some hobbyist stuff that doesn't need the 70k psi strength. Depending on how the puddle ran, sometimes the termination of the weld bead doesn't have slag covering it. It is always a good pract...

i say no because that ruins the point of using a low hydrogen rod. generally let it cool helps a lot and you often can repair with the same rod your using. cleaning the slag off is always best practise. with some welds in some situations you may even need to grind the stop. light coming in the back...

Good information. Thanks. Would it be ok to switch from say a 7018 where I blew through to a 6010/6011 faster freeze rod to try to fill the hole, is that an acceptable thing to do? Also, should I always clear the slag after I stop welding before starting again? These are the type of things that the ...

Stick rods are relatively cheap. Start with 10 lbs of rod. Take the time to just run that whole box as test welds. With something like 6013 while changing things like your amps and polarity. Once you start to feel comfortable with the limits of a given rod of one size then play around with joint co...

Couple questions about your thunderbolt. Is it one of the newer inverter style Tbolts that are dc only? Or is it one of the older transformer style TBolts? Some were ac only and some were ac/dc. Big old transformer guy from 2005. 80 lbs+ it will run ac or dc. I'm quite pleased with it. The only thi...

rutile electrodes will usually give a nicer looking bead. that can mean less clean up. 6013 these days tends to be a general purpose rod, use it for almost everything. its not fussy about storage requirements. cellulose rods can get to dry, basic rods need to be kept really dry. rutile will general...

I mistyped. I meant to say "Not only will 3/32" help you to not blow through 1/8" ..". They [3/32"] are definitely better suited for 1/8" steel. Some can run too hot if you hold too long of an arc, it makes the puddle very messy and prone to blow-through. Different rod...

My welder came with a Tweco a-732 Electrode Holder.

What would be the reason to buy/have some 3/32" 6013 and 7014? Are they more gentle and can be run at a lower amperage with less penetration and less chance of blow-through?

+1 on the Lincoln, the only problem is you need to buy a 10# tube. Best 7018 rod by far. I concur with Oscar, with the 1/8" rods I was blowing holes through most stuff like crazy...3/32" works much better for me. The reason they only sell 10# tubes of this is that the tubes are sealed so ...

Any brand is fine for practice. I like Esab or Lincoln for my critical stuff. I’d recommend getting just 3/32 to start with for 7018. And 1/8 on the 6010 / 6011. Thanks for the reply. I hadn't thought of ESAB. Forget about 1/8" electrodes for 1/8" parts! They can be made to work, but you ...

I got my Miller Thunderbolt and I have been practicing a bit and getting all the things necessary to do some actual welding projects. I bought some hobart sticks to practice with. I'm interested in what GOOD brand or type of sticks I should buy for serious projects. My plan was to buy 1/8" 7018...