Just new at welding. I was wondering if you always put the ground cable in the negative slot and the electrode cable in the positive slot. Or depending on what type of rod you use do you sometimes reverse slots? Doesn't say a thing in my manual. Can somebody fill me in. Thanks Dave.
Generally speaking yes, the stick electrode holder is in the positive port, unless you specifically want to run a (suitable) electrode on negative. Some electrodes can be run in DCEP (EP=electrode Positive), some DCEN (EN=electrode negative), and some on AC (alternating current), which I don't think your welder has. For a given rod (on your machine), if it is able to be used in either DCEP or DCEN, DCEP give the deepest penetration.
Here is how the penetration varies for a given rod, assuming it can be used in any of the above 3 mentioned arc welding modes:
That is picture is just a "figurative" representation. It doesn't actually mean you will get that much penetration on a given joint, just as a visual means of relatively comparing the three stick welding modes to each other.
Here is how the penetration varies for a given rod, assuming it can be used in any of the above 3 mentioned arc welding modes:
That is picture is just a "figurative" representation. It doesn't actually mean you will get that much penetration on a given joint, just as a visual means of relatively comparing the three stick welding modes to each other.