Welding Tips and Tricks

I just bought an HTP221. The manual says it will do pulsed SMAW. I had to search for any info on it and all l could find was one video on YouTube by StelWelding (maker of the 221) . Does anybody know why one would need or want to pulse stick weld?

Our European members will likely have much to say on this... It's not uncommon for them to stick weld with a foot pedal or other amp control, making pulsing manually simple. I could certainly see an advantage with stainless in various non-flat positions.

Steve S

Pulsed smaw? Never heard of it but definitely could se how there would be advantages!

I have tried messing with the AC features on 6011s.

AC Freq: seems to have same effect on SMAW as it does on AC aluminum welding with regards to heat-input. A lower frequency seems to produce a wider, slightly hotter bead. A higher frequency definitely tends to need extra amperage and constricting the arc could potentially produce a smaller bead, but I suspect it could interfere with the melting of the flux.

AC Balance: Didn't mess much with it, but I suspect it would produce what is expected: if you shift it towards DCEP, you'd get deeper penetration, if you shift it to DCEN you'd get shallower penetration.

AC Independent amplitude adjustment: well now you're talking crazy! LOL I suppose you could mess with this, but I don't see any reason to. At that point you could simply choose to run either DCEP or DCEN

Just adding to this thread. Not sure if it's been discussed much. I stumbled across a video from ChuckE2009 on youtube where he demonstrates pulse smaw. Would love to see Jody do a vid on this!

If you are interested, here's the vid

ca1dOFtH_1Y

Trapped slag inclusions are the first thing that comes to mind. Just cuz you can do something, doesn't always mean you should

soutthpaw wrote:Trapped slag inclusions are the first thing that comes to mind. Just cuz you can do something, doesn't always mean you should

I agree that there could be lots of negatives if every single precaution is not taken into account. Much different that pulse TIG welding. It also adds another physical operator factor of non-constant rod feed rate. At the higher-amperage end of the pulse, the rod will be consumed much faster than the low-end of the pulse. That would mean that the operator would have to feed the rod just a tiny bit faster on the hot-side, and for the exact duration that the hot-side pulse lasts. Just another thing for the mind to have to forge into muscle memory----no thanks, lol.

It's cool that he made the video to show that it is possible, but I don't see it catching on. SMAW is difficult enough as it is to master, let alone having to learn different feed rates.

It didn't appear that he was adjusting travel speed at all while going, but his travel speed did look fairly slow. I'm still green, but that's what I noticed. To me, it would make sense for a slower travel speed to avoid trapping slag. Too fast with the pulse would allow the puddle to cool too much during the low end, and a higher chance of slag getting trapped. Just my take on what makes sense. Again, i'm green so anybody more knowledgeable can correct me! I doubt i'll ever use this, but still like to learn.