Last week I picked up a Hobart 210i DC stick welder and I’ve been seeing what it’s good at, what it struggles with. I’ve only ever welded with our trusty Lincoln AC-180-S buzz box from the '60s so this whole DC thing is new to me. So are amperage adjustments in increments of less than 15, and machines that you can pick up and carry around.
Last night I welded up a riser for the drawbar on an old Oliver OC-3 crawler we use during the muddy maple syrup season. The sap trailer we haul through the woods doesn’t sit level and it’s hard on the tongue and the tank when it fills up (300-400 gals), so this is meant to raise the tongue a little and level things out. The existing drawbar has two holes in it, one right behind the other, so this will bolt right on top of it.
I used 1/8" 6010 for the root passes at about 105 amps, which dug in nice and deep, but I had to keep a super tight arc. If my heart beat too hard the arc would go out. Not sure if this is normal or a limitation of the machine. I'd appreciate any thoughts on that. 6011 on the old buzz box would keep an arc if you pulled out an inch or more (I only do that when the electric bill starts to look too cheap).
Just to see how the Hobart handled it, I capped the root passes with some 3/16” iron powder rod I found in the basement under some mummies. They weren't labeled so I'm not sure if they were 7024 or 7014, but once I dusted them off they ran actually pretty smooth. I had to use a needle scaler to chip out all the slag between the little gussets in there. I need to drill the hole for the hitch pin out a little bigger, then I'll post a pic of this mounted to the tractor.
Thanks for any feedback,
Brandon
Will I be missing out in life if I only ever run 6011? Does 6010 have any meaningful advantages over 6011?