itstippy
04-12-2008, 10:18 PM
I am not an experienced welder but I am interested in it. I work on boat trailers, garden tractors, etc, and have taken my welding needs to an oldtimer buddy who does great work with an ancient 220V "buzz box" stick welder. Strong! I've watched him work his magic, helped him weld, asked lots of questions, tried it a few times, and wanted a welder like that myself. After a couple years of keeping my eyes open I found a deal on this one. I've fired it up and it works great. Woo hoo! Just gotta learn all about how to use it properly. Looks like I found the right forum board, too.
Any ideas on what type of current the "A, B, C, D" settings produce? Something necessary for heliarc welding, obviously, and I'm hoping that "something" is DC current. I'm told there are many more rod options available today if you have DC available. I'm kinda hoping that in the 1960's, when this unit was built, those modern DC rods didn't exist except for heliarc applications. In which case the A, B, C, D settings are DC and very useful for modern rods. Or perhaps I'm just wishing and hoping, and the A, B, C, D settings actually produce some weirdo current pattern only useful to an archaic form of arc welding that employed helium gas and long-extinct electrodes. In which case I'll just never ever use them and stick to AC rods and AC settings 1 - 5 (five is, I guess, for welding up battleships and Abrams A-1 battle tanks).
http://i96.photobucket.com/albums/l190/itstippy/welder.jpg
http://i96.photobucket.com/albums/l190/itstippy/welderplate.jpg
http://i96.photobucket.com/albums/l190/itstippy/100_0898.jpg
Any ideas on what type of current the "A, B, C, D" settings produce? Something necessary for heliarc welding, obviously, and I'm hoping that "something" is DC current. I'm told there are many more rod options available today if you have DC available. I'm kinda hoping that in the 1960's, when this unit was built, those modern DC rods didn't exist except for heliarc applications. In which case the A, B, C, D settings are DC and very useful for modern rods. Or perhaps I'm just wishing and hoping, and the A, B, C, D settings actually produce some weirdo current pattern only useful to an archaic form of arc welding that employed helium gas and long-extinct electrodes. In which case I'll just never ever use them and stick to AC rods and AC settings 1 - 5 (five is, I guess, for welding up battleships and Abrams A-1 battle tanks).
http://i96.photobucket.com/albums/l190/itstippy/welder.jpg
http://i96.photobucket.com/albums/l190/itstippy/welderplate.jpg
http://i96.photobucket.com/albums/l190/itstippy/100_0898.jpg