Welding Tips and Tricks

Hey I'm Travis from Illinois and I'm just getting started welding. I'm looking to buy an everlast 160sth with tax money and learn tig and stick so I can eventually get a career going in the industry. I figure I'll have 200-300 bucks to spend on filler materials and I was wondering what would be the best bang for the buck and where to buy them. I was thinking some er70s6 in a few sizes along with some 7018 and 6011 in a couple sizes to get me started. Any and all advice is appreciated.

Get a decent gas lens for your torch, a #7 and a #8 cup. Stick with 3/32" tungsten. Skip the other sizes of that. Trust me. 2% Lanthanated works well (lt blue colored ends).

For filler rod, I'd suggest ER70S-2. Its extremely versatile. 3/32" filler, maybe some 1/8". Skip the small stuff. Learn to control your puddle by dipping less, not dipping thinner.

For SMAW rods, 7018 3/32" and 1/8" 6011. You can weld the whole world with those sizes. Get a decent auto-darkening helmet, a chipping hammer, and an angle grinder with flap disks (a must for TIG welding) and a diamond wheel for your bench grinder to taper your tungstens.

Your machine is only capable of fairly low amps, so you don't need monster sized filler rod and stick rods. Plus, learning, you don't need to run 150 amps on the material for long. Your torch will get quite hot when you do. For TIG practice, work with 1/4" steel, fully cleaned and shiny bright. Don't worry about the "penetration" worry about the technique and consistency. The thicker material will tolerate the heat of repetitive welding.

For stick welding, I'd go even thicker 1/4"-1/2". You will be running beads. Run them until you go sterile. And then do some more. Avoid trying to weld really thin stuff until you get some real practice under your belt.

Welcome to the forum, Travis.

Excellent advice! Thank you very much

cj737 wrote:Get a decent gas lens for your torch, a #7 and a #8 cup. Stick with 3/32" tungsten. Skip the other sizes of that. Trust me. 2% Lanthanated works well (lt blue colored ends).

For filler rod, I'd suggest ER70S-2. Its extremely versatile. 3/32" filler, maybe some 1/8". Skip the small stuff. Learn to control your puddle by dipping less, not dipping thinner.

For SMAW rods, 7018 3/32" and 1/8" 6011. You can weld the whole world with those sizes. Get a decent auto-darkening helmet, a chipping hammer, and an angle grinder with flap disks (a must for TIG welding) and a diamond wheel for your bench grinder to taper your tungstens.

Your machine is only capable of fairly low amps, so you don't need monster sized filler rod and stick rods. Plus, learning, you don't need to run 150 amps on the material for long. Your torch will get quite hot when you do. For TIG practice, work with 1/4" steel, fully cleaned and shiny bright. Don't worry about the "penetration" worry about the technique and consistency. The thicker material will tolerate the heat of repetitive welding.

For stick welding, I'd go even thicker 1/4"-1/2". You will be running beads. Run them until you go sterile. And then do some more. Avoid trying to weld really thin stuff until you get some real practice under your belt.

Thanks for the advice!!