Welding Tips and Tricks

Hey metalheads, I just got an AHP alphatig a couple days ago. I've never really done any TIG or stick before, so I've been spending a lot of time in the garage stacking beads. It's been going fairly well...

BUT, when I set up the machine for stick, I pop the breaker after maybe 4-5 inches of weld. I'm running on 110v, 20A breaker, with the machine set at 80-90 amps burning 1/8" 7018 or 6013. I can run it in TIG mode full pedal, maxed out at 150A with no issues. Is there any reason why I'm drawing so much more current using stick?

I'm planning to eventually get my garage wired for 220v, but that's a ways off. I'd love to be able to weld more than a couple inches at a time. Any suggestions?

Thanks!

Stick uses more power. Your results are pretty common.

Many owners manuals give the listing of current draw for each process. Stick uses more than tig.

In general on 120v you should stay with 3/32" 7018 or 6013.

Plenty of welding can be done with 3/32" rods.

Yup! My miller 150 is the same way. Over about 80-85 amps on a 20 amp breaker stick welding. It becomes a mater of when not if the breaker will trip. If you can replace the wires between the panel and the plug you might be able to put in a 30 amp breaker. That will help a lot, but you still might not be able to run 130 or 150 amps on stick. I can run 6010 1/8 and 3/32 7018 just fine.

Poland308 wrote:Yup! My miller 150 is the same way. Over about 80-85 amps on a 20 amp breaker stick welding. It becomes a mater of when not if the breaker will trip. If you can replace the wires between the panel and the plug you might be able to put in a 30 amp breaker. That will help a lot, but you still might not be able to run 130 or 150 amps on stick. I can run 6010 1/8 and 3/32 7018 just fine.

Yep, what he said

I thought I had it figured out. I bought some 3/32 6013 rods and tried it with nothing else on in the garage, and I ran several 12" beads with no issue. Then I sent back to the 1/8 rods, and the breaker didn't trip with those either. I figured it was my overhead light that was causing it to pop.

So today I went to weld up the top for my welding table, and it started popping the breaker again on the exact same settings, no matter what rod I used, and nothing else was drawing power. Super annoying. I don't know why it was working yesterday, but popped constantly today.

Upgrading to a 30A breaker isnt really an option. My garage is detached, so if I'm going to run a new wire, I might as well just get 220v and a sub panel out there.

Thanks for the replies, I wanted to make sure I didn't get a defective machine or something.

check your arc length.
could be your long arcing a bit. or anti stick etc is kicking in and increasing the current.
the other thing is check volt drop. especially if using extension leads. the machine can draw more current to compensate for the drop in voltage. you might even find its the street voltage dropping a bit that will do it.

Hmm, I don't think I'm long arcing... But I have noticed it has a tendency to trip more frequently if I sort of bury the rod. Maybe I'm TOO close? I've never stick welded before this week, so I'm definitely still learning.

I can tell if the arc is getting long, because the arc will start to flicker or strobe a bit. But it's hard to tell if I'm TOO close.