Beginner's Equipment Review Licoln v160T vs Clarke 95E
Posted: Sat Oct 10, 2015 1:22 pm
I am an amateur welder, rank beginner. I took a ten week course at the local tech center a few years ago that covered all the welding basics from brazing through tig. Naturally, I don't remember much.
Anyway, I have been out of it for a couple of years and just recently got back into it. I bought a Clarke 95E AC Stick welder off of craigslist for about $50 a few months back since it was so cheap, and immediately used it for a couple of projects. One was to weld up some repairs the tailgate on a trailer I had made back when I first took the welding course, and the other was to weld a square of 1/2" box steel to use as a motor mount on a bandsaw I am converting to be able to cut metal.
So, I used E6013 on metal that was about 1/16" to 1/8" thick, with the AC amps between 40 and 60. Man was it ugly. I didn't remember it being that hard and being that bad at it. After those projects, I put the welder on the shelf and concentrated on planning to buy a TIG for some gunsmith repairs I need to do.
This week, I found another great bargain on craigslist and bought a Lincoln Invertec V-160T DC stick/tig welder for about $800, including the pedal. I decided to have a bake off between the Lincoln and the Clarke to compare the welding of both. I had to make a stick electrode holder cable for the Lincoln, but that took no time at all.
So, for the test, I grabbed some 1/8" cold rolled mild steel and some 3/16" cold rolled to test with. I started with the Lincoln just laying beads on the surface of the 3/16". I prepped the metal by sanding bright with a flap disk and then wiped it down with acetone. I used E6011 1/16" and 3/16" rod first, then switch to E6013 1/16" and 5/64". My welding table is a portable Nomad welding table, and I cleaned the area where I attached the ground, and also cleaned the area under the work where I clamped it down for a good connection.
Lincoln - 40 - 55 amps DCEP - the arc started IMMEDIATELY, the very first touch and was stable and clean. The advertised hot-start and anti stick features really worked, and it was easy to keep the weld going. The end of the electrode stayed flat as I welded, and it was easy to concentrate on moving the arc and keeping a good gap. Now, as a complete amateur, my weld was fairly erratic and I had spalling and splatter all over, but besides that it was really easy. The E6011 made thicker beads and the E6013 welded in flatter and the slag came of the E6013 easier.
Clarke - 45 - 65 amps AC - first, I think that I had the amps too low. But it took almost 15 minutes of scratching an tapping and scrubbing to get my first sustained arc. I had to stop and grind the metal clean several times and I was sweating and fogging up my helmet by the time I got my first bead. I tried increasing the amps to heat up the rod and work at start, but it was really tough going. The E6013 actually was easier to start on the work than the E6011, though that may have been because the work was already warm. Another problem I had was that I had to scratch at an angle to keep the electrode from sticking, and that fouled up the stick a lot. Finally, for some reason, the arc always wanted to reach backwards into the puddle and slag, and the end of the electrode was burning at an angle instead of being flat. There was no comparison between the welds I did with the Lincoln. The Clarke beads couldn't actually be considered welds, more like deposits of contamination
The second test I did was to butt weld to pieces of the 1/8" steel. Again the steel was ground clean and wiped with acetone, laid flush and clamped down. I decided to start with the Clarke, only this time, I used a propane torch to heat the work up until it was sizzling hot. I know the work is probably not thick enough to need official preheating, but I wanted to try to get a good start, and the welding always seems to start better after I have practiced for a while, no doubt heating up the work. Also, I checked the Clarke operators manual, and for 1/8" with a 5/64" electrode, it actually recommends 100 AMPs, above the 90 that the unit puts out. However, I did crank the amps up to about 80, not quite max.
Clarke - 80 amps AC - E6013 5/64" rod - Actually, it only took a couple of scratches to get an arc and I moved along the butt smoothly, trying to keep the gap less than 1/8". Besides the end of the rod burning at an angle and the arc reaching back towards the puddle, the arc often would cut out if I wasn't careful to keep the arc ahead of the slag. I didn't mess around with a D or O pattern I just moved the arc slowly down the seam. After cracking off the slag, I was actually impressed with my work considering the problems I had just a few minutes earlier. The weld wasn't very even, but it wasn't horrible and there was less spalling and splatter towards the end. I cut the work in half across the weld with a bandsaw and was also impressed that the weld penetrated almost all the way through. There was no discoloring on the other side and the seam didn't show any signs of the weld from the back, but the cross section showed the weld going almost all the was across with no occlusions I could see.
Lincoln - 40 -80 Amps DCEP - Okay, obviously amperage settings don't translate between AC and DC welding. "Thank you, Lord, I see that now," said Mouse in Ladyhawke. After a spectacular disaster with the settings too high, I dialed back the amps down to 40 and then up to about 45 on the Lincoln and welded down the seam. Unlike the Clarke, there was no trouble starting, the arc stayed straight and the end of the electrode stayed flat. I may have still had it too hot, though, because after cracking off the slag, I could see the edged of the welds undercut into the work, which I confirmed by sawing across and looking at the cross section. Also, the DC welds layer flatter into the work and the Clarke welds domed higher.
In conclusion, as a rank beginner, I am SOOOOOO glad I bought the Lincoln, even though it cost 16 times more than the Clarke. Of course it's a better machine by far, and the TiG feature is the real reason I bought it. The Lincoln's control features like hot start and anti-stick make it much easier for a beginner to successfully weld, and make it easier to concentrate on the overall project and not the welding.
The Clarke, in the end, made a fairly decent butt weld. All it took was practice, preparation, pre-heat and patience. For a budget stick welder, it $50 was the right price I think. I'd be disappointed if I bought one new, though. With a 90 amp max, 1/8" is the most you can weld, and the difficulty starting and controlling the weld makes me uncertain how well a beginner could do with thinner welds. I am keeping the Lincoln and I am sending the Clarke off to an artist friend of mine who probably will have loads of fun with it.
Hope this is informative for some people who are wondering about buying the cheap AC welder or the more expensive DC welders. I definitely found the addition quality and features of the expensive welder worth the money for me as a beginner.
Anyway, I have been out of it for a couple of years and just recently got back into it. I bought a Clarke 95E AC Stick welder off of craigslist for about $50 a few months back since it was so cheap, and immediately used it for a couple of projects. One was to weld up some repairs the tailgate on a trailer I had made back when I first took the welding course, and the other was to weld a square of 1/2" box steel to use as a motor mount on a bandsaw I am converting to be able to cut metal.
So, I used E6013 on metal that was about 1/16" to 1/8" thick, with the AC amps between 40 and 60. Man was it ugly. I didn't remember it being that hard and being that bad at it. After those projects, I put the welder on the shelf and concentrated on planning to buy a TIG for some gunsmith repairs I need to do.
This week, I found another great bargain on craigslist and bought a Lincoln Invertec V-160T DC stick/tig welder for about $800, including the pedal. I decided to have a bake off between the Lincoln and the Clarke to compare the welding of both. I had to make a stick electrode holder cable for the Lincoln, but that took no time at all.
So, for the test, I grabbed some 1/8" cold rolled mild steel and some 3/16" cold rolled to test with. I started with the Lincoln just laying beads on the surface of the 3/16". I prepped the metal by sanding bright with a flap disk and then wiped it down with acetone. I used E6011 1/16" and 3/16" rod first, then switch to E6013 1/16" and 5/64". My welding table is a portable Nomad welding table, and I cleaned the area where I attached the ground, and also cleaned the area under the work where I clamped it down for a good connection.
Lincoln - 40 - 55 amps DCEP - the arc started IMMEDIATELY, the very first touch and was stable and clean. The advertised hot-start and anti stick features really worked, and it was easy to keep the weld going. The end of the electrode stayed flat as I welded, and it was easy to concentrate on moving the arc and keeping a good gap. Now, as a complete amateur, my weld was fairly erratic and I had spalling and splatter all over, but besides that it was really easy. The E6011 made thicker beads and the E6013 welded in flatter and the slag came of the E6013 easier.
Clarke - 45 - 65 amps AC - first, I think that I had the amps too low. But it took almost 15 minutes of scratching an tapping and scrubbing to get my first sustained arc. I had to stop and grind the metal clean several times and I was sweating and fogging up my helmet by the time I got my first bead. I tried increasing the amps to heat up the rod and work at start, but it was really tough going. The E6013 actually was easier to start on the work than the E6011, though that may have been because the work was already warm. Another problem I had was that I had to scratch at an angle to keep the electrode from sticking, and that fouled up the stick a lot. Finally, for some reason, the arc always wanted to reach backwards into the puddle and slag, and the end of the electrode was burning at an angle instead of being flat. There was no comparison between the welds I did with the Lincoln. The Clarke beads couldn't actually be considered welds, more like deposits of contamination
The second test I did was to butt weld to pieces of the 1/8" steel. Again the steel was ground clean and wiped with acetone, laid flush and clamped down. I decided to start with the Clarke, only this time, I used a propane torch to heat the work up until it was sizzling hot. I know the work is probably not thick enough to need official preheating, but I wanted to try to get a good start, and the welding always seems to start better after I have practiced for a while, no doubt heating up the work. Also, I checked the Clarke operators manual, and for 1/8" with a 5/64" electrode, it actually recommends 100 AMPs, above the 90 that the unit puts out. However, I did crank the amps up to about 80, not quite max.
Clarke - 80 amps AC - E6013 5/64" rod - Actually, it only took a couple of scratches to get an arc and I moved along the butt smoothly, trying to keep the gap less than 1/8". Besides the end of the rod burning at an angle and the arc reaching back towards the puddle, the arc often would cut out if I wasn't careful to keep the arc ahead of the slag. I didn't mess around with a D or O pattern I just moved the arc slowly down the seam. After cracking off the slag, I was actually impressed with my work considering the problems I had just a few minutes earlier. The weld wasn't very even, but it wasn't horrible and there was less spalling and splatter towards the end. I cut the work in half across the weld with a bandsaw and was also impressed that the weld penetrated almost all the way through. There was no discoloring on the other side and the seam didn't show any signs of the weld from the back, but the cross section showed the weld going almost all the was across with no occlusions I could see.
Lincoln - 40 -80 Amps DCEP - Okay, obviously amperage settings don't translate between AC and DC welding. "Thank you, Lord, I see that now," said Mouse in Ladyhawke. After a spectacular disaster with the settings too high, I dialed back the amps down to 40 and then up to about 45 on the Lincoln and welded down the seam. Unlike the Clarke, there was no trouble starting, the arc stayed straight and the end of the electrode stayed flat. I may have still had it too hot, though, because after cracking off the slag, I could see the edged of the welds undercut into the work, which I confirmed by sawing across and looking at the cross section. Also, the DC welds layer flatter into the work and the Clarke welds domed higher.
In conclusion, as a rank beginner, I am SOOOOOO glad I bought the Lincoln, even though it cost 16 times more than the Clarke. Of course it's a better machine by far, and the TiG feature is the real reason I bought it. The Lincoln's control features like hot start and anti-stick make it much easier for a beginner to successfully weld, and make it easier to concentrate on the overall project and not the welding.
The Clarke, in the end, made a fairly decent butt weld. All it took was practice, preparation, pre-heat and patience. For a budget stick welder, it $50 was the right price I think. I'd be disappointed if I bought one new, though. With a 90 amp max, 1/8" is the most you can weld, and the difficulty starting and controlling the weld makes me uncertain how well a beginner could do with thinner welds. I am keeping the Lincoln and I am sending the Clarke off to an artist friend of mine who probably will have loads of fun with it.
Hope this is informative for some people who are wondering about buying the cheap AC welder or the more expensive DC welders. I definitely found the addition quality and features of the expensive welder worth the money for me as a beginner.
