Welding Tips and Tricks

I am a rookie here. I have my welding textbook for my classes that I am starting in January. In the book, "The Procedure Handbook of Arc Welding, 14th Edition", it was mentioned about using inverters for Stick welding. I am learning to weld so I can build my retirement home a steel sailboat.

I was curious if you all out in weldingland had any luck welding stick with an inverter box and what I should be looking for.

Many thanks!!!

The goods news about inverter arc welders is that smaw only power sources are fairly low cost for good ones and have very helpful functions like "Dig" and "Hot Start".
Some types of electrodes like cellulosic and iron powder require higher Open Circuit Voltage that many entry level power sources can provide so this is what you should look for in your choice if you intend to use this power source for serious boat building welding in the future.

You can get a used Lincoln Idealarc 250 ac/dc or Miller Dialarc 250 ac/dc for a few hundred dollars if you look around(l paid $100 for my ac/dc Idealarc 250) These are old bulletproof transformer machines that will live forever. That said, they are easily 375 pounds and draw a lot of amps. On the other hand you can get a 20 pound inverter that draws a lot less amps and is infinitely more portable for a few hunded more. I got an Esab 161 inverter for $509 shipped to my door. This machine puts out 160 amps and runs 6010 perfectly. It runs on 120 ot 240 volts. It will also do lift start tig. It's dc output only.

Almost all my stick work is off inverters. If you get a name brand inverter you won't be sorry. Thermal Arc , Lincoln , Milller , Everlast , HTP. All good brands. You will have a hard time finding one that's 200 amp capable you won't be happy with.

The newer inverter power sources work fine for stick welding. Some may not have the ideal arc for cellulose based electrodes but many are satisfactory now. Nothing beats the control of a generator in my opinion but all make decent welds.

I used a miller Maxstar 200 for a few years at my last job, it did a fine job with 6010. Again, not a generator, but melted metal just fine.

This is a 6010 weld with a 160 amp import from longevity. If I whip out of the puddle too far, the arc goes out but if I am careful, it works fine.
https://flic.kr/p/KsWq9D

That's all we used at school were inverter stick welders. Lincoln c300 and our miller dynasty 280's


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I have a single phase DC rectifier machine, old school technology. A Kemppi 150A Super Kempak, is this the kind of machine that can run a 6010 rod decently?

I just bought a new machine which is a much bigger unit, 1990s era kemppi DC stick/TIG machine with HF and lift-arc functions, 3-phase driven with 300A capacity. I dunno if it's a 3-phase rectifier or not, around that time modern inverters weren't yet a mainstream thing, but it says in the manual it's based on inverter technology...