Welding Tips and Tricks

Not sure if this is normal or not but has anyone else ever had your filler rod stick to your workpiece.

It's almost like a arc strike happens and my rod gets stuck ever so slightly to my work.

Never at the tip in the puddle but usually a inch or two back if I brush it against the work piece.


Just curious if this is a normal occurrence or if it's pointing towards a grounding issue possibly?

Sent from my Pixel 3a using Tapatalk

Turn up the amps.

I find it happens frequently when you're doing a 3 sided inside corner, like a box. Trying to get all the way down into the corner, there's only so much room, so you touch the part with the side of the filler rod, and it carries some of the arc current and sticks at that point. Sometimes just enough so you can't feed, it's a pita. The solution is to get more comfortable and make sure the filler isn't touching the part anywhere. If any of the "Tail" of the filler is touching something, table included, you're going to have that.

I think my amperage was good. Had the machine set at 275 and was welding a 1/8 u channel to a 1/8 aluminium side plate of a core (little more amps for the 1/8 side plate due to fins on the backside drawing my heat out)


Would agree to turn the amps up if I was sticking in the puddle.



What bug hunter described is pretty much what's going on. When the rod grazed the edge of the u channel is when it stuck ever so slightly and messed up my rythm.


Curious if it points to a iffy ground circuit somewhere in the system?




Sent from my Pixel 3a using Tapatalk

i've had it inside a box. tail of the filler hit the side of the box. it doesn't stick a lot but its enough to screw things up.