Arc welders anyone?

I thought I'd post a topic to try and find out if anyone else on here uses an arc welder for their builds. I haven't seen one being used on here so far, so I figured this was the best way to find out. I really enjoy using them for my projects/repairs and would like to hear other people's opinions on the matter. Don't get me wrong, I like mig welders as well, I just prefer arc welders is all. Let me know what you guys think!

Arc is good for repairing cast iron and other specialised jobs but for general ferrous welding I'd go with mig every time. Arc seems old fashioned and there's all that tedious chipping off of slag But I have to say that few pleasures in life compare to the 'Tink' when a shell of cooling slag releases and drops off all by itself

My only welder is an old arc/stick one. And tractorhead, I use a twisted wire brush on my 4 1/4" angle grinder which works a treat for cleaning slag off the welds

Tractorhead wrote:

Arc is good for repairing cast iron and other specialised jobs but for general ferrous welding I'd go with mig every time. Arc seems old fashioned and there's all that tedious chipping off of slag But I have to say that few pleasures in life compare to the 'Tink' when a shell of cooling slag releases and drops off all by itself

I agree that chipping the layer of slag off can be annoying, but after a while you kind of develop "techniques" to get it done quicker. I still get the odd piece of HOT slag land on my arm though OUCH!!

MatthewD wrote:

My only welder is an old arc/stick one. And tractorhead, I use a twisted wire brush on my 4 1/4" angle grinder which works a treat for cleaning slag off the welds

Nice dude, what brand is the old girl you have?

My first welder was a craftsman arc welder I bought for $175 bucks like 20 years ago. Still works great. 100 amp, 110v one. Takes a steady hand to work the stick though, I always sucked at that, too shaky at the hand, always had to use 2 hands to weld with it. I still use it every now and then when I have to make some long welds and the rods are usually cheaper to buy. Not favorable when welding in tight spaces like under a car. Best to use it when in wide open spaces. Learned to stick weld first back in the day before anything else. Can even cut with one too, with the right rod.

prancstaman wrote:

My first welder was a craftsman arc welder I bought for $175 bucks like 20 years ago. Still works great. 100 amp, 110v one. Takes a steady hand to work the stick though, I always sucked at that, too shaky at the hand, always had to use 2 hands to weld with it. I still use it every now and then when I have to make some long welds and the rods are usually cheaper to buy. Not favorable when welding in tight spaces like under a car. Best to use it when in wide open spaces.  Learned to stick weld first back in the day before anything else. Can even cut with one too, with the right rod.

You're right about the tight spaces thing, in fact welding under anything with an arc can suck, especially with a full electrode, but you can learn to cope after a while.

Thanks, I honestly don't know what brand it is, nearly all the stickers have been rubbed off, but I think it say's Turboweld. I got it for free anyway so it doesn't matter. It's rather large and bulky to haul around though, and you can't fit small rods into it.

Nostalgia trip ~ my first ever welder was a tiny orange arc welder, about 10" long with zero knobs or adjustments, just the mains cable, earth cable and live cable. it was designed for 2.5mm rods only and it worked very well for what it was. Cost me the same as a trip to McDonalds. Like yours, any maker name stickers had long gone

MatthewD wrote:

Thanks, I honestly don't know what brand it is, nearly all the stickers have been rubbed off, but I think it say's Turboweld. I got it for free anyway so it doesn't matter. It's rather large and bulky to haul around though, and you can't fit small rods into it.

Nice, the one I use the most is an old Lincoln. Yeah they are pretty heavy, luckily the old Lincoln is mounted on a push mower. Makes it way easier to move around.

Tractorhead wrote:

Nostalgia trip ~ my first ever welder was a tiny orange arc welder, about 10" long with zero knobs or adjustments, just the mains cable, earth cable and live cable. it was designed for 2.5mm rods only and it worked very well for what it was.  Cost me the same as a trip to McDonalds. Like yours, any maker name stickers had long gone

Nice! Sounds like a nice little unit. By the way Tractorhead, I just noticed we joined the forum on the same day hahaha!

i learned on a gasless mig, (flux core), then switched to gas mig when the funds allowed for a bottle. I have recently taken up stick welding for heavy duty applications, (big trailers, tractors and most recently welding a diff on a volvo car lol), as pracstaman does, i also weld arc with 2 hands which helps steady out the electrode. Nice welds with a mig are easier achieved for sure, but the satisfaction of a really neat arc weld is pretty hard to beat - especially if the slag falls off itself

STUNTMAN JON wrote:

i learned on a gasless mig, (flux core), then switched to gas mig when the funds allowed for a bottle. I have recently taken up stick welding for heavy duty applications, (big trailers, tractors and most recently welding a diff on a volvo car lol), as pracstaman does, i also weld arc with 2 hands which helps steady out the electrode. Nice welds with a mig are easier achieved for sure, but the satisfaction of a really neat arc weld is pretty hard to beat - especially if the slag falls off itself

Yeah I stick weld with both hands as well, makes it easier to do little circles. And yeah, it is nice when to slag falls right off hahaha.

AllisKidD21 wrote:

By the way Tractorhead, I just noticed we joined the forum on the same day hahaha!

Yeah and both on 34 posts

Tractorhead wrote:

AllisKidD21 wrote:

By the way Tractorhead, I just noticed we joined the forum on the same day hahaha!

Yeah and both on 34 posts

Well we were anyway, hahaha!

I'd say if you start off with a stick welder, you'd find it easier to work with rather than starting with MIG/etc and taking up stick. My uncle has an old stick welder sitting in a shed of his (disused farmyard) that's a tiny bit smaller than mine and really rusty. I might go and ask him for it because it has a capacity for smaller rods (mine only goes down to 3mm or 2.8 something like that) and it would be handy to have if I needed to weld some thinner steel.

I have an engine drive stick welder thats in the shop being fixed right now. Its got an Onan opposed twin on it     Stick welding is best if you're ever working were it is windy and sometimes it's better on dirty metal.  Like prancstaman said they arent always the best in tight spaces.

TedTheDestroyer wrote:

I have an engine drive stick welder thats in the shop being fixed right now. Its got an Onan opposed twin on it     Stick welding is best if you're ever working were it is windy and sometimes it's better on dirty metal.  Like prancstaman said they arent always the best in tight spaces.

Nice man, sounds like a great machine. They are definitely better for welding old farm steel and what not. Heck, I did some welding on the hood on my rat rod mower with an old Lincoln.

TedTheDestroyer wrote:

I have an engine drive stick welder thats in the shop being fixed right now. Its got an Onan opposed twin on it     Stick welding is best if you're ever working were it is windy and sometimes it's better on dirty metal.  Like prancstaman said they arent always the best in tight spaces.

Nice!! When you get a chance, could you post some pics because I'd love to see it.

Right now I'm waiting for Airgas to call me about the quote to fix it, but when I get it back I'll post some pics

Sounds cool man!

As promised here are pics of the welder

One of these days Id like to get an engine drive welder. There is an old one(add says 40s) for sale for $450. It looks in pretty good shape, not a rusty POS. Looks like it has a I4 engine... iron duke maybe.

Unfortunatly(or not), I spent that $450 + another $50 on an old Lincoln idealarc 250. Came with rods, helmets, tig stuff, welding jackets and leathers. Pretty good deal for all I got with it. Woot.

Cool welder! Pull start? Bet that uses plenty of gas!

MatthewD wrote:

Cool welder! Pull start? Bet that uses plenty of gas!

It's electric with emergency pull start