The arc welder and stick welder has been around for many, many years. According to wikipedia.com the
first recorded use of an arc welding machine was way back in the early 1800's.
Slowly over time the development of the stick welder and arc welding machine were greatly improved. The
evolution of mankind demanded better ways of joining metal together. Anyone who has even remotly looked
into welding has most likely heard of, or seen an arc welder.
To understand the stick welder you need to understand that you are dealing with electricity. All electricity
that is supplied to your workshop, shed, garage or house is what is called AC power, AC power is short for
"alternating current". In english this means that the power coming out of your wall socket will go from positive
(+), to negative (-) really fast over a short amount of time.
In my country of Australia we are on 240volt AC power at 50Hz. So this means that my power will go up to
240V positive, then back down to negative 240V at 50Hz. Hz is Hertz, which means that the power will go from
+240V to -240V at 50 times per second. Pretty quick huh!
On a side note this is why the light bulbs in you house do not flicker, as they change from positive to
negative so fast. But if the Hz was only say 5 instead of 50 you would probably see the light globe flicker on,
off, on, off.
A lot of stick welders are DC output, although they are still a few good old AC buzz box welders out
there that people say are good too.
DC is direct current. That is the power does not go up and down like a wave but rather in just a straight
line. This gives us a consistent current power source of DC power which is ideal for arc welding.
The power on an arc welder is CC, or "constant current". This is because the only thing you can set on
the welder is the current. This is set by adjusting the "choke" that is on the transformer inside
the unit.
Basically the welder is a big coil or donught of copper wires that has a hole in the middle. When the
choke is at one end of the hole you get a small amps out, and when the choke is at the other end of the coil
you get maximum amps out.
Most machines simply have a knob on the front which you twist left or right which will make that shaft slide
in or out. Some welders will have a shaft that you have to twist to unlock then you position it where you
want and then lock it back up again. All in all the principal of setting the arc welding power is the
same on all machines.
Some of the most popular arc welding machines
Standard Coil Wound Arc Welder
Miller, Lincoln, Hobart, WIA, Cigweld have some of the more popular arc welders that people
seem to always be talking about.
Inverter Arc Welder
Then you have the inverter type arc welders which are a very light small machine that you can easily sling
over you shoulder and carry up a ladder as they are so light. The inverter welders are good for getting
into tight spots like inside silos and hard to reach places. Kemmpi, BOC, Lincoln
Invertec, Miller CST are just someo fthe barnds you can get.
You can also get a whole stack of other brands of machines such as BOSS, Harbour Freight, Token
Tools, Everlast, Campbell Hausfeld, Clarke, Arlec, Ozito, GMC, SnapOn, Eutectic, NuWeld,
FlowArc....and the list goes on.
Arc Welder Video
Here is a video that I did about Arc Welding Machines and their basic setup.
It is much easier for me to show you in a video rather than you having to read through page after page of
welding information. In the video I show two different types of arc welding machines. The first machine
is the type of welder that you would buy from the local hardware store for a hundred or so dollars.
The second machine is a more heavy duty industrial machine that is physically bigger and will offer more
power output for bigger welds, and it has a higher duty cycle. The second machine has a high voltage output
option as well.
In the video I go over how to attatch the welding leads, how to adjust the welding power output, and how to
put the electrode into the "stinger".
