low amperage stick welding with PU 205

I haven't used the stick weld function on my 205 much at all, bought it for the TIG , the Plasma and the portability.

I have quite a bit of stick welding to do for a customer out on a jobsite. The plan is to use the little Everlast rather than lug my 500 lb Miller/Onan over there and listen to it roar.

This job is for a customer I first worked for in 1988. My Brother and I built an Architect designed house for him. The house had all kinds of wide flange beams and 4x4 steel posts, so there was quite a bit of steel fab work for to do. We decided to pack the welder into the basement area so that the welding cable length would not be too great. It got chained it to a post and left on the job for about a month and was used an hour or two every day.
The owner and two of our carpenters helped me pack the beast in.

This time around, he is building another Architect design home with steel work, but someone else is doing the building. He asked if I would do the structural steel part , which I am happy to do.

It will be interesting to see his expression when I walk in with this little green box under my arm!

Today I tried welding some scrap bits of .065SS in stick mode. I won't be switching over from TIGing this type of weld, that is still the nicest way to go, but I thought it did an OK job on the thin wall material. I have done welds of this type in the past with the transformer welders. They didn't turn out quite as good, the arc always kept going out. I had no problem with that today however. I guess that is the inverter advantage.

This was done at about 35 amps.

Tomorrow I might pick up some 7018 and try welding some 3/16" to 3/8" wall mild steel scraps. 3/8" is the thickest material I'll encounter on this job.

Glen

You can do a lot of things with stick, my PA 200 is sure an improvement over an old Thunderbolt and a home made DC rectifier unit. You should have no trouble doing 3/16 to 3/8 wall with 7018 using a 1/8 rod. I guess I will always be a stick guy. Have fun, sounds like you are really getting you moneys worth out of your unit.

I love stick welding myself, it's what I prefer to weld with. Mig welding is handy, quick, and good for production. Stick welding takes a little more time to learn the rods and how to run them, but you can run just as good of a bead with a stick welder.