performance- perhaps you are right and my mind is playing tricks on me.....perhaps the reasons I saw so many "shiny" welds when I did a 4130 chromoly chassis is because anywhere near the tube ends were polished before welding and once welded they had a colorful HAZ, perhaps all of that combined is why I recall the welds being shiny when in reality its just everything else made it seem that way?

On another note, I have been using er70-s6 rod, I used a little spare S2 rod i had laying around of known quality (the s6 I have came as part of the package with my welder). I will try beveling some thicker pieces later on and see what it does

Lastly I tried some more aluminum and the arc. is definitely more stable at the start than it used to be. I also realized why I might be having trouble with my filler occasionally.....it is 1/16", and even though I am only welding on 30-40 amps perhaps that is too much amperage for that tiny filler, I will source out some 3/32 perhaps.