Can anyone stick weld - have some dumb questions

[snowflake]

So....

A bloke in a pub gave me a stick welder, a little Clarke thing one of his colleagues was throwing out, he is a welder and was going to give me a lesson or two, but this pandemic sort of got in the way.

However bless his cotton socks, he recently dropped the kit off for me.

So the sticks are murex 2.5mm and I got one of those auto dim masks, and the current goal is just to lay down a bead on a bit of 5mm plate.

Questions:

The mask is uber dark, even with the arc burning all I can see is the arc, no perspective of 'the job' /direction of travel. The mask is set at din 14 by the adjustment on the side, the 'internet' reckons for arc welding din 10 is good enough, so if I dial the mask down to din 10 will I be able to see more without melting my eyes?

The earth clamp, does this have to be on 'the work' - in this instance a 5mm plate, or is it OK to earth to the metal table (like a metal workmate sort of thing) 'the work' sits on?

After about half a dozen rods the welder shut down, overheated.....is this something I am doing? simply 'How it is' at this price point? Or possibly why my buddies colleague was disposing of it?

Ta for any tips

S

 

[Ian G]

Earth the work piece not the table, clean the piece so you get good contact.
Put the rods in an oven on low for several hours to dry them out, they stick when damp.
Try the mask on ten, unless the mask is total crap you are protected from the UV so will only be slightly dazed of it's not dark enough, you should have it so you can see the wild arc as you weld. You might want to check the lenses as they become coated in crap during welding.
It should be tinted when off but you should be able to see through it.
Turn the welder down to its lowest setting to start and see if it produces a decent bead, turn it up by increments until it does.
5mm is fairly thick if it's a Chad valley welder, most of the smaller ones are only rated for a 30 % duty cycle so it's easy to over heat them.
You could try a thinner piece of steel.
Where gloves and sleeves when welding along with leather boots.
Where safety goggles when chipping off the slag if you value your eyes.

 

[CHE]

A bloke in a pub gave me a stick welder................
After about half a dozen rods the welder shut down, overheated.....is this something I am doing?

Yes it's something you're doing ! Get some proper training, you're clearly playing with kit you don't understand and which could injure yourself.

CHE

 

[snowflake]

Yes it's something you're doing ! Get some proper training, you're clearly playing with kit you don't understand and which could injure yourself.
CHE

I think my chainsaws are probably more dangerous than this glorified sparkler, to be honest..........but your concern is touching, thanks x

@Ian G Many thanks for the tips especially the oven bit, just out of curiosity I wound the current to what the destructions said for a 2.5mm stick, would you still advise starting low and building up? The rods are also kept in a damp garage, I might bring them indoors and to languish with the posh power tools after spell in the oven. It is chad valleys finest so the 30% duty cycle could be a 'thing'.

On the Elf and safety front I fear a flash and molten metal/slaaaaag in my eyes so I have wrap around clear UV safety specs under the hat, long lether gauntlets, leather boots and cotton overall which goes over the top of said boots, no spatter down the top of my boots mister.

S

 

[venton]

Get a solar powered mask, they're fantastic. It's clear until the spark occurs then instantly darkens. They're pretty cheap, eg Silverline 25 quid. Regards shutting down, do let the welder rest for a couple of minutes every couple of minutes. It's quite normal for cheap welders to need this pause.
Leather apron is a good idea as well as leather gauntlets.

 

[cctaylor]

Rods need to be dry. When you get the arc running it should sizzle like frying bacon.

Low cost air cooled welders are best for lighter work otherwise need time to cool down.

Auto dim visors are so helpful when adjusted properly, improved my welding no end as you could always start where you wanted to.

I did my welding with an ancient Pickhill oil cooled beast, no way to overheat it. Mind you it was a 2 man lift.

Usually months between my welding attempts, so I would get an arc running on a bit of scrap before tackling the proper job.

I remember one emergency job, the cattle foot trimmer was working on the farm. We put two bulls through last, the foot rest in crush gave way with one of bulls, luckily the quiet one. He stood quietly in the crush for 15 minutes while I nipped round to the workshop and fixed the foot rest.

 

[Barrymagrec]

Don`t wear just a thin shirt when welding, apart from the danger of sparks the UV will go straight through thin material and give you sunburn.

 

[LMKipper]

Don`t wear just a thin shirt when welding, apart from the danger of sparks the UV will go straight through thin material and give you sunburn.

Yep and always wear long sleeves for the same reason - even in hot weather.
Quite a few of us will have learned this lesson...

 

[dweezil]

Yep and always wear long sleeves for the same reason - even in hot weather.
Quite a few of us will have learned this lesson...

And don't wear wellies unless you're good at taking them off in a hurry.

The little fan units as said above have a very light duty cycle. I burnt out a couple on one hard surfacing rod so now use a big 3 phase Oxford.

 

[Richard Lines]

Good Morning All,

Basically all of the above. Cover all exposed parts. Definitely eye protection when chipping slag. Dry rods - no need to get posh but a rod oven is handy piece of kit if you can get a hold of one second hand - better still keep rods indoors.

Don't wear any kind of footwear with trousers tucked in. This is my one regular failing when I decide to break out the welder, stick or MIG, I hate boiler suit leggings flapping about.

You aren't going to get around the overheating issue with a cheap welder - if doing a big job you need to let things cool down anyhow.

In a perfect world a DC welder is way easier to work with.

There are some very good video's out on YouTube.

A "proper" welder.

Regards

Richard

 

[stevec67]

Good advice here. Put the sticks in a low oven, it helps. Get everything very clean. Turn the mask down if you need to. It will still protect you. Cheap welders without fans will overheat. It happens. And practice, practice, lead on scrap.

I once had a bit of spatter drop down my sleeve when welding a rusty car. It stopped where my elbow met the overalls. That hurt. Make sure that you cover everything up.