How to set your welding machine WITHOUT a digital readout.

It's called a load test when you hook up the ground and stinger directly to the same piece of metal. Sometimes people do that to heat/thaw pipe

I was taught the same thing when looking at a machine. Went to Cogan station PA to buy my first machine it was a 58 SA 200 rebuilt by a fella and the first thing I did with that after I let it run a couple minutes is take the biggest rod he had and just stick er to the pipe with all the goodies turned up and let it eat. She just let a little smoke roll and started a harmonious growl, it was beautiful haha

I have a miller big 40 gas that was used by a bridge welder here in kansas and missouri. It has 4000 hours on it and still does great. He had a valve job done on it at some point and he was great at oil changes.he did a lot of gouging and 3 sixteenths 7018. He replaced it with 3 diesel hobarts to hook together for 1800 amps to do stud welding. At that time hobart was the only one making 600 amps 100 percent duty cycle per machine. Then itw bought hobart and miller and we have what we have today.

Been welding for 2 years and just became certified to do boiler, pressure vessels! New to the R stamp process but so far so good! Keep the videos coming! It's nice to see how others do things, fun to try and learn. Thank you!

Interesting I suppose how fortunate we were to have a great shop teacher in High School. We had an excellent welding class, although I admit being a screw off and not taking things as seriously as I should have what I managed to learn 35 years ago I notice every time I see a welding video is that many things that are spoken about I learned in that class. Moreover though I've learned much from watching individuals, like yourself, with knowledge learned on the job. I do not weld much but when I have I've even impressed myself with the outcome of each project as it seems that I weld better than our in house fab guy who fixes our heavy equipment in our shop. I will say however I'm not an expert and our guy is a great guy who does excellent work.

Very good advice on used machines, you have convinced me that I don’t need a new machine that a used one will work great for my purposes. I’m convinced that a diesel machine would be good for my uses. Thank you this info is really helpful.

I haven't ever worked with a welder that had a digital readout, but your suggestion about setting the amps makes sense. I think the amp setting has a lot to do with if you're welding with AC or DC. I used to use 6013 with iron oxide Flux for general welding, but eventually went entirely with 7014 iron oxide flux. Then, whenever I have more important welds, 7018 has been my go-to. I prefer DC reverse polarity for 95% of my work. Most often used rod diameter for me is usually 1/8 and sometimes 5/32. I have 6010 but don't care for the spatter. Although it does give the fast fill fast freeze, I think it's hard to beat the looks of a bead from the 7014/7018. My choice for vertical up welds is hands down the 7018. Also 6011 is found on my rod shelf, but I rarely use it. The 3/32 7018 works great for thin metals. It was always a bit nerve wracking when the guy with the x-ray machine would come check the welds since he was all that stood between the welders having a paycheck or standing in the unemployment line. 😬

Thank you for your answer about the stubby rod saver.

What you said at 3:58 is so weird about the amperage because I experience the opposite on my machine. I am running a 6011 1/8 at about 90-100 on the hottest, and then I can run a 7018 1/8 at about 130 in comparison. I run 7018 3/32 on the same settings as my 6011 1/8's. I am using an inverter machine so it doesn't like 6010 so I use 6011. However, 6011 DC burn rate is is good when I strike, but about halfway down the rod, it starts eating itself up alot faster, so I've found I need to run those rods on AC to get a better burnrate so the flux doesn't catch on fire.

Hi, Chris 6013 are very common here in Australia. I personally don't use them unless there is nothing else. If you want slag inclusion, high or low and any amp's in-between use 6013 . I don't know why they even exist. PS keep up the good work 👍

Thank you for all the insight that you provide me and my son both of use watch you and austin ross and we were wondering what we needed to take off on our own, my son is taking the votech program for welding and i learned welding in hs in ag program 20 years ago

Kubota are renowned for their quality, I've travelled alot over Asia and Europe, see them everywhere in agriculture and industrial facilities. Here on Sweden where I live they use them alot here aswell.

Great job Chris! I'm learning a lot. 🙂

Thank you!

"And then turn it up a little more!" Best advice people need to hear sometimes lol

Mine has an amp readout but it only works when youre actually welding..and not looking at it (presumably for a helper) but its a bear until you know the machine, now I can look at what I'm welding and zero it in just from the dial but for a while I had to test weld everything

The first welder I bought was a Miller 250 nt with 4300 hours that didn't run. The only thing wrong with it was the brushes in the flywheel were dirty. It welded good. Recently I sold that one and bought a new lincoln 330 mpx. It's all digital and does pretty much everything.

Not exactly 6013's are commonly used overseas than 6010's, but some hybrids of them are used, combining pros and cons of both types!

I thoroughly enjoy all your videos I'm running the essay 250 off the back of a 2006 Chevy Silverado do I need to unplug the battery power if I plan to weld off the back, thank you for the videos love them

Curious what his first machine was that he stated was super reliable. He said kubota diesel, but what brand/type? Ive got a gas efi trailblazer, not a big boy diesel.