Determining Amperage for Stick Electrode
Learn how David uses the manufacturer recommendations and trial and error to determine the appropriate amperage when welding with stick electrode.
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Hi, I'm David with General Air. Choosing an amperage for your stick electrode can be a little bit tricky, especially for trying to weld vertical up, and the manufacturers, they have good spec sheets that get you in the ballpark, but in this video we're gonna take a look at how to pick the right amperage for you. When I use a 70 /18 1/8th inch electrode like I have here and I'm going vertical up, my amperage range should be somewhere between 100 and 120 amps. Well, if I go too high I risk undercutting the plate, if I go too low and I risk not getting penetration into the root, and it all depends on the speed at which I weld. So we're gonna make a few welds on this plate here and take a look at amperage too high and amperage too low. This was at amperage too high. I was at 120 amps, the puddle was basically out of control you can really see it wanting to slide down and overcome that slag shelf that was trying to hold it in place. I've got some convexity, when I terminated this weld as well, the base metal was nice and cherry hot, so I can tell if I kept going I would run into some problems. Like undercut or even just blowing right through the plate. This was done at amperage too low. I did this about a hundred amps. What I noticed was, first off, the arc was turning on and turning off a stick was really easy to stick into the puddle and you can't really see where the puddle was punching into the root of the weld and we all know that getting root penetration is the most important part. And there's my last weld. This is the one I did at a hundred and thirteen amps. The bead profile itself is nice and flat, it's tied in on the toes. So I've got a lot of control at this amperage. I know I'm getting good penetration at the root and I can really watch that metal flow into the sides and it matches my travel speed very well. Thank you so much for watching! If you enjoy our videos please like and follow us on Facebook