I never played with arc force while stick welding. If i am using a stick welder i an usually at home. At work using MIG welders is a different story. I am a Detroit local 292 sheet metal worker and i noticed If guys are welding mild steel with your standard .035 hardwire guys will run between 80% and 90%. Most guys set it to 85 and leave it. Guys that are welding stainless with either 308L or 309L will set it to 70%. I am normally building bases, welding on tube steel, W-beams, C-channel and otherv structural steel using lincoln electric outershield flux core wire and i normally run 100%. But there are times i want my puddle just a little bit softer and not as wet so i will turn it down to 90%. It can be useful if you find yourself in a situation where you need to do a vertical down with flux and you don't want your puddle to fall out on you😢
Arc force also can stabilize the progressive heat input,but is a hard-to-find sweet spot,usually just shy of 20%,can be 18% or 24%,deppending on the machine(s),some are waay too soft and even 100% arc force is not gonna help,just a bit more sputter and more bb's stuck on the workpiece,the arc force shine on thicker walls like at least 4 times thicker tham the rod you're using,and soft side helps allot burning trough rust and paint,all i refer is to the 7018,we don't have 6010 in Romania,we have the 6013,wich is a "dead-iron" cellulosic/rutile rod(very weak),very not suitable for strong connections,just for light duty or aestethic things...
@@rocerist the main goal of the ArcForce is to increase the voltage separately by the amperage to make the arc itself to dig deeper into the material,hence the need to make a ballance between the material thickness and the rod diameter to achieve a greater penetration without heating up too bad the workpiece,take example of 10mm T joint,and use a 3.2 7018 rod,with 110A,weld is good,but you want more,instead of increasing the amps to 125,rise the arcforce to 25-50% (depending on your machine),keeping the initial 110A,and will dig deeper,more sputter along that,you gotta work trough that in a wipping motion,or whatever works for you to avoid trapping slag,this way you penetrate deeper with little less heat input-distortion
I bought an inverter welding machine 130A 120V, that states have arc force and hot start but ain't let me move those parameters only current only one knob for amps, how do I know it really have this features
You can you use Arc Force to weld at a much lower amps when use a larger electrode so it does not want to stick when holding a very close arc. Also when using stainless stick because they have a higher resistance and over heat.
Looking at my Lincoln Precision Tig 275, which is a Tig/stick machine, it does not appear to have an arc force adjustment. Having used this machine the better part of 8 years and it never crossed my mind, I figure I’m just fine without that adjustability 😁
