Stick welder

How it works

The work is connected to one terminal of the power source by the work lead, and the electrode holder is connected to the other. Hamilton and Oberg’s 1918 treatise describes the arc as drawn by touching the electrode to the work and withdrawing it to the proper distance, in the manner of lighting an arc lamp. With a metal electrode, no separate filler rod is needed, because the electrode melts away gradually and enters the weld.

The covering on the rod does several jobs. Miller Electric states that as the flux burns in the arc it releases shielding gas that protects the molten weld pool from the atmosphere, that on cooling it forms a slag that protects the weld metal from oxidation, and that it contains ionizing elements that steady the arc, especially on alternating current, and alloys that give the weld its ductility and strength.

The operator sets the current at the machine and controls arc length, electrode angle, manipulation and travel speed by hand. Miller summarizes these five points with the word CLAMS.

Anatomy

Power source: A transformer for alternating current, or a generator, rectifier or inverter for direct current. OSHA limits the open-circuit voltage of manual arc welding machines to 80 volts on alternating current and 100 volts on direct current.
Electrode holder: An insulated clamp that grips the bare end of the rod and passes current to it. OSHA requires that a holder not in use be placed where it cannot make electrical contact with persons, conducting objects, fuel or compressed gas tanks.
Electrode lead and work lead: Heavy flexible cables. OSHA directs that the work lead be firmly attached to the work and that magnetic work clamps be freed of adherent spatter on their contact surfaces.
Electrode (stick): A metal core wire surrounded by a flux covering. The covering, in Miller’s words, dictates where and how an electrode can be used.
Helmet or hand shield with filter lens: Required for all arc welding other than submerged arc; the lens shade is chosen by electrode size (see specs).

Variants

Carbon-arc outfit (historical): The earliest arc welding outfit to be widely used. An arc was drawn between a carbon rod and the work, and filler was supplied by a separate iron rod (Hamilton and Oberg, 1918).
Bare-metal-electrode outfit (historical): Called the Slavianoff process in the 1918 treatise; a metal electrode replaced the carbon one, and it was used for overhead repair, firebox and locomotive boiler flue work, and tank fabrication.
Alternating-current transformer machine: Miller records that C. J. Holslag invented alternating-current welding in 1919 and that it did not become popular until the 1930s, when heavy-coated electrodes were widely used. ESAB says it delivered its first transformer, the KE 225, in 1923.
Direct-current machine: Engine-driven generators, motor-driven generators and rectifier machines are all named in OSHA’s arc welding rule. Direct current allows a choice of electrode positive or electrode negative.
Inverter machine: Miller says that inverter technology has removed much of the size and weight that once limited the portability of welding equipment.
By electrode type: Miller describes cellulosic rods (E6010, E6011) for deep penetration through rust and paint, rutile rods (E6012, E6013) for gap bridging and soft arcs, low-hydrogen rods (E7018) for structural work, and iron-powder rods (E7014, E7024) for high deposition.

Specifications

Electrode diameter · in: OSHA’s lens shade table covers electrodes from 1/16 inch to 3/8 inch.
Starting current · A per 0.001 in of electrode diameter: 1Miller: unless the electrode maker states otherwise, set 1 ampere for each 0.001 inch of electrode diameter, so a 1/8-inch (0.125 inch) electrode starts at 125 amperes, then adjust in steps of 5 to 10 amperes.
Maximum open-circuit voltage, manual welding · V: OSHA 1910.254: 80 V for alternating-current machines and 100 V for direct-current machines.
Filter lens shade · shade number: OSHA 1910.252: shade 10 for 1/16- to 5/32-inch electrodes, shade 12 for 3/16- to 1/4-inch, shade 14 for 5/16- and 3/8-inch.

Made to

AWS A5.1
AWS A5.5
ISO 2560
EN 60974-1
AWS Z49.1
ANSI Z87.1
OSHA 29-CFR-1910-254

Safety and care

Safety

Use a helmet or hand shield during all arc welding, with a filter lens, and provide helpers and attendants with proper eye protection; the helmet must protect the face, neck and ears from direct radiant energy (OSHA 1910.252).
Do not use chains, wire ropes, cranes, hoists or elevators to carry welding current, and do not use cables with splices within 10 feet of the holder; do not coil or loop the electrode cable around the body (OSHA 1910.254).
Ground the frame of the machine, and dry and test any machine that has become wet before use (OSHA 1910.254).
Keep welding and cutting at least 35 feet from combustible material, or shield it, and station a fire watch where more than a minor fire might develop (OSHA 1910.252).
Provide local exhaust or general ventilation that keeps fumes, gases and dusts below the allowable concentration, and do not weld on used containers until they are cleaned of flammable material (OSHA 1910.252).
When arc welding is suspended for a substantial period such as lunch or overnight, remove all electrodes from the holders and put the holders where they cannot cause accidental contact (OSHA 1910.252).

Care

Replace cables with damaged insulation or exposed bare conductors, and join cable lengths only with connectors made for the purpose (OSHA 1910.254).
Spread out coiled welding cable before use to avoid serious overheating and damage to the insulation (OSHA 1910.254).
Store low-hydrogen rods warm and dry and recondition them according to the maker’s instructions (Miller; see tips).
Clean the work with a wire brush or grinder before welding, since dirt, grime and rust can cause cracking, porosity, lack of fusion or inclusions (Miller).

Tips

Read the classification printed on the rod
Miller explains the AWS A5.1 marking. The letter E means electrode. The first two digits give the minimum tensile strength of the weld in thousands of psi, so 70 means 70,000 psi. The third digit gives the positions: 1 for all positions, 2 for flat and horizontal fillet welds only. The fourth digit gives the coating type and the current, AC, DC or both.1
Start at one ampere for each thousandth of an inch of rod diameter
Miller’s rule of thumb, unless the electrode maker says otherwise, puts a 1/8-inch rod at 125 amperes, to be trimmed in steps of 5 to 10 amperes. Too little current shows as a sticky start, an arc that keeps going out or a stuttering arc. Too much shows as an excessively fluid puddle, spatter, undercut and a rod that glows toward its end.1
Hold an arc about as long as the core wire is thick
Miller gives the bare metal core diameter as the upper limit for arc length, so a 1/8-inch 6010 rod is held about 1/8 inch from the work. A longer arc increases spatter and the chance of undercut. Miller advises that a welder who cannot see the puddle should move the head and not lengthen the arc.1
Drag the rod on the flat and push it going up
For flat, horizontal and overhead welding, Miller describes a drag or backhand technique with the top of the rod tilted 5 to 15 degrees toward the direction of travel. For vertical-up welding it describes a push or forehand technique with the top tilted 0 to 15 degrees away from the direction of travel.1
Keep the arc in the leading third of the puddle
Miller sets travel speed by holding the arc in the leading one-third of the weld pool. Moving too slowly directs heat into the puddle and can produce cold lap and shallow penetration. Moving too fast narrows the bead and can cause undercut.1
Choose the polarity to suit the job
Miller states that electrode-positive direct current gives about 10 percent more penetration than alternating current at a given amperage, and that electrode-negative direct current welds thinner metal better. It also notes that E6010 can be used only on direct current, while E6011 works on alternating current, which is why E6011 is often chosen for repair work when a direct-current source is unavailable.1 2
Store low-hydrogen rod warm
Miller says many E7018 electrodes are stored at 250 to 300 degrees Fahrenheit, and that reconditioning runs at 500 to 800 degrees Fahrenheit for one to two hours. E6011 needs only dry storage at room temperature, with humidity not above 70 percent at 40 to 120 degrees Fahrenheit. Miller directs the user to the manufacturer’s recommendations for exact times and temperatures.1
Match the lens shade to the rod size
OSHA’s guide lists shade 10 for shielded metal arc welding with electrodes from 1/16 to 5/32 inch, shade 12 for 3/16 to 1/4 inch and shade 14 for 5/16 and 3/8 inch. The same table notes that the recommendations may be varied to suit the individual’s needs.1

History

Earliest documented

1881

France (the Cabot Laboratory)

Hamilton and Oberg’s 1918 treatise states that arc welding appears to have been first used in 1881 by de Meritens, who joined the lead plates of storage batteries with a carbon electrode and the work connected to the positive pole. Miller’s history places de Meritens at the Cabot Laboratory in France in the same year. This is the earliest arc welding on record in these sources, and it used a carbon electrode. Welding with a consumable metal electrode, the form the stick welder takes, is dated to 1890 (see disputed).1 2

The stick welder began as a carbon arc. Hamilton and Oberg record that arc welding was first used in 1881 for joining battery plates, and that the Bernardos process, in which the arc was drawn between a single carbon electrode and the work, was perhaps the best known of the arc methods and until recently the most extensively used. The Benardos and Olszewski patent of 1885 to 1887 shows why it needed no covering: the carbon stick was only a conductor, and the metal that filled the joint came from a separate iron rod. The 1918 treatise adds that the carbon was kept negative because carbon carried into the work made it hard and difficult to machine.

The metal electrode combined the conductor and the filler in one rod. Hamilton and Oberg give the reasons for the Slavianoff process as keeping carbon out of the weld, obtaining a stronger weld, and making vertical and overhead welding possible, because the arc itself carries metal from the electrode to the work. They add that it was largely used for repair work in place, in locomotive boiler flues and in tank fabrication. Sources disagree on who first did this and when (see disputed). The consequence for the form of the tool is that the holder now gripped a rod that was used up in the weld.

The bare metal rod did not protect the molten metal. Gáti and Kovács write that it was soon found that nothing shielded the liquid metal from the oxygen and nitrogen of the air, so that joints of adequate quality could not be made until Kjellberg’s coated electrode. Miller says Strohmenger used a thin clay or lime coating around 1900 for a steadier arc, and that Kjellberg dipped lengths of iron wire in thick mixtures of carbonates and silicates and let them dry. ESAB says its founder succeeded in 1904 and that shipping companies in the First World War recognized the value of welding for repair and construction. Dates for the invention differ among the three accounts (see disputed).

Production methods and power sources then set the pattern of the modern machine. Miller records heavy-coated electrodes in 1927 and extruded electrodes from Lincoln Electric in 1929, and says covered electrodes were widely used by 1930. Alternating current, invented for welding by Holslag in 1919 according to Miller, spread in the 1930s with the heavy-coated rods, and ESAB reports delivering its own first welding transformer in 1923. Gáti and Kovács put the wide spread of covered-electrode arc welding after 1930 and observe that gas welding had preceded it. The American Welding Society, founded in 1919, now classifies carbon steel electrodes in its A5.1 specification, and Miller’s guide to those markings is the key to choosing a rod today.

The stick welder displaced the carbon arc and, for much structural and repair work, the earlier gas torch. It has since been joined by wire-fed and tungsten-electrode machines. Miller states that E6011 rods remain a common choice for maintenance and repair when a direct-current source is unavailable and that E7018 rods are used on structural steel. The tool has remained close in layout to the 1920s outfit, a power source, two cables and a holder, with the changes concentrated in the rod, the transformer and, more recently, the inverter.

Timeline

1881
De Meritens uses the heat of a carbon arc to join the lead plates of storage batteries.1 2
1885
N. de Benardos and Stanislas Olszewski of St. Petersburg obtain patents for working metals with an arc between a carbon rod and the work in France (10 October) and England (21 October), followed by other countries.1
1887
US Patent 363,320 is issued to Benardos and Olszewski on 17 May for the process and its apparatus; the specification states that the conductor preferably consists of a stick or cylindrical rod of carbon.1
1890
Charles L. Coffin of Detroit is issued US Patent 428,459 on 20 May for a process of welding metals electrically; N. G. Slavianov is reported to have patented a process using an arc-melted current-carrying rod in the same year (see disputed).1 2 3
c. 1900
Strohmenger introduces a coated metal electrode in Great Britain, with a thin coating of clay or lime that gives a more stable arc, according to Miller.1
1904
Oscar Kjellberg develops the first coated electrode in Gothenburg, according to ESAB, which dates its own founding to the same invention.1
1905
Kjellberg patents arc welding with a coated electrode, according to Gáti and Kovács.1
1919
The American Welding Society is founded; Miller records the founding by the Wartime Welding Committee of the Emergency Fleet Corporation under Comfort Avery Adams, and also records C. J. Holslag’s invention of alternating-current welding in the same year.1 2
1920
The workshop boat ESAB IV is launched in December as the first all-welded ship classified by Lloyd’s, according to ESAB.1
1923
ESAB delivers its first welding transformer, the KE 225.1
1927
Langstroth and Wunder of the A. O. Smith Company develop heavy-coated electrodes, according to Miller.1
1929
Lincoln Electric produces extruded electrode rods and sells them to the public; by 1930 covered electrodes are widely used, according to Miller.1

Where the sources disagree

Who first welded with a consumable metal electrode, and when?

C. L. Coffin of Detroit was awarded in 1890 the first US patent for an arc welding process using a metal electrode, and N. G. Slavianoff presented about the same time the same idea of transferring metal across an arc, but to cast metal in a mold.1
Miller Electric
Slavianov (1854–1897) patented in 1890 a process that united two pieces of metal with a current-carrying rod melted by an electric arc, and received a diploma and gold medal at the Chicago world’s fair of 1893.1
Gáti József and Kovács Mihály
The metallic arc process, in which a metal electrode replaces the carbon one, is named the Slavianoff process; no date is given.1
Hamilton and Oberg (1918)
Coffin’s US Patent 428,459, as read for this entry, claims a process in which current passes through the parts to be welded and a conductor, the parts are separated from the conductor so that an arc forms, and the parts are pressed together to form the weld. The text read does not describe metal carried across the arc from a consumed electrode.1
The patent text itself

When was the coated electrode invented, and by whom?

Oscar Kjellberg developed the world’s first coated electrode in 1904.1
ESAB (the company founded by Kjellberg)
Kjellberg patented arc welding with a coated electrode in 1905.1
Gáti József and Kovács Mihály
Strohmenger introduced a thinly coated metal electrode in Great Britain about 1900, and between 1907 and 1914 Kjellberg invented a covered or coated electrode made by dipping bare iron wire in carbonate and silicate mixtures.1
Miller Electric
The Strohmenger-Slaughter process used an iron rod covered with flux except at its ends, laid along the weld line; it was claimed successful for rails and for filling worn places but was not generally used.1
Hamilton and Oberg (1918)

Gaps in the record (7)

Kjellberg’s patent has not been located; the Swedish patent number and exact dates (1904 development, 1905 or 1907 patent) are unresolved.
Coffin’s metal-electrode claim as reported by Miller is not borne out by the text of US 428,459 read here; a different Coffin patent may be meant and has not been located.
Slavianov’s patent and the date of the first use of a consumable metal electrode have not been located in a primary source.
Miller’s history is a manufacturer’s secondary account and its dates for Strohmenger, Holslag, Langstroth and Wunder, and Lincoln Electric’s extruded electrode have not been checked against patents.
Lincoln Electric’s own history pages were not accessible from this machine.
No typical value for rated output current or duty cycle has been sourced for specs.
AWS A5.1 itself (edition and text) has not been read; the classification system is known here through Miller’s explanation.