mig welding vs. stick welding

Be sure that your welds dont have any slag inclusions, porosity, and/or too much cut in. But you should be fine. Use test pieces to get the settings dialed in.

if you dont know what youre doing with a stick welder i wouldnt use something that youre gonna be driving as a guinea pig. itll definately take some getting used too. but say you do know then it wouldnt be any different than how much clean up you want to do on your welds.

if you know mig better try and use the mig i used to love stick till i got a mig and if i never have to use a stick again i wont care mig way better in use and alot less spatter but you can burnt trough some thick ass metal with a stick i just hope our technique with the stick is as good as you would do migging cuz if not i would stick (pun totally intended) to what you know best

i have helped a few people startup on welding. and I usually like them to start with stick ...

main reason ... i have seen to many figure out how to make MIG look pretty but not hold for crap

to me, Stick is a crapload easier to get good penetration and a strong weld with beginners

oh. and on a lil project im working on, the frame work is all Stick ... because of thickness of plate.

I went in used a wire brush to clean the frame ... did a downhill pass with some 3/32" 5p (6011), wire brushed that ... and then did an uphill pass with some 1/8" lo-hi (701

the only reason i said not to if you should is because everyone is so anal about what a weld looks like now adays.

Its easier to make a weld look crappy with a SMAW. I personally like the look of a good SMAW when it looks like a row of quarters overlapping each other. Dont like the clean up though or having to have a cleaner surface to strike an arc. GMAWing is a little harder to screw up and make a weld look crappy. Unless you dont have the gas on. Both take practice, either has their own situations and jobs that they are better at but both do about the same thing.

If you can't lay down a good solid weld with stick, don't even try. And if you are asking this question, then you probably don't have enough experience with stick to take that risk.

I would love to stick weld when installing notches and such, but it's been so long since I've done it, I would want to practice for a good amount of time before I go and Eff things up on my frame.

And if you do it, use 7018.

why is everyone saying to use a 7018? its harder to weld with, if you have some go for it, but if you have to buy some, get a milder rod......

7018 IS BETTER FOR DYNAMIC STRESS, IN OTHER WORDS, IT GIVES A LITTLE MORE, IT IS ALSO LESS CLEAN UP. 6010 IS A DIGGING ROD, USED MAINLY FOR ROOT PASSES IN PIPE WELDING, AS WELL IT IS MORE BRITTLE THAN 7018. IF YOUR GONNA USE STICK, THE BEST ALL AROUND ROD TO USE IS 7018, I KNOW THIS BECAUSE I'VE BEEN A JOURNEYMAN WELDER FOR 6 YEARS. BE SURE TO TURN YOUR HEAT DOWN THEN DO AN UPHAND WELD FOR THE VERTICAL WELDS, DOWNHAND WITH STICK DOESN'T PUT ENOUGH WELD MATERIAL IN.