The Armour Archive

So after having my welder sitting in my oh so unventilated basement for a year or so I got around to getting a 25' extension cord so i can actually use the damn thing.
other than screwing around my only real project that I could use some welding on is a couple of bar grills.
is it even really worth it to stick weld grills? I know it's a piece of cake with a mig, but i worry a bit about knocking things out of place when i strike an arc. oh well, time to experiment.

does anyone have any recommendations on jugs for holding things in place, electrodes that work better than others or anything like that?

On hand I've got some 1/8 6011 and 6013 kicking around, and some 3/32 6013

for most things I use 6013 but a little bigger as I make tools and today that included 2 anvils.
1/4" is more the size I use unless I am doing some odd stuff like welding blocks of en 45 spring steel to meehanite in which case it is 7018 hydrogen controlled rods and LOTS of power.
for bar grills I would thing your 1/8 rods will be fine.
as to holding things I have loads of different clamps including some huge ones that put a force of over 10 tons on the work but for your stuff a few vice grips and a couple of odd shaped chunks of steel will be best, a lump hammer head or a brick or any bit of scrap you have handy to prop stuff up with.
I use mig a lot too

Are you going to be able to draw enough power through your extension cord? My experience when trying to run a 110v welder off an extension cord was that it didn't do nearly as good a job.

I run my 220 stick off an extension which is about 30-40', and it works fine.
I'm assuming that his is 220 because why else would an extension cord hold you up?

I've done bar work with a stick and it lasted many years.
Of course it was fugly, just like everything else a stick does. I do all my barwork with a torch now.

Tear apart 30-40 dead computer hard drives and get the large rare earth magnets inside them.
Once you get a good collection you have a way to anchor metal pieces to each other.
I do my welding in a 36" long metal tub filled with sand.
I can shove bars down in the sand to keep them in place.
I also can stick the bars to each other, or stick the bars to the edge of the tub.

If your welder doesn't have infinitely variable amperage, and only does fixed settings, then forget it. I rely heavily on being able to fine-tune the juice. I get to where it's welding, and then turn it up a little, so I don't have to contact the metal at all. I want it to start arcing when I'm 3/8" to 1/2" away. I want it to BWAAAHHH and flash and then when I can see what's happening I lean into it and crackle for a second, tack it in. The trick is to get it high enough that you don't have to scratch, and low enough that you don't burn through.

I'd get the whole thing tacked and then go back over it, probably with the amperage a little lower.

ETA: rare earth magnets get heat-killed right quick.
If you can anchor it on the other side of where you're welding you'll get better mileage out of them.