Arc Stick Welder, 115 Volt, 70 Amp (Campbell Hausfeld WS099001AV)

First welding is art and skill, both generally need practice.I have 20 amp breakers, 12gauge wiring and outlets rated for 20 amps. Check it all 4 times. i use a 12 gauge extention cord the coord on the welder is short and the leads aren't any longer. that being said, i spent hours working on high running about 2 lbs of rod, and no heat from the welder cord or extention cord. This and a 12 gauge extention cord makes a really compact welder that can get out and be used, the weight is about 20lbs, easy one handed. it's smaller and lighter than the tool box i lug around the house, so portablilty is excelent i regularly use it in the yard, driveway, garage. my lights and welder are on the same circuit, no issues so more or less the "high" setting is probly using around 15 amps, and the low less then 10. don't be afraid of having other things on the circuit.Get some 6013, and practice that on low, don't touch high. then when you can strike an arc consistantly gets some 7014, and really learn to weld. with prep(beveling and cleaning). I weld 1/16 and 1/8 in one pass. remember your bevels on 1/8th and you'll not have issues. Your penetration is roughly width of your electrode. i generally weld 7014 on high, and 6013 on low. 6013 gets two hot on high an i generally just burn through. 7014 tends to stick on low. All and all this is perfect for most home owners, hobists and professionals that don't work with 1/4 plate.**** Update Year 2 ****I still love my little welder. I've build a trailer with it, then welded another bolt together trailer with it. Works well in the 1/8th inch thick range with E7014 sticks. I find that makes a better weld once you get the hang of striking an arc. I usually only weld 16 gauge and 1/8th inch mild steel. it does a great job with both. I'm still very happy with the welder.

I bought this because I neither had an extension cord long enough or owned a generator to get to my project site.I was welding an espalier frame for growing pear trees up against. The project was using 1/2" and 3/8" rebar. I was worried at first because I figured I wasn't going to get good penetration at first. It's true that I didn't get good penetration and the first few welds I put on came apart.I found out that I had two problems. The first was that rebar itself does not provide a good smooth/solid surface. Second the iron wasn't getting hot enough to penetrate. What I found was that I had to continuously weld 2-3 rods for each joint. This both filled in the spaces between the rebar and kept the iron hot enough to create a strong weld.A great feature that I found annoying was the overload protection. It's a great feature because it protects the power circuit from being overdrawn, blowing breakers, and/or other major damage. It was annoying because of the amount of time that I needed to continuously weld and it would shutoff when I wasn't expecting it to. When the weather was cool, it would recover pretty quickly. On warmer days, it could take 15-20 minutes to fully recover.This welder can use 6011, which is my preference, however, it's hard to find 1/16 diameter 6011 rods at a reasonable price. Using 6013 rods, which is the preferred rods for this welder, hasn't been much of an issue so far.I also learned that I could repair the cheap, wire tomato cages if I used clamp on either side of my weld site as heat sinks.This particular type of welder is called a "sparkler" because the 1/16's electrodes are about the same size of the old wire sparklers we used on the 4th of July.

I bought this machine about a month ago and held off reviewing it until I finished my first project. I have had zero training and had to spend some time (and waste some metal) figuring out the basics of how to weld before making comments on how capable this thing was. While I absolutely love this thing for working in my home garage, it admittedly will only be useful to hobby welders like myself. It just doesn’t have the amps or controls to run bigger rods or fine tune performance. However, after a month of nights and weekends I made myself a little welding table/cart (see photos) and could not be happier with this purchase. Some things I learned:- this machine really loves 6013 rods. The ones that came with the machine worked great (unknown brand, 1/16” x 12”L). I got a small pack of Hobart 6013 off amazon and they were garbage (I think they got wet at some point) but then I got 5 lbs of the Hot Max brand 5/64”x14L rods and this thing eats them up.- The manual cautions against using 6011 and 7018. I picked up a few small packs just to try, and while they work (1/16” 6011 is nice for tack welds and plowing through dirty metal) they just don’t perform as smoothly as the 6013.- buy a nice welding helmet. The mask that comes with the machine is a joke, but very handy if you want to show off your welding prowess to friends, neighbors, or uninterested girlfriends. I ended up splurging on an auto-darkening one and have zero regrets.- I have never tripped my 20A breaker even after sticking rods and getting them cherry red hot. This thing will run off a household outlet all day long, just don’t put anything else on the circuit if you can help it.This was my gateway purchase into welding, and I have already spent far more than I am willing to admit in metal and accessories. I know I will be buying something bigger in the future, but this is the perfect way to test out and see if you really want to get into it without spending a lot. Pick this up, some gloves, and tube or angle from Home Depot, and play around for a weekend!One final thought, the fact that this draws only 15-20 amps means that with the right size inverter this could run off the 12V accessory port in a vehicle (at least my jeep has a 20A fuse for the accessory port). If you work on a farm or somewhere remote, this welder could come in very handy!

Never welded in my life. Building a ugly drum smoker and this stick welder is easy to use for a novice like me. Bought from urban inspirations. Pleased about the product and the buying experience. Très bonne soudeuse pour un novice comme moi. Je suis en train de construire un fumoir à l'aide d'un baril usagé et cette soudeuse est utile. Bonne expérience d'achat provenant de Urban inspiration.

très bien, il me reste juste a savoir souder

I'm a beginner but the machine was very easy to use did the job but I would go with a stronger one as the size of the weld were pretty underwhelming. I feel like I will have to buy a new one for any decent size project event for a beginner. I used it to weld table legs on a nightstand I built but I wouldn't trust it for anything more

5/64 rod on 20 amp connection would not even get going. it eats up 1/16 e6013 like hotcakes. i don't know if that is good.

Pas assez puissante