finding your base amperage

by zane cunningham
(jacksonville florida)

To find your base amps(the amps you start at before tweaking to your personal welding style). take the size of the electrode(1/8, 3/32 ect..) turn that into a three number decimal and that will be your baseline amps.

example 1/8 7018--1divided by 8 =.125

Personally I like to use 125 for hotpasses. Usually I turn it down to about 115 for a 1/8 rod. But thats my personal preference.

Comments for
finding your base amperage

Average Rating starstarstarstarstar

Click here to add your own comments

Sep 18, 2010
Rating
starstarstarstarstar 		stick welding base amps
by: buck

I weld at a shipyard. Mostly mild steel. I'm a seam welder and we use alot of 6010 a little 7018 and some 309 and 316 on occasion. My experience on base amps (just from what I've done)

3/32 7018 - 80 amps
1/8 7018 - 115 amps is a good all position temp (little warm for verts)
1/8 6010 - 85 amps
5/32 6010 - 120 amps
3/32 309 and 316 80 amps for flat and overhead and 60 amps for verts (sounds cold but its the only way I've been able to get it to run uphill

Click here to add your own comments

Join in and write your own page! It's easy to do. How?
Simply click here to return to Stick welding