Stick Welding

About

Stick welding, or Shielded Metal Arc Welding (SMAW), is a versatile and widely used welding process that uses a consumable electrode coated in flux to lay the weld. It is known for its simplicity and effectiveness in outdoor or windy conditions, making it ideal for construction, repair, and heavy steel structures.

No torch

Instead of a torch, stick welding uses a solid rod clamped in a stinger, which is a conductive clamp with grooves to hold the rod. The rod serves a triple purpose; it acts as the electrode by carrying current from the stinger to the workpiece, serves as filler material to fill the weld, and is covered in flux which vaporizes to become the shielding gas.

There are different kinds of rods for different purposes. The most common are listed below.

• 7018 is the most common all-purpose rod

• 6010/6011 are both very high strength, used for heavy duty applications

Many industrial processes will use a combination of 6010 for the root, and 7018 for the fill and cap.

Machine setup

• Plug in, turn on, connect ground clamp

• No gas needed because of flux

• No foot pedal either

Settings  

• Depending on the electrode being used, you may need to flip the polarity  
  • Some rods run only DCEN, only DCEP, or only AC, some run a combination of the three
  • Direct current electrode negative (DCEN) means the electrode is connected to the negative terminal of the machine and the ground connect to the positive
  • And vice versa for DCEP

• Make sure the correct process and output is selected
  • Process: stick
  • Output: on
  • Adjust: DIG
  • All other settings should be default or off

• DO NOT put a rod in the stinger until you are ready to weld
  • As soon as the ground clamp is connected, the stinger is LIVE
  • If you leave a rod in the stinger, it will spark every time it touches the table

• Set amperage depending on rod rather than material thickness

• For 1/8” 7018 rod on 1/8” material, start at 110A and increase as needed

• As you can see in the chart, the rod size depends on the material size, and then the amperage depends on the rod size

• Bigger rods have more penetration

Technique

Before starting

• Find a comfortable position
  • Use scrap, clamps, extra gloves etc to make an elbow/wrist rest
  • Beware that your rod will shrink as you weld, account for that in your positioning
  • Thumb to pinky  

• Make sure your piece is clean, free of slag
  • Have a chipping hammer and wire brush on hand
  • Angle grinders or wire wheels can be handy too for really gross parts

• Make sure you have the right size rod
  • Don't use a 5/32” rod on 0.065” thick material, it’ll go right through

Starting the weld

• Stick welding is usually scratch start (like striking a match)

• Scratch the tip of the electrode against the piece to start the flow of current, lift off to create the arc
  • Scratching helps to avoid sticking your rod, and to remove bits of slag or flux that may be stuck to the end of the rod
  • Scratch on a clean area, ahead of where you want to weld so you cover the arc strike

• Once the arc is started, don’t pull away too far!!! Arc length is crucial
  • Too far away (long-arcing) will cause porosity, undercut, unstable arc
  • Short-arcing will smoother the weld, rod will stick, poke holes
  • But too short is better than too long

• Rod angle should generally be close to the middle of the two faces being joined
  • Meaning 45deg for t joint, 90deg for butt joint etc (work angle)
  • Also using a slight (10-20deg) lead angle ie “dragging” the tip of the rod, to avoid pushing slag into the weld puddle (travel angle)

• Make a tack weld at either end/on either side before doing the full bead, same as with MIG/TIG
  • Once the tack is made, you have to “tie” it in to the bead
  • Back-track to cover your tack before proceeding to the full bead
  • This will avoid pinholes, undercut, bad toe lines etc

Finishing the weld

• At the end of the bead, “snap” the rod off
  • Not snap as in break, more like a whip motion
  • This will kill the arc quickly, rather than getting porosity from long-arcing as you pull away slowly (not good)
  • This will also toss off any slag or molten metal from the end of the rod, makes the next restart easier

• Chip away any slag, wire brush any rust or spatter before starting the next bead
  • Always easier to weld a clean part