hey so ive just purchased my first arc welder (walmart schumcher brand)
and ive been practicing welding some aluminuzed mild muffler piping from a local mufller shop and ive been using 6013 rods that came with my welder, im getting the hand of striking the arc and having it not stick. and laying a lead (ugly looking tho)

i hav a few questions tho such as:

how does the size (diameter) of the electrode that im using affect how it welds, i know if i turn up the amps the weld is supposed to be deeper?

i measured the electrode that came with my stick welder its .125 (1/8th)
how is welding affected if i use a smaller electrode such as a 5/64 or a 1/16?

also how much electrode should i be using the weld one 3 inch pipe to another one all the way around?


thanks alot!

 

http://www.esabna.com/EUWeb/AWTC/Lesson1_1.htm

heres something to help you understand something about welding.. and some helpful information..

theres another site as well, that you might want to search for... probably under welding, or something..

 

ive been reading thru that esab tutorial and im learning alot it has tons of information but i cant find anything on how the diamter of the stick affects the weldment?

does using a thicker stick only produce a thicker bead??????

 

ive figured out that with thicker stick u have to use more amps, but is that it?

 

http://www.metalwebnews.com/howto/weldrod.html