Continued from earlier post…..
So on these typical inverters, dig is less about changing the shape of the characteristic and more about a feature to stop the electrode sticking if the arc gets too short. But if you follow Jody’s golden rule of stick welding, it shouldn’t stick anyway: set the current high enough so that you can keep a tight arc without sticking, and then keep a tight arc. So that’s why you could jam the electrode in at high dig without sticking, and also why the results were not like night and day. So, with a high dig setting and welding with a very tight arc, you’re simply welding at a higher, but still constant, current; if you then back off to a normal arc length, you drop back to the current setting you set up at the start.
This is how I understand it; I’m keen to get your feedback, especially with possible difficulties some people might experience with out-of-position welding using an inverter with some rods (6010?).
Commented on Matt Hayden - Arc Force Setting for Stick Welding aka Arc Control or "DIG"
Feb 19 at 04:22 PM
Thanks, Matt: I’ve been waiting for this video. You must have learned to weld on pre-inverter welders (DC generators and transformer-rectifiers), which allowed you to alter the shape of the power (volts-amps) characteristic, from constant current (vertical “curve”) to a drooping/flatter curve. Such a characteristic allows the operator to control the heat input more (by changing the arc length slightly) for out-of-position welds. Some top-of-the-range inverters now let you alter the whole characteristic shape, but the average inverter is constant current at all arc lengths. This is where arc force/dig comes in. It’s a very poor attempt to mimic altering the shape of the whole voltage-current characteristic by giving a boost in current (0 to 100% depending on the dig setting AND the maximum, limiting, current output of the machine) but only at one arc voltage. So it merely puts a kink in the vertical, constant current line, rather than gives it a flatter shape. To be cont