MMA Arc Welding - How to Arc Weld | R-Tech

Arc Force can be found on our range of AC/DC Tig Welders both Digital and Analogue versions, it is also available on our Digital DC Tig Welders

This controls the arc during welding and will automatically adjust the voltage/amperage to maintain a stable arc, so it will maintain a good weld bead if if arc length changes during weld.

If the rod is pushed very close into the weld (tight arc length) the machine will compensate for the drop in welding volage by increasing it momentarily.

Lower setting is a more soft smooth arc, higher setting is a more aggressive arc (some call a more digging arc)

If you like ARC MMA welding with a tight arc (the stick is very close to workpiece) this will help stop the rod from sticking to the material.

As with many advanced settings this can be used in different ways.

1. If you have a low setting of 30% - 50% for welding the you can keep a normal arc length and use the normal amperage for the job to hand.

2. If you like to keep a very tight arc, you can increase the arc force above 50% + and then reduce the main amperage, this will allow a tight arc length and prevent arc blow.

It is best to get some scrap metal and change the settings and wirte them down and compare each weld when finished, once you get it welding just ask you like it record these settings.

 

 

Anti-Stick technology is found on our range of ARC welders and is automatic in its operation (no setting is needed on front panel)

When the rod gets stuck to the workpiece (short circuit) the welding power is turned of automatically by the arc welder to stop the welding machine getting overloaded and allows easy removal of the arc electrode from workpiece.

 

Hot-Start is used to give better arc starting.

When the arc is started (electrode touched to workpiece) the voltage / amperage is boosted, once the arc has started and stable the arc welder will then continue with the normal welding voltage for amperage selected.

This is found on our MMA arc welders below

R-Tech PROARC 135 & 175 MMA ARC Welders

V.R.D  "Voltage Reduction Device"  is a safety system found on our Digital range of TIG welders which have MMA ARC Welding Function.

Normal O.C.V (Open circuit voltage) is between 70-95 volts DC, when the machine is put in MMA mode it is constantly LIVE so if you touch the stick electrode onto workpiece it would stike an arc immediately.

When V.R.D is turned on the OCV is lowered to 20V (+/- 3v) so is much safer, especially when long welding cable are used.

Once the arc electrode has touched the workpiece the weld arc starts and welding carries on as normal.

When welding in V.R.D mode you may experience a slight delay in arc starting, the is normal.

It can be slightly harder to strike an arc on very rusty / dirty materials so you may have to scratch harder or clean the metal before welding.

 

Arc Welders can be converted for tig welding by fitting a tig torch that plugs into where electrode holder fitted, the torch has a gas hose coming off it that you fit to a gas bottle with regulator valve . On the tig torch you have a valve that you open and this allows gas to flow, you then scratch the tungsten onto work to initiate arc and you are then tig welding, once finished you pull torch away from work to stop arc and then turn gas valve off. 

Its a very basic tig system and suits those who only wish to tig weld rarely.

An actual tig welder has benefits of HF start that start arc when you press torch button so you don't have to scratch start that wears down tungsten, and when you want to stop welding you just release trigger and arc stops & turns off the gas, on the system above you just pull away as MMA welder is 'live' all the time this can leave poor weld at end of weld.

As the price for a HF DC Tig welder is much lower nowadays we would advise to purchase a dedicated DC Tig Welder with HF start and auto gas on / off as once you have purchased the ARC inverter powersource, torch and regualtor etc there is not much difference in the end price.