I like the explanation of how arc force "feels" or affects the weld in practical terms. However it's also worth understanding what's actually happening - stick welding is meant to be a "constant current" process, but as you wind up the arc force, it allows the weld current to increase above the panel setting as the arc length shortens. So at full arc force, your 100A panel setting might allow up to , say, 120A as the stick gets right in there, whereas at zero arc force, it'll maybe max out at 105A. The ultimate "no arc force" is TIG, where 100A on the dial is exactly all that'll it'll deliver at the electrode.

Finally someone that explains features the way I can understand and use it proper

The reason I love this channel is because Mr. Bob remind me a lot of my first welding teacher. Down to earth and a bottomless well of information. He had a tool for every problem it seemed like. Whenever I had trouble figuring out a technique, he was always able to point me in a different direction to help me grasp what I was trying to do.

Bob I would love to see you and Jody over there at welding tips and tricks do a video one day.

Arc force relates to the amount of voltage in the puddle. The higher the arc force the lower the voltage, and vice versa. Voltage has several effects on the puddle, high voltage/low arc force results in a smoother more fluid and slower to solidify puddle with less penetration. This in my opinion makes a lower arc force setting more appealing for the cap pass/passes. I however prefer a high arc force/low voltage setting for the root and hot pass and fill. The high arc force will give a better hot start, more penetration where it matters on the walls of the pipe, the puddle will solidify faster allowing you to hold the walls and really let them fill up without undercutting drooping or falling out this makes flushing out a heavy wall pipe much faster with a flat profile when weaved. This is particularly helpful on the bottom of a 5g pipe. A high arc force also believe it or not gives in my experience less chance of blowing through the root pass due to the higher solidification rate, it will also really punch the previously deposited root in. High arcforce also helps ensure any wagon tracks are burnt out.The drawbacks to high arc-force are as mentioned lots of spatter, arc blow, a higher rougher bead profile when stringered.

I saw a definite bigger keyhole. It looked like it was about to get out of control but you moved up then down and put that root right in there! Awesome!

Something about welding instructors, man. Y'all are just so cool.

Arc force is best for welding dirty or corroded base metals. Also helps lower wandering arcs when welding in corners, such as angle iron fab. I’ll use more dig when I’m welding flat, but rarely use it on pipe.

Cutting Bob loose is the makings for the best videos... Just let the video go, Bob's a good personality and you don't need to edit so much of it out.

As a beginner hobby welder, it definitely helps me tie in easier when I run lower amperage on thin metal. I'm forced to tie in often because thin metal forces me to weld short beads. As I restart the arc and back the rod over the end of the previous weld I often get too close and end up sticking my rod, with arc force I dont stick, it blows back the slag. Very useful

I would like to see Bob go over the soft and stiff settings of a miller trailblazer 325 as far as I’m concerned is the best welding teacher I have ever ran across and I’ve been welding for a long time

Cowley College is lucky to have you as an instructor Bob. great information

Great info to learn from.

Holy crap, Bob, you might’ve solved my issue with open butt 3G today. My dig was set at 65 for a 6010 1/8” rod. I had to baby it, which caused me to have a much thicker root pass than usual.

from the esab warrior manual: Arc force: the arc force is important to set the variation of the current compared to the arc length variation. a lower value give a more stable arc with less weld drops.

Thank you. Looks like it’s more geared for roots or rough tacks. It’s a feature on my machine, and I appreciate more of an understanding. Don’t knock it till you tried it.

Love this format. Even from the back, it was clear the difference in the Arc Force. I'ma going to have to be experimenting with that feature. Thanks for the lesson!

I saw the first pass was smoother and the second pass at 100% you were going up and down to keep the weld going.

That is what good teaching looks like folks.

Thanks guys. I was wondering how and when to use different arc force settings. My old Hobart transformer never had such cool things. The new inverter is actually proving to be a joy to use.

Dig is like welding with an SA200, either 3rd gear and high, or 4th gear and low, both the same amperage, but a world of difference in how the rod behaves

Would've been interesting to see if the slag covering the puddle during welding with 6013 can be pushed away from covering the puddle with increased arc force.

Amazing! Great information ESAB appears to have one hell of a machine line up!

Please bare with me and continue reading as I guarantee to provide a clear & easy explanation as below: The arc force control, when provided on the power supply, is used to adjust the slope of the volt-ampere curve (). Each power source may have a different slope (or inclination degree) for the volt-ampere curve. Some machines are designed to enable some adjustment of the slope by the aid of an arc force control knob. Thus, when you are actually adjusting the arc force control knob then you are adjusting the slope or inclination degree of the volt-ampere curve. Changing the slope of the curve will affect the for a . Arc voltage changes when you change your CTWD (which is the contact-tip-to work-distance or also called the arc length). Why is this arc force control useful!? If you are welding a root pass with a uniform root gap and uniform root face on both sides in a butt joint then it is good to have little changes in the current you have already set before start. When you start welding and your arc length changes repeatedly then you will get a little change in your welding current and little effect over your penetration and less susceptible to a key hole in your root pass. However, professional welders who has a butt joint to weld. They need to adjust the arc force control in order to flatter or lower the slope of the volt-ampere curve which will give the welder the chance to change the arc length whenever they need to have a change in the current to adapt to the changes of root gap or even root face. This will aid the welder to perform better on having a uniform penetration on the root pass rather than having a little to no penetration in the root pass or sometimes get a "key-hole in root or hot-pass" : Adjusting the arc force control to lower the slope of the volt-ampere curve will lead to a greater change in the range of welding current for a given change in arc voltage. Arc voltage changes as a result to a change in the contact-tip-to work-distance or also called the arc length. When you stick the electrode closer to the weld pool (arc length decrease) then the voltage drops and the current increase but when you stick out (arc length increase) then your voltage increase and consequently the current decrease. In the volt-ampere curve, when the slope of the curve is steep, a range of voltage change between 22 - 32 is equivalent to a current range of 15 amps! However, when the slop of the curve is flatter, a range of voltage change between 22 - 32 is equivalent to a current range of 40 amps! Thus, manipulating the arc force control will let you get a change of 15 to 40 amps when you change the arc length. Please feel free to propose w better summary to my explanation. Link to the volt-ampere curve is: www.linkedin.com/posts/activity-7148090527236653056-Cmuz?

Awesome video. Makes you remember Fowler arc force on the ole 200s . That's a pretty cool feature on that esab for off the shelf machine

I noticed years ago on ships the arc-force setting is only really needed with very thick metal plate. Good video and illustration. I love your videos.

Mr. Bob ! All of you and the other welding info sites really take me back to my old days. These videos are relaxing as can be! When you work side by side with young and old skilled people it truly shows how age is a number.

I always thought the Arc force helps compensate for arc length....so if you have trouble maintaining consistent arc lenth the arc force helps compensate for you. ie. Short arc length higher amperage, longer arc lenth lower amperage.

a suggestion do a split screen comparaison when welding 10 % arc force VS 100% arc force

It's like an artificial/digital version of what fine current/OCV adjustment does on classic engine drives. Got a really good taste of that on a Hobart 222 a couple days ago. I wonder how much the resonance of the current (like frequency on AC tig) works the same way. There's just something about how pure DC smoothly slices into the metal in a way that processed and rectified current doesn't quite imitate.

Bob, You truly are the " Mr. Rogers" of welding.......... " Hi kids, let's all weld today" " Now ya'll gotta be careful on the 6010 root-pass" ......... LMBO!!!! Bob, I'm your age....... I learn so much from you and WELD.COM......... GBYAY!!! and Mr. Rogers was a GREAT guy.

I like the explanation. I will need to play with this setting on my everlast welder to see it for myself.

Thank you Bob! Good stuff to know, it's always funner when someone els plays with the arc force and I get to watch. 👍👍

"Stay current." I laughed.

Will you get a chance to review this machine on a downhill pipe weld? I’m curious how it handles cellulose rods all the way out.

Great video, I was wondering why my everlast was acting funny when running sticks and I just noticed the dig arc force knob must have been bumped by a glove way up high. Now I know, and it could be handy in some situations. Thanks guys!

"Arc force" on the old Lincoln "Bullet " Deisel set was covered by the voltage control. As you probably know Mr Moffat You could run an old "Fleetweld 5" as softly as a 6013 or as agressively as a cutting electrode by simply adjusting this particular control.

I have on my miller xmt 350 that the arc force or inductance you can turn it up and back off on the amps itll flatten out 7018 in all positions. I think it's a more useful tool with the xx10 rods

Thankyou so much for this video! I now know why my 2 last welds acted different.

Love the content ! New to channel but it's a keeper

So is it safe to say you can leave the dig/arc force at zero or 10% and still get proper penetration?. I suppose just going up a few degrees on amperage will help penetration anyway?

I wish I knew what they were talking about

So medium to high arc force for 6010 and 6011 And low arc force for 7018. I just bought the esab es150 g And it's a beast. I like the machine, i just didn't know how to adjust the arc force on it .. It does have an arc force setting but it's basic. the arc force goes From 1 to 10 It's doesn't really say percentage. Just 1 through 10. Now i can get setting right 👍 Thank you both

Nice vid, you should do the same thing with the inductance setting on a CV machine.

High arc force is like a blowtorch.

OK I've noticed this setting on my Everlast welder but never touched it. Now I think I actually understand what it can be used for.

Hey Bob, would it be of any value to maybe do the same kind of settings exploring/explanation on the SA200?

I love running 7018 with the arc force turned down. It makes such a huge difference.

from 10% too 100% you can see the difference in the metal blowing away as well good demonstration

Great video. I know welding boiler tubes, most of us are 0% arc force on the tig root and 30 to 40% arc force on the stick fill and cap. It's usually 8018 or 9018 on the stick, depends where you're at in the boiler.

Okay nice video but ive got some questions: I watched a pipeliner explain the arcforce setting and he basicly said its like ajusting the volt settings on the older maschines. So if u turn the volts up (arcforce down) the puddle gets more liquid and has less penetration and the same in reverse. Aditionaly he said, on machines that are older with fixed amp control u can take the higher amp setting and lower the volts (set the arcforce higher) than u can weld quicker. Now i would like to see a comparison of two welds run at 130 and 150 amps one with a low arcforce and the other with a higher arcforce and compare witch is faster (with a 1/8 7018 for example). If u think im totally wrong pls correct me, and as always keep up the great work!

Thank you so much for this explanation!

Looked to me like Bob went into whip mode on the higher arc force, as an experienced welder would naturally do. He was able to drag more with the softer arc (low arc force).

The colder you weld the higher the Arc Force. Stainless and 6010 turn it up

Gotta love how Bob talks about welding. "Crank it in there n bust it thru diggin n snappin sounds kinda crispy" *makes fart noise with his mouth*

Please make aluminium frame welding video tutorials using right machines and greatest technique ... thank you very much

Yeah

Here I go hitting the like button again !

I dont know if anyone else has used the welder there but me personally I love that thing

Welders are in another world at times, 😃

thanks for sharing, i was asking myself what is "arc force" in stick welding.

I love your videos man , I really hope to start welding for money .

Need. Some pointers for 5x aluminum using a spool gun

Please keep making video on this machine!!!

Mr. Moffatt what are you using to bevel the 3/8 plate? Joint preperation is so crucial on an uphill vertical stick root, maybe you could show us the steps for making a joint in our favor.

Great info gentlemen!!

Should have shown the front of the machine at the different settings to see the amperage and voltage readout?

Would it be right to say that flux core usually has a higher arc force than mig? Definitely sounds crispy

Intresting. But What does the machine actualy do when you adjust the arc force?

10-35% is good for 7018 you get good freezing etc 65-85% for 6010 works good as far as for me. Good video tho. Keep up the good work

I'm strongly considering adding in the Arc Force modification in my SA200.

im curious if your running voltage was higher at 100%.

I needed this today thank you so much for the existence of this video! I learned from it. 👍🏽

Now I'm curious what the arc force setting is actually doing. You showed the effect of whatever it is doing, but not what it is actually doing to the electricity.

I never grind my roots “just hotpassing through”🤘🏽🤘🏽

So what would be the difference between smooth, deep, and force on a old buzz box welder.

This mans rod just ran that entire root, how long was that fxxxing rod?

Thank you for your review. Very useful

very well described

I am from Kerala.. Good video's sir Help full video.s... Thank you

The old Lincoln "Bullet" DC generator had this facility.

Be a nice feature for Migs to adapt to in my opinion.

Very interesting, great vids as always.

You were doing vertical up, is it normal to angle the rod down. At weld school I was taught to angle the rod up, am I doing it wrong.

dumb question from old school guy , what changes with arc force ??? i only imagine a inverter DC welder sending power out DC , but pulse width modulation , maybe ??? or is it V/A relationship ??

Hallo Bob, and thanks for the good video. May I ask you what do you mean by setting Arc force to 100%, do you mean 85A as the Welding current that you have set or , 100% of the Welding current capability of the machine (which must be I believe around 200A)? Thanks again Spiros

Hey have been following your videos..... I appreciate there are so much hoping...... Can u do more on vertical up video please.....

Always wonderful manger👍👍👍👍👍

scroll between 3:00 10% and 5:30 100% to see the difference.

this guy is the hickok45 of welding

The student beats the old guy.

How much arc force for 9045 electrode. And 6010 Electrode And 8010

Bob, please come back

I noticed you didn't show yourself changing the setting for the rod you were using, was that edited out or not done?

Having an Lincoln that you can't set arc force this is great information what is your angle on this.

Wish i was a welder

According to the EMP 285ic 1 PH, user manual: "Arc force : On stick welding increasing amps when the arc length is shortened to reduce or eliminate the freezing of the stick electrode in the weld puddle." So the amperage increases when the stick is moved closer to the puddle. That means you are operating at more than the set 85 amps when you get close to the puddle.

Have u had a weld shot after using the technique of not cleaning wagon tracks? That’s a tell all to me

Thank you, greatly appreciate your video.

I'm running a lincoln gas or diesel welder, it sounds hot but beads are cold, is the machine trash now or what's wrong, my dig is at 50% and I'm at 117 for amps with 200+ feet of lead