That makes a lot of sense to me. Thanks for explaining and I probably should have said I would never consider using .023 on an axle...nor using a low amperage or 110V welder. But for the axles/perches found on these cars? I wouldn't hesitate to load my 190 amp 220V welder with standard MIG stuff... .030 ER70S-6 wire and 75/25 AR/CO2, which would provide more than sufficient penetration & strength on a car axle, with more controlled heat compared to stick, to help prevent any warpage, and no risk of slag intrusion.

No doubt it depends on the output of the welder I fully agree. And often times a home user has an old high powered stick welder at his disposal, and just a small 110 MIG for sheetmetal. If these are your choices? YES choose the stick all the way, but that's only for the higher output power of the specific welder that provides better penetration...I'm not chosing it for the method.

But for specific purposes of this discussion...Bluebird is considering chosing a single 3 n 1 welder, which has the same stick output as MIG output. In that scenario I just couldn't fathom choosing stick method over MIG, with all things being equal (as in coming out of same machine with same power output). My biggest point is that I see a 3 in 1 welder as nothing but a 2 in 1 welder...cuz I don't think I'd EVER use the stick feature, again unless I found myself outside on a windy day...but even then I believe I'd just skip the gas and load a spool of flux-core in my wire feed.

Skill of the welder certainly comes into play as well, and maybe someone more comfortable with stick should choose it instead. But anywho this could be debated all day long so I'll stop now. Though I'm certainly intrigued if I'm still overlooking some benefit to using stick in this application and would respect any other input to what I might be overlooking. Sorry to hijack if I did...was not my intent.