Our Rating
Summary:
4.8
Have you ever used a stick welder that stuck you so close to the action that your eyebrows seemed to singe off, even though you were wearing a helmet or mask? Cheap welders might make good practice machines, but a consistent weld requires professional elements. You’ll find them on the Amico 160-amp dual voltage stick welder.
Backed by a 10-foot cable, you’ll receive an output range of 5-160 amps depending on the power source that is being utilized. With the 230V input, you’ll receive a max duty cycle of 60% at the max rating of this welder. It weighs just 18 pounds, offers a 10-foot clamp on the work cable as well, and does an excellent job with light metal fabrication.
This Amico welder is also ETL-listed and is backed by a 1-year seller’s warranty.
What to Expect with the Amico Stick Welder
This particular welder is able to work with 1/16-5/32 stick sizes so that you can achieve a consistent weld. You can still achieve 160 amps out of a standard household outlet, but there needs to be a higher amperage rating in the circuit in order to do so. We found that a kickout tends to occur in the 90-115 amp range otherwise.
We found it tends to work the best on ¼-inch materials and it works fine right out of the box. We used both 6011 and 7018 rods during the testing period with the welder and it performed without hesitation. The duty cycle never kicked us out, even when operating the welder at its maximum capacity.
This welder isn’t large enough to take on a massive project, but it will handle the small repair jobs you might have around the house or the shop. It does have a cold start, which can take a few attempts to get an arc, but that was really the only negative issue we encountered with this particular welder.
Tips on Using the Amico Stick Welder
- The ground clamp on this welder is a little thin. There isn’t a whole lot of spring tension either. Don’t be overly rough with it and the welder will treat you right.
- The leads are pretty thick on this welder, helping to support a fairly forceful arc when you have a 220V input providing the output.
- The stinger is a heavy-duty plastic model. It gets the job done and keeps the price low, but is an upgrade to think about if you start welding more often in the future.
This Amico welder isn’t an industrial welder by any definition. It does work well for light-to-medium chores, however, and that’s where its real value lies.
Our Bottom Line: This is an excellent stick welder that is useful for learning the basics of this discipline. It also adds some versatility to a shop or a garage when you need to finish a job at the MIG welder just isn’t working. We found that the process was smooth and the penetration levels were consistently good. It’s a nice little affordable welder.
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