Is this something unique to this machine, a combination of reactor etc
etc that makes the arc really harsh?

Its hard for me to explain what I mean by "harsh"..more violent and
stiff an arc..where other machines Ive used give a nice frying bacon
noise, a nice smooth arc with minumum amounts of flying crap, less
under cutting and so forth.


There should be a hot-start adjustment for stick welding.
That should adjust the open-circuit voltage.


I've noticed the same thing on my unit. Always thought welders are just
different. I just went down and looked at my almost identical unit. I don't
see anything that sounds like a hot start adjustment. I'll ask for gunner, I
have these adjustments, have NO CLUE what to do with them:

Afterflow timer: Has electrode sizes listed or desired afterflow min to max.
Spark Intensity: adjusts by knob from low to high
Soft start: On/off
Spark start only: On/off

Any of these related to hot start by chance?

Karl