The semiautomatic welding machine relieves the welder from manual electrode feeding and the procedure for replacing it in the holder. In this type of equipment, a special wire is used as an electrode, which automatically enters the welding zone. A specialist only has to set the required feed, and then, while maintaining the required distance to the metal surface, carry out a longitudinal movement along the joint to be welded.
To obtain a high-quality weld and stable burning of the welding arc, it is necessary that the feed rate of the electrode wire into the arc zone be equal to the rate of its melting. In semiautomatic machines, this is ensured by adjusting the feed rate depending on the voltage on the welding arc or self-regulation of the arc in case of random fluctuations in the welding current using additional mechanisms.