Backwards / reversed amperage on Cig Tradesman stick welder

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Hi everyone!I'm totally new here so sorry to start out with a question but....I have an oldish Cig Tradesman Arc welder that for some reason runs backwards in relation to amperage and I don't understand why.It is single phase 240V.If you have the indicator set to the highest level 200 amps it barely gives you enough current to strike an arc, if you set it to the minimum 65 amps it blows holes clean though 3mm steel in 1/2 a second.I've tried this on both the high and low electrode outputs and it's the same story.I do not understand why this is so.I've looked inside and when you wind it (by the guage) DOWN technically it should be getting less current - inside the whole larger transformer moves upwards and this increases the amperage but reads LOW on the meter and vise versa when you turn it UP the transformer moves downwards and the current decreases. Strange??My only thoughts is that perhaps someone removed the internals of the original welder and replaced them with the internals of a different welder.  Or could it be wired incorrectly??Any thoughts??Thanks for any inputs!!