AC only rods?

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I have an OLD SCHOOL Hobart brothers AC stick welder, circa late 50's I believe.  I have been welding as a job now for almost a year and have little problem running beads with our DC machine in the shop or our Miller truck mounted welder and do quite well with flux core and mig.  On my Hobart machine I have only found one rod that will run a bead for me and that would be 7014.  It is the only rod out of something like 8 or so rods I've tried on the machine that doesn't stick, stutter, or have inconsistent arc.  Are there some AC only rods that would be good for my application or should I quit screwing around and dump a little cash into atleast a semi-modern dc or mig machine?  Summer is here and it's time to play with the welder (no garage here )
Reply:6011 will run on a.c. as will 7018.  Keep in mind that the reason your are stickin with a.c is because the arc goes out 120 times a second, then reignites as the machine switches polarity.try some clean, dry 7018 1/8" at around 125 amps
Reply:Get the 7018 AC rod.  The regular 7018 is for DC.MM350P/Python/Q300MM175/Q300DialarcHFHTP MIG200PowCon300SMHypertherm380ThermalArc185Purox oaF350CrewCab4x4LoadNGo utilitybedBobcat250XMT304/Optima/SpoolmaticSuitcase12RC/Q300Suitcase8RC/Q400Passport/Q300Smith op
Reply:You should be able to run 6011, 6013, 7014 as well as 7018AC. If you have too much difficultly running these rods you need to start looking for the problem. Plain 7018 will run on AC if the voltage is high enough. The 7018AC was made use with the basic buzz box welders. It would be more correct if they called it Low Voltage 7018.
Reply:As stated above.  6013 or 6011 are sort of a standard AC rod.  7014 runs best on AC.  Try em all again.  Try different amps for each rod.You do have a good machine.DavidReal world weldin.  When I grow up I want to be a tig weldor.