I use any type rod that still has the flux on it. Usually odd numbers are AC, even numbers are DC. I have a machine just like that one. Got it when I was 21 or 22, right after the Gulf War. I got out just before Christmas that year. So it's been a few moons. It's been used a good bit. 1/8" DC rods may be the max because it may not be hot enough. Now a 5/32" 6011 on AC, that sucker will cook. These machines seem to have an emphasis on AC, with DC capability. Who knows, yours may run hot enough to burn a 5/32" DC rod. I learned that though welders are the same, they are different. My gas welder is the same as my brothers, but I've had sho nuff welders use both and said mine was smoother. And, mine may have less performance because I have longer leads on it. My brothers shop machine is a big Lincoln with the hand turn dial on the front. It is smooth. It has the adjustable flexibility that we all love. I bought my dad a dial one for his shop. See my brother built, we built a huge shop next door. The welder was really my brothers. So he put it over in his shop. Dad really can't weld, and he does have a wire welder. But he is a worker and will cut pieces for us all day long. I bought him a welding machine so I would have a machine there if a project came up. He has a nice big shop. Tractors and loaders to move everything. There is only one set of bottles and a torch between them. So I put it on a large two wheel dolly. Whoever uses the torch that needs it. The gas welder is usually at dads, and it's on a trailer, and the bottles can be put on it if we need to go to a location to fix something somewhere. Like one day he was baling hay and had a flat on the front. Tire was not fixable. On the newest cab tractor we had. Lug bolts were turning in the spindle. Had to use torch and welder in that hot hayfield. Everything wanted to burn. I have seen a pto generator on a trailer, pulled with a tractor, welder just like yours on the trailer. Portable then. Those generators are reasonable around here. I have one, 25 kw I think. That's an option.