In welding of thin plate, some defects such as melt through and unmelted zone occur easily at welding start, however there is a limited study on those problems. Therefore the effects of start block and arc length on melt through and unmelted zone at start were investigated in this study. When start block height was lower than base metal, there was melt through at start. And when the height was even with base metal, no unmelted zone existed. Unmelted zone was increased as start block height increased from 0mm to 0.5mm. However unmelted zone was not much changed as the height increasing from 0.5mm to 1.0mm. When gap existed between start block and base metal, melt through occurred. However, unmelted zone was increased as the contact force of start block on base metal was increased from 0kgf to 7.5kgf. And when arc length was decreased from 3.8mm to 3.0mm, unmelted zone was decreased. It was concluded that the optimum condition to prevent melt through and to minimize unmelted zone would be with start block height 0.25mm, contact force 3.0kgf, and arc length 3.4mm. This optimum condition was applied to the mass production line and resulted in satisfied outcome.