The invention discloses an electric arc additive manufacturing method which comprises the following steps of (1) selecting a corresponding heat source type, a forming wire material, and a material type of a base plate according to the material requirement of a forming target part; (2) building a computer-aided design (CAD) geometric model of the forming target part, extracting a standard templatelibrary (STL) model, slicing the STL model, generating a G code file required for printing, and transmitting the G code to a printer; (3) setting printing parameters, starting the printer, and printing metal thin layers according to a planned route layer by layer; and (4) after finishing printing all layer sheets through the printer, carrying out arc failure through a welding gun, and obtaining the forming target part. An additive piece printed through the method provided by the invention is less in error and flawless, has the advantage of good surface quality, and is stable in process, high in dimensional accuracy and surface quality, short in processing period, and low in cost at the same time; the printing process is in closed-loop control, so that the automation degree is high, and thelabor intensity of operating personnel can be reduced; and continuous manufacturing can be realized, and the manufacturing efficiency is high.