For All Welders, What Should I Do?
- Thread starter Brian757
- Start date
Singtoe
New member
I showed Dous how to weld one day. He picked it up in 5 minutes. Before I knew it, he had bought his own welder and had welded himself up a roof basket.
Welding is easy.
Flux wire is cheap (no gas) and is very for giving on cleanliness. You join two rusty pieces of metal with out to much wire brushing.
Mig welding gives a very professional look to your weld but material needs to be rust free for best results.
Arc (Stick) welding is good for rusty and deep penetration of thick metal. I used it on my motor mounts for my 2UZ swap.
Tig is very controlled welding . Very pretty welds but needs to be very clean.
Welding is easy.
Flux wire is cheap (no gas) and is very for giving on cleanliness. You join two rusty pieces of metal with out to much wire brushing.
Mig welding gives a very professional look to your weld but material needs to be rust free for best results.
Arc (Stick) welding is good for rusty and deep penetration of thick metal. I used it on my motor mounts for my 2UZ swap.
Tig is very controlled welding . Very pretty welds but needs to be very clean.
Dous
New member
Oh and definitely buy an Auto-dimming helmet! That helps a ton
Kurtis
New member
I taught my self how to weld using the 115VAC HF welder. I've had it for a couple years now. It will weld 3/16" on a double pass. That welder is actually what I used to build my skids and my roof basket. I don't think I would use it to weld on slider because your frame plates for the sliders should be 1/4" plate. I don't see it getting the job done. While it is not the best in the world it was really good to learn on. Before I start any more projects I will have to upgrade. I will be going to a gas set up. Probably Miller.
mikebontoft
New member
Couldn't agree with this more. don't bother with the crappy face shield that comes with these, or having to swap out lenses. make sure it goes up to a shade 14 for sensitive eyes using flux core, since it burns hotter. I'm actually using it at 11, but it depends on your sensitivity to light. 11-12 for mig and more like 8-10 for tig.
If you plan on working outside with even the slightest chance of wind (and you can't block it off) self shielding flux core wire will be required, otherwise you get to see what solid wire looks like being welded with no shielding gas.
As far as what type of welding to do... I'd just go with wire spooled. If, down the road, you want to tig weld... learn stick first so you understand how maintain proper arc length etc.
For your purposes, I'd just stick with a 115v welder. yes, 220v are much better, but for your welding I don't believe it necessary. You can go up to 1/4 plate without trouble. I would definitely go with a miller/hobart 140 using shielding gas. 75% argon/ 25% c02 is kind of the standard, but 80/20 and even 90/10 of same said mix works even better. Preheating is critical to prevent the first few seconds of welding from poor penetration.
With that said though, you might want to buy that 90amp welder. it is a piece of junk, but a good way to practice nonetheless. Once you're ready to move up, list that thing for sale and get most of your money back.
Whatever you get, upgrade that ground clamp, follow the instructions properly and use the proper protection. It would do good to understand the types of filler metals as well. I just finished retrofitting a stainless steel magnaflow exhaust from my Focus onto my T4R. I knowingly used an improper method: lincoln's nr211mp (Equal to E71T-1 I believe) flux cored .035" wire on a weld pak 100 I was given new for free. It came out as nice as it was going to. not chicken-shit, but not pretty little beads. I admittedly have not used self shielded wire on carbon steel. I've used shielded flux and solid wire though.
I can't teach you through a post, but I will at least try to make you aware of two things. make sure that if you are using innershield, to set the machine up for DCEN (direct current electrode negative) otherwise it will run like crap. The other thing is that when you are using the same method, you want to "drag" the gun. This means that you are holding the body of the gun in front of the weld pool while you are moving along. For solid wire applications, it is the complete opposite. You want to push the gun in what is called a lead angle, and you also want to run the machine as DCEP (just requires swapping the negative and positive leads).
I'd love to keep talking more about it, but my post is already so long that it takes my phone up to five seconds per word to actually show it on screen.
I'll leave you with this. It has some good info as well.
Welding Tips and Tricks - TIG, MIG, Stick and a pantload of other info
Hollis
New member
Auto Dimming helmet is absolutely the best thing to ever happen to welding. That being said... I have a hobart handler. I boxed the frame on a 1930 Ford Coupe, put a new front nose on a 1974 VW Bus and did tons of misc welding (never anything on the runner though.)
I have never stick welded.
I picked it up in about 30 minutes welding old bed frames into "art."
I have a buddy that just bought a "harbor freight/ northern tool" welder. I was skeptical but after 15 minutes of playing with the settings I was able to lay a good bead with flux wire. He has been welding with it for a year now and has had no issues. THe reviews for the welder look good on the website too.
I have never stick welded.
I picked it up in about 30 minutes welding old bed frames into "art."
I have a buddy that just bought a "harbor freight/ northern tool" welder. I was skeptical but after 15 minutes of playing with the settings I was able to lay a good bead with flux wire. He has been welding with it for a year now and has had no issues. THe reviews for the welder look good on the website too.
cj80cruiser
Senior Member
There are a few good instructional videos on youtube to help get you started welding that I would recommend taking a look at if you decide not to take the lessons from the guy that wants you to start out on a stick.
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Coastal616
New member
I don't disagree with anything you said, but if someone is too lazy to clean off the rust before welding, they shouldn't be fabricating.
:tape2: :toilet:
Singtoe
New member
This is true with many tech positions.
