Anything welding

I know i'm way late to the game, but I have the el-cheapo "cut 50" from Amazon.

it cuts 1/8" like a hot knife through butter
3/16" like cake
1/4" pretty darn well. I go a bit slower and get pretty nice cuts ( at least I think so, I'll see if I can find an example in my scrap bin )

I run that little guy @ 80PSI and find it works really well at that pressure, I only vary between 40 - 50A on the dial depending on what I'm cutting. More often then not, it stays @ 40A and I just adjust my speed

As for the consumables, When I was buying the cutter, I seen the suggestion from amazon "others who bought this have also bought these...." one of them was a 50 pack of tips, and a bunch of ceramic cups, I figured that if the cutter made it through all 50 tips, I was doing pretty good for a return on investment, lol

 

I'm selling one of my rifles today to fund a plasma cutter because I decided I'd rather have that than a rifle I occasionally shoot. I'm taking a hard look at the HF titanium cutter now. With a super coupon it comes out to $800 OTD. 5/8" clean cut and 1" severance is more than enough for my needs. I know the titanium line is a good one too because of all my use with my previous welder.

 

Or you can just use the rifle to perforate the steel you need cut like a true American. Win/Win. You can get really straight lines once you get good at it.

 

Sent a product I sell for the first gen 5 lug Tacomas to a pretty big youtuber and he installed em in this video. He welds em in so I'm counting it for this thread haha

https://youtu.be/Ur61jLKcXa0

 

Well rifle is sold and I did decide on the harbor freight titanium plasma cutter. I'm going to go get it today after work and I'll report back.

 

Let me/us know. I’ve been looking at it as my shop upgrade for the year. I’m curious on your thoughts on it.

 

Here's the best part. Right now it's listed at $900 but this outdated coupon still applies. HF extended all coupons set to expire in April/May to be good until June 30. Tested it online in my cart and it worked.

 

Damn. I might have to get it sooner rather than later.

 

The first result in a youtube search is what really sold me on it. He cut 1/8", 3/16" and 1/4" off of a 20A 120v plug and they were really nice cuts. That covers 99% of the thickness that I'm cutting, especially because I'm never cutting that much at any given time so I don't really need to worry about duty cycle or speed of cut.

 

Same here.

 

Well that’s lame. I went to grab one off the shelf and they’re all gone. You have to take a slip of paper to the register. No big deal. Get up there and he tells me they don’t have any in store and can’t order it for me either, I have to buy it online and have it shipped to my house.

 

That does suck, I was waiting for some feedback. I’ve wanted a plasma cutter for a while and was waiting to hear your real world, non-sponsored review. Looks like we both have to wait!

 

Ok so this is my third time attempting to weld, and I’m pretty sure I’m messing something up. I’ve watch plenty of FCAW vids, but don’t have anyone to show me in person. I have a HF flux 125v. I’m welding 1/8 steel to OEM bumper mounts.

I started out trying to tack weld, but it didn’t seem like I was getting any penetration at all. Just bubbles of slag on the surface. I was on “low” setting. So I switched to “high” setting and held each tack weld for 4-6 seconds. It made the metal red hot. Still not moving the stick and just tack welding. I think?

I’m on speed setting 3/10, plugged into 110v outlet. Please laugh hard at this failed abortion of an attempt to stick two things together...THEN I would really appreciate any tips! Taking a break and waiting for some advice. I’m having fun though!

edit: the black spots are where I held the stick the longest, getting the metal red hot.

 

I have the same machine and have a few tips. I’m nowhere near as knowledgeable as a lot of people in this thread, but might be able to offer some advice.

Weld on high 90% percent of the time. Only use low for very thin material

Turn your wire speed up. I usually set mine around 8 for most things I weld

Make sure you’re holding your gun at the correct angle. You always want to drag with flux core, so hold your gun at about a 45 degree angle away from your starting point even if you’re just tacking

For tacks, hold the trigger in the same spot for 3-5 seconds until you see the puddle start to form then release the trigger

 

Thanks man. I’ve been holding the gun at a 45 degree angle to the joint of the workpieces. I will now hold it 45 away from the point of weld. Appreciate the feedback, will keep updating as I work

 

Made a big ass wrench

 

Some welding from work

 

Some aluminum tig welding I started to do

 

i use Lincoln ultracore 71a75 daul shield in 045

 

turn the heat up a lot, clean the joint you want to weld good, hold the gun closer to the material and try to watch the puddle form... also make sure you have a good ground

seems like more of a settings or gun distance issue