Anything welding

First time with gas. Picked up a Lincoln 140 today. Just got it unpacked and wanted to see if it would work. Will need much more practice, but I already love it waaaay more than flux. I can see what I’m welding! Haha

 

Youre definitely going to want a foot pedal

 

Just ask yourself a few questions.
Do you want to make some side money while maintaining things around the home or do you want to deal with specialized welding jobs?

I try to think of ways I could make side money TIG welding and I can only think of 2 or 3 situations.

With MIG welding I have to turn away work.

I don't hate TIG welding, in fact it actually looks quite beautiful, but I have little or no use for it.

 

Understood on the attachment and welding being more critical than a small difference in hanger material.
And no, nowhere near 1000. More like 500. The chair is a 2-seater, but pretty small. No way two XL people would fit.

 

Was that thing $3200???? Hell no wonder you're wanting to make it.
Zim

 

@koditten
@EatSleepTacos

I'm sure it's been discussed at length here, but how do you guys feel about the HF Vulcan wire? I'm getting danger close to the end of one of my last spools and picked up a 2lb spool from HF as a backup. Wondering if I should run it when the time comes or if I should just get a normal spool on the way.

 

I've only used the flux core version. It worked fine. I couldn't tell if it worked better or worse than whatever previous flux core wire I used.

I have no issue using it if I need to...which is pretty rare. I use 44lbs spools of solid core, so I don't change wire that often.

With that said, as far as solid core wire goes, I really can't tell the difference between brands. All I know is I have bad luck with plastic spoiled wire. I now look for wire cage formed spools.

I've heard from more than a few that they like the Lincoln brand wire. I dunno. It all seems to work fine for me.

 

Any of you guys have experience with Harbor Freight Vulcan tig welders for occasional home garage use? Looking at the ac/dc tig for the garage. I dont weld a ton and won't be pushing it very hard.

 

Home Depot and Lowe’s sell 2lb and 10lb spools of Lincoln l-56 wire. I like it better than the little bit of Vulcan wire I’ve run. If you buy the wire online from home depot you’ll get a discount if purchasing more than one roll most of the time.

 

Picked up a Hobart 210mvp today! Stoked to finally have a welder. Lots of questions to come I’m sure. Now to get to learning and start rigging some shit!

 

That's been my challenge, finding a local supplier. I've found two close to me, one that sells by the stick (but they'll cut it up for you for $10) and another that I bought a 2'x4' piece of 3/16" plate steel. They didn't make me buy the entire 4'x8' sheet but I paid $20 to have it cut. But both are MUCH cheaper than Lowes/HD/Grainger/etc. At least with buying a full stick I have leftover pieces for future projects. For the plate steel, I had it cut because a full sheet is too heavy for me to handle (about 240# IIRC).

 

I’m not sure, I’ve never tried it. I’m currently using whatever Robert’s oxygen sells in 11 lb spools. I needed it in a pinch and have yet to run out of the first spool. So far I like it. In my experience, having used probably 3-4 different solid welding wires, I can’t tell a discernible difference. Not enough to really matter while welding.

 

Funny How when you pull the covers off the Vulcan Tig welder it looks like it is built in the same plant in Mexico as one sold by the company out of Cleveland Ohio.

Harbor Freight did have a 1 year money back return policy.

 

so is it good or not? lol

 

Be nice to know just who makes the wire .

I am not a big fan of the 2 pound spools I try to avoid spool guns .

Until your getting into special application wire hard wire and self shielded is pretty much the same.

In most cases it is very hard to know just what brand wire your running

At times some gets wound wrong then storage plays into how the wire runs.

 

Maybe !!

 

alright then

 

Thing is not having a clue about the budget of the OP as any machine can fail out of the box.

Will needing to swap out a machine cause undue problems like looking to road kill for dinner?

I would go buy one if I needed to weld some thinner Aluminum jobs if I did not have Access to something better.

 

like i said in my original question, it would be for occasional garage use, wont be welding anything crazy just stuff for myself. intercooler piping, stainless exhaust stuff. nothing crazy.

 

I can't see a problem with the Vulcan welders.

Warrenty is great!

Hours of stores are great!

Consumables are there as well!

The build quality is very high!

These are not Chicago Electric welders. Those things caused a huge dent in the HF reputation.