Anything welding

The reason that they are ambiguous in the manual is simple. Going into detail on the solutions they give in the manual is pointless. It wouldn't really accomplish anything for the consumer other than a manual being a few pages larger. That said, here is a VERY oversimplification of why they recommend each of those.

• 10 gauge wire will handle up to 150 amps of continuous load. Any more and the resistance in the wire will heat up, melt the insulation, and then a 911 call for the fire department.
• The 50 amp plug is because most electronics have a spike when started. Circuit breakers are designed to go over their rated amperage for this very short period of time. You can even get breakers with shorter or longer trip delays. Plugs and receptacles however do not like this as much. Best case arcs over time with carbonize the plug and eventually lead to a lack of conductivity, worse case scenario this can lead to that same 911 call.
• The longer a wire, the more resistance in that wire. This usually leads to a voltage drop as opposed to that 911 call because the mass of the conductor prevents it from heating up. Most electronics can handle 5-10% over or under their rated voltage, but more or less can damage equipment.

 

A bit of a random question for you experienced welders:

Long story short I’ve had severe head/neck/spine injuries that make fine motor skills painful for me. Not impossible, I can push through, but painful and have to take breaks.
That said, larger skills are fine for me. I.e. I can split firewood all day. Swing an axe or Baton (what I do when we camp). It’s actually the making of small kindling or whittling that hurts my hand. Pushing the same small repetitive motion over and over.


I’m wanting to get into welding for multiple reasons.
My question to you all is, would you say what you do is more fine motor skills, repetitive and straining on your hands, or would you say it is more large motions, if that makes sense?

I can still weld either way, just like I still do my day to day either way. It’s just a question I’ve been wanting to ask for a while.

Anyone with arthritis or chronic pain / injuries find welding to be hard on the old joints?

I do a lot of building with wood and have to take breaks on smaller fine motor motions than I ever do on larger ones, and I want to add some metal work to my wood work.

Thank you for any feedback!

 

@BuzzardsGottaEat Bunch of it is gonna be related to what sort of welding you're doing and what sorts of stuff you're building.

As for fine motor skills -- how are you at a series of cursive e's?

Generally though I spend a lot more time measuring, cutting, using an angle grinder, clamping, cleaning, etc. than I do with the MIG gun sizzling. Kinda like painting a room -- seems like most of the work is in preparing to do the welding and then finishing up after welding, with the actual welding being a small part in the middle.

 

I used to paint commercially so that makes sense. I can do cursive e’s all day, but my pen is pretty light ha. I think sanding is my hardest task. I’m going to buy a welder soon either way... I just wonder what to expect for how much I’ll be able to work it into my work easily or if I’ll have to keep it slow and steady. Thank you for your thoughtful reply!

 

Fine motor skills for the most for the welding your talking hand movements 1/8" to 3/16" repetitive most often out of position.

Put it this way if my upper body had arthritis as bad as my knees I would have to need to weld something really bad

Then it really matters just what you get into

 

I learned to weld with either hand . Long days will make my primary hand ache pretty good. I know this now, so I switch off regular.

 

One off question..... For solid core .035 mig welder with 75/25 gas, what brand welding wire do you use and prefer?

I tried Weldcote .035 and currently using Hobart .035 and prefer Hobart over Weldcote. Anyone use a different brand such as Lincoln or anything else? Notice any difference?

 

I've lost track of the different ones I've used. I honestly have a hard time telling the difference.

This Radnor brand I just loaded up is laying down pretty nice. It might just be because it's new. I dunno.

The fab shop I deal with swear by the Lincoln brand.

 

Yea. A few guys I spoke with use nothing but Lincoln. But idk what model wire they're using.

 

I just blew up the label on my pic.

It says:

Lincoln Electric Company.
Euclid Ohio.

 

For those who have welded roll cage tubing disconnects, are there any tricks I should know? Should I tighten the two bolts pretty tight when I tack it up? Or snug? Or loose? TIA.

 

L56 is what a lot of guys like. That’s what I prefer. You can get it Home Depot or Lowe’s. I’d like to eventually try some premier welding wire. But for now I stick to superarc l56 or if I’m at the local welding store I get radnor.

 

You’ll definetly want to tighten them good, especially if they are interlocking. The big thing is gonna be warpage. If you don’t plan you’re work it can be near impossible to get them back together. In a few hours when I get home I’ll get more in depth into how I prep when using them to avoid issues. Where and how will you be using them?

 

I have gotten non interlocking and it is for a removable crossbar for a bed rack. So nothing like an actual roll cage that will take a hit, just adding rigidity back to the rack.



And doing a hinge system in the back with a latch.



the pieces I am working with:

 

Thought you were building a cage for a second. I like what you have going.

 

Cool, that shouldn’t give you any issues. Just make sure they are lined up good and tighten the bolts up pretty firm.

The interlocking are the ones that you really have to watch. Especially if you’re gonna be doing a lot of welding that can pull you parts around.

 

Thanks man. Was going to DIY the pivot and latch but getting some parts made for latching tube doors on SXS's was a much cleaner route than I could ever DIY. Should turn out pretty slick.

Also I am sure one day at least one of my rigs will have a cage, so this is good practice.

Good to know, thank you! Yeah I figured I would tack one side of each piece lightly so I can still hammer it around in any direction, cut the tube to the measured length, then tack the tube in place once it's all lined up with heavy tacks before I really burn it in.

 

If it were me, I’d fully weld the tube adapters into the removable tubes first. That will eliminate 1/2 of warping or shrinking in the parts and having them off the truck will allow you to put the same heat into the part around the whole weld since you can roll them on your bench. Once the removable bar is fully welded you can take the other halves into the bed cage and finish welding them.

I’d also take into account the orientation of the tube adapters. They can be mounted where the bolts carry all the load, or where the tube adapter carries the load and the bolts just hold everything together.

 

So the thought behind tacking the cage side first is if I tack both of those in I should be able to get an extremely accurate measurement of what the tube length should be. I mean I know I can measure the width of the span first, then measure how far the adapters go in and do the math based on that, but I am uneasy in my math skills ha.

Maybe grind the tacks after the proper length is cut and then bench weld the tube, and then re tack to the rack in case things changed?

Definitely took into the account of the adapters holding the load already, I need it in the proper orientation for what some of my eventual plans are anyway.

 

I’d do it just like that. Tack everything in full weld the removable bar. Then unbolt it and see if it moved. If it didn’t bolt it back up and finish the weld on the bed rack. If it’s messed up break the tacks and adjust. I think with how little you’re gonna be welding and the fact that the couplers aren’t interlocking you should be fine. I’d also recommend beveling the ends of the tubes to match the couplers for better welds