Anything welding

should I up the heat or just slow it down a bit? Thanks for taking a look

 

ya I was thinking thats running a little cold too. Bump the heat slightly

 

It is cold out in most places right now. If you can't get it hot enough, take a torch to your piece first. It's tricky tho because you don't want to get it too hot to where your wire just punches right through the material.

 

Thanks for the input guys

 

gas filler relocate for fiberglass bedsides?

 

Yeah, I didnt want things to slide around and hit the filler

 

I have a good chunk of cards to the HD and looking at welders.

I want to use it for some basic stuff ( tire carrier, light bars, weld on my sliders etc.)

I read through alot of threads.

I have deciding between the Lincoln weld pack 140 or 180. I plan to get a bottle as well for either

input?

Justin

 

140 is a bit small IMO, I'd go for the 180 if you can handle the extra cost.
I doubt you'd ever wish you went smaller on a welder, just bigger, so I recommend going with the larger to start.

 

thanks for the input.

I TIG welded in college and loved it (Miller EconoTIG), but I can't drop the coin on a TIG machine right now.

I dont think I will need to weld any thicker than 1/4" anyway and I have 230 in my garage so thats an easy one.

I dont see any huge difference between the Power Mig and the Weld Pak other than Weld pak is branded for HD.

Any input there?

Justin

 

Shackle #3. Then it got windy

 

this a good spot to weld on a tow hook?

 

Yes that would be the best location in my opinion, your pulling from the strongest point of the bumper.

 

18ft Skid for a heater.
Will post pics of frac tanks later

 

Drilling rig?

 

No, I weld and fab for Mac Heaters. But pretty much everything we build goes to the oil field.
http://www.macheaters.com/

 

That's cool stuff.

 

Well I finally broke down and decided I wanted to start welding and ordered a Clarke 160 MIG the other day with the gas regulator kit. $375 shipped from Amazon. It's a 230V welder so I'll need to wire a seperate breaker and outlet in the garage for it but that's not a big deal since my breaker panel is in the garage. From my research it seems to be middle of the road between a cheap HF welder and a lincoln. It will just be for hobby welding and little jobs so I think it will be a good beginner welder with a little room to grow. I haven't really read any negative reviews on the Clarkes. Everyone seems to like theirs as a beginner welder.

Any recommendations on gas bottle size? I emailed a local welding supply shop and they of course recommended a 75/25 AR-CO2 156cu ct bottle for $229 (first fill included). Which I think is pretty damn big. I need all the space I can get in my 2 car garage. Is that overkill?

 

ha ya thats way bigger than you need, they're what I use in my shop. Get a CO2 tank instead; more spatter but will maximize the power of your smaller welder.

 

I went with mix. It's a compromise but the spatter from pure co2 or flux core wire sucks. This video demonstrates the differences between pure argon and various mixes of argon and co2.

I agree with Eric that you'll get better penetration with pure co2 but for the most part, that matters only if you're welding stock that's at the upper end of your machine's capability.

Bottle sizes? Depends on how often you want to visit the welding shop. 65, 84, 125 and 150 CF bottles are all about the same diameter (differing height). There's a 20 CF bottle too. If you're using a cart, there's no real difference in floor space requirements. I bought a 125 CF bottle. It's about the amount of gas I'd use for a spool of wire and it makes a nice helmet hanger--I'm not going gas shopping anytime soon.

If you're just going the hobby route, you could use flux core wire and forget gas altogether. If you'll be working outside at all, then I'd go with flux core wire since any kind of breeze tends to disrupt the gas envelope.