Anything welding

Been practicing TIG a bit more lately. Some of my current best, still a lot to learn.

a bit of porosity in this one, metal was a little dirty

 

Tip #1 for Tig. MAKE SURE YOUR WELDING SURFACE IS CLEAN. Any oil, rust, or metal shavings increase the likeliness for porosity.

 

Why get mad. First thing i do is run a grinding wheel on everything before i even tack it up

 

I know, I was going along good then bam, sparks flying. I've also been getting all milscale off as it causes problems too. I got a real nice bead the other day welding a piece of .25 flat along side a piece of .035" 4130 tube. That was a nice challenge running about 100 amps for the thick stuff and not blowing through.

 

oh I did, and a wire wheel on the bench grinder. I think my welding glove had some oil that transferred.

 

I have a Lincoln Mig Pak 140. Had to replace it within 6 months because it wouldnt arc anymore. Second one has issues feeding wire. Either the wheel that pushes the wire through to the handle slips and just spins and sometimes it crushes the wire as if it is too tight. How do i properly adjust for the tension required? might it be something else? I have verified the wheel is using the correct .35 guide.
Frustrated,
Ryan.

 

Do any of you guys have any experience with a lincoln 3200hd welder?
I want to get into welding and I have a buddy that want to get rid of this machine for $150 .
Is this a decent entry level welder ?
Is this a good price?
My plans are to eventually build a front and rear bumper and some other small thing around the house.
Any info would be awesome
Thanks John

 

For $150, seems OK. I found a review here.

 

Thanks for the link . I guess for $150 I can't go wrong .

 

Start by checking the wire speed. Press the trigger and count off 6 seconds. Measure the length of wire from the tip to the end. It should be around 20-25". That will give you about 200-250 inches per second which should get you started.

If the wire doesn't feed consistently or if you're having issues, check the spring tensioner that holds the spool on. It should be set just enough to keep the spool from pulling the wire back-too tight and the roller tenioner won't be able to feed the wire. Next, check the tension of the roller feed mechanism. You need enough tension to drive the wire and no more-you don't need to tighten either tensioner that much-in fact if you do, there's a really good chance you'll bend the mounts for the drive mechanism. Spring tension should be set so that with the trigger pulled, you an pull on the wire and it slips a bit in the rollers. And of course, make sure the groove is set for the correct wire (which you have done).

There's a chance that the wire liner is damaged too. Not sure if you can replace that for your unit but the damage usually occurs when the wire snags inside the liner or if you bend it. The wire needs to be clean going into the liner-if it isn't, that can also damage the liner.

So check the tension on the spool holder then check the tension on the wire rollers. Both want to be as tight, but no tighter than, as is required to keep the spool from retracting or to drive the wire through the liner.

The manual for your unit should have more detail if you need it.

Hope that helps.

 

I'd jump on that one if I wanted a welder to learn on. That a pretty awesome price for one of them.

 

I'm pretty much done with welding projects on the truck for the next few months so I'm thinking of selling my Hobart 140 and upgrading next time around. Any recommendations on a good step up from that?
Based on the chart on the welder, it can only weld 1/4" with flux core (which it did really well) so I'd like to find one that can do 1/4" with MIG. A higher duty cycle would be nice too.

 

I'd step it up to a 220V machine, miller/hobart/lincoln, choose your favorite color.

 

Yup.

 

Agree with the guys above.
Bump up to a 211 or so that runs on 220v and you wont need to upgrade for a long time. Troll craigslist for a decent used on vs buying new to save some coin and get the best you can afford.
My $.02

 

Thanks, thinking a Hobart 210 might be in my future

 

My dad has one, very nice welder.

 

Yup that's what I did this time. I kept my 110 though for those times I didn't really feel like loading that big lincoln in the truck to take somewhere. So far I've been really impressed with the extra power, features and using gas instead of flux wire.

 

Wanting to do a bed rack for storage/tire carrier/through the bed shock mounts, similar to jberry's. I don't want to weld it directly to the frame in case I want to remove it or the bed. Any suggestions on attaching it? Should I fab up some mounts on the frame? Or is it okay to tie it in to the bed itself?

 

I'd bolt it to the frame but that's just me