Anything welding

@Jcyr I bought my last 10lb spool from Lowes, Jack. I thought about buying some Vulcan brand wire from HF the other day when I was in the store.

I think Lowes was the same price as Amazon, so I figured it was a good enough deal.

I get my gas at Igo's in Watertown. A little out of the way but its cheap.

 

I go past you every week. I might hit you up for some .035 if I get a new machine.

 

Ok!!

 

Just picked up a Jackson truesight to replace my Miller digital elite. So far I like the shell and lense but god damn it, why can’t the cover plates be standardized?! Every hood takes a different plate!

 

Amazon usually....but I order so little wire its more out of convenience than anything. Plus free returns if it comes damaged. But the 10lb spools last me a long time. The LWS is in a really inconvenient location for me (traffic wise) and their prices are bit more than amazon. Plus its a central welding supply so not a more mom-n-pop place so don't feel bad about not buying from them. I do get gas and some steel from them though

Supposedly the Vulcan (at least tig) stuff is decent. Seen some reviews of it saying its probably Lincoln made stuff just rebranded and possibly more of "2nds" or just a bit less QC than the stuff Lincoln sells.

 

https://www.usaweld.com/

Has good wire with reasonable prices.

 

Anyone have a MIG/TIG combo they like?

 

Miller multimatic 200

 

How much TIG vs. MIG?

I have a Multimatic 215, which is a really good MIG and useable TIG for steel. It's pretty much not useful for aluminum and I don't like that it lacks high frequency start.

If you want something that is primarily a TIG that can do a little MIG I'd suggest maybe a Syncrowave 210. That will run a spool gun, which can get the job done but then you're limited to 2 lb rolls and 0.030 and 0.035 wire so not the most flexible MIG.

 

90% MIG, 10% TIG. I have a friend that can do aluminum if I ever needed it, so that isn't an issue. Definitely seems I'm looking at the Multimatic line though. Thanks!

 

Yup, then, the Multimatic 200 or 215 or the Lincoln 210MP will be good options. The Vulcans at Horrible Freight do seem like a step up for them but call me skeptical. If I was doing it over I might go with the MM200 instead, the display of the 215 was for me like a moth to a flame.

 

Shopping for deals at 3am is no bueño for my wallet...



I was waiting for a killer deal on a Hypertherm Powermax 30 Air but at this point I’d never use it enough to justify the upfront cost even with the savings on consumables on the back side. Less upfront with this Hobart made more sense for me...especially since I’m not doing much and what I would do would all be within this cutters abilities.

Looking forward to playing with it tomorrow.

 

I have a Lincoln Squarewave TIG 200 and I doubt this is true. My machine was made in Mexico while the Vulcan (the comparable is the ProTIG 200) is made in China. Now certainly some of the guts could and probably did come from China in the Lincoln. Second, the controls on my Lincoln have a more substantial feel to them. But there again, I was twirling dials on a floor model at Harbor Freight and so that they were broken (the process select was completely broken) may not be surprising. Things are laid out in similar places but not exactly. I think Vulcan/HF copied the 210MP and SW TIG 200 rather than them being identical.

ETA: I think the ProTIG specs are 50 to 200 Hz, 0.5 to 200 PPS and 50 to 90% balance. My SW200 does 60 to 150 Hz, 60 to 90% balance and 0.1 to 120 PPS. So the detail specs aren't really that similar to think they are the same even though the current and duty cycles are sort of close.

 

we were talking tig rod and mig wire not machines.....the machines are definitely made in China. As is at least some of the wire

 

Copy that, 10-4. My mistake.



FWIW, I just bought a 12.5 lbs spool of Lincoln L-56 0.030 that said made in U.S.A., on the box at least. Just checked, the spool itself doesn't say anything.

They say on the website that list some of the parts numbers are definitely made in America.

http://www.lincolnelectric.com/en-u...WWires-SuperArc-SuperArcL-56(LincolnElectric)

The Hobart they had was made in China. This was at a LWS.

ETA: Nevermind, the box probably said "Processed in USA, raw materials from blah, blah".

 

Yeah some of the Vulcan wire was listed as being made n Mexico and was performing similar to Lincoln. Which was why it was rumored to be the same.

Yeah I hate the whole "Made in USA" stuff when you look into it and its actually Made in USA with parts made overseas. Basically means they just got all the parts and bolt them together. Hardly "made in usa"

 

It's a global economy, not really anything you can do if you're just trying to get something designed and built. The U.S. makes it tough to mine anything domestically but we don't adjust our demand for stuff that needs minerals. Other countries are more than happy to oblige, so Lincoln and all of them have no choice but to get raw materials from China and India. That's who's still extracting it.

 

O I have no problem with the global aspect of it. I just hate when companies try to jump on the made in usa bandwagon when really all they do is pretty much box things in the USA. Just be honest and say it smade globally and packaged in the USA, not that its made in usa

 

Totally in agreement @velillen. They are forced on cars to put a percentage content foreign and domestic but for most products doing anything constitutes making it here. They can't just box it but say you're making angle grinders bring in an assembly 95% done and you put on the power cord here, it becomes made in U.S.A.

 

not really welding related directly, but I have a craftsman bench grinder and the capacitor burned out and Ive ordered it 2 times through this other company and they cancelled it 2 times without notification. So I called them up and trying to figure out why I dont have the part yet and they said its cancelled. I told them this time Im ordering from somewhere else. Now waiting for the 3rd time on this part. hopefully this new company gets me the part.