Northern Virginia Roll Call

I’ll try turning down the welder next time. The splatter gives it a nice touch.

 

I’m just working with what I’ve got. No garage or anything, so schlepping a tank of gas to the driveway doesn’t sound appealing. When I move and get a garage I’ll start to get better tools.

 

Hey guys i met up with @JWROSE4 and have parts for some of you. I live in manassas, work in fairfax, spend most weekends in sterling and occasionally travel to md. So just hit me up

 

Enjoy the parts. Im hanging out by the fire

 

Where you at this time? And move your truck outta the way so we can see the one you're blocking the view of

 

Ill text you the list as soon as I get home.

 

Im in Quechee VT. The other truck is a stock 2014 with a cap

 

I have a cheap welder that will not weld anything very thick. I started wondering if I heated the clamped area with a torch, then hit it with the welder would I be able to make it work if I needed to weld something outside its recommended range?

 

Yes and no. If you get it too hot i would assume there wouldn't be enough wire speed to keep an arch going.

 

What you’ve got is working. A cart will make having the welder and tank easy to keep together and move around. Welding with gas is much better you just need to play with it and change directions. I had a 120 machine but they don’t burn hot enough to do frame work. You can always turn a bigger machine down but you can’t always turn a small machine up

 

That’s exactly the eventual plan. I would like to get a 240 plug in my garage and a proper welder to go with it. That way I’m not limited in whatever I want to make. I’m moving next May so only one more year to go.

 

I ran a dedicated 50a circuit to run the welder and plasma cutter. If you want a smaller machine that’ll do pretty much anything you want look at a Miller 212 or Hobart 190. If you want something bigger a Hobart Ironman 230 or Miller 252 I believe it is. An added bonus is a spool gun can be added to any of these machines allowing you to weld aluminum also. Aluminum takes a little getting used to but with a spool fun it’s not bad. Aluminum takes strait argon where as steel is a 75-25 mix. You can weld steel with strait argon but it promotes undercut a bit. Go get a cheap welding cart from harbor freight for rt now and it’ll make things a little nicer for you. @PyritePirateBill can chime in here also

 

Thanks for the tips Chris. I’ll hit you up again as the time gets closer because I’ll definitelty forget all this

 

Anytime Randy I don’t know it all but I’ll help if I can.

 

CHIME! Yeah, what Chris said....We use the Miller 212 AutoSet. Just set it for metal thickness and wire speed is automatically set. It's what we use in the frame shop. We're supposed to be getting a new Chief Elektron welder soon with the special wire that is required by Honda/Acura for mig welding structural components. Our Burke Caliber shop has one and the techs there love it. They say it doesn't even throw sparks it so smooth! Anxious to get ours!

 

Man that sounds fancy!! And expensive

 

The Miller is about $2k, but the Chief is close to $10k....needless to say, the company buys our welders.

 

Haha indeed man! Great meeting all you guys! We definitely have to meet up again soon!

 

I believe the 212 can also be run off of dual voltage 110/220 it doesn’t have quite the duty cycle of a bigger machine though because of that. It’s a handy feature if you plan on traveling with it but I opted for a bigger machine with a heavier duty cycle. Funny mr wife came out and asks, as I’m welding, why we got a notice from the power company that our usage had increased? I just laughed and pointed to the welder.

 

You can get a Hobart 190 for under a grand , a cart for $50 or up, and you’ll have to buy a gas bottle. My 3’ bottle was $280 to buy already filled but now that I own it I can just swap it out for a full bottle for $40. People wonder why I charge a little for jobs is because the expendables add up. Gas, wire, electricity, abrasives, and steel all cost money. Compounding expenses while doing a job run your cost up so it’s hard to do for nothing unless you have the means to just give money away which I do not. I just did a hitch install on a different camper and we discussed price. I try to keep it down to help out but as I told this guy average shop rates are $75 an hour I only charge $50 plus a standard $30 for expendables. This price goes up depending on the size of the job and how much supplies are used.