Anything welding

I have a little flux core 110 welder and have never blown a breaker with it, FWIW. I think you'll be fine, especially if you're sticking with 1/8" ish or under. Plus, when you're learning, your duty cycle is going to be incredibly low, you'll always be wanting to stop and look at your bead and give everything electronic plenty of time to cool off. If you can avoid using the extension cord, that'd be best. Amperage will go up the longer the cord, and if you do use it, hopefully it's at least proper 12 gauge.

 

appreciate that - noted and reassuring. i will be grabbing the thicker extension cord, 25ft, because i only have a male 220 plug off the machine 2', then a oem adapter for 110 plug, so i need to run a 25' out the garage to the driveway - as i dont intend on throwing a lot of sparks in garage, connected to the house

but i think with a new decent 25' cord, thicker gauge than I have at home now, and ill be okay on thinner metal


appreciate the input - maybe flux on some scrap soon (gotta flux before cracking gas...and im nervous about rigging up that gas tank haha)

 

thank you!! stoked to hear it

 

when in rome, first time loading wire (i put flux in it for first time) and i unplugged the connections except the 'gun' and got it to feed, but it was slow for a few second, then sped up to dial speed. i guess these things have a run in, or since i didnt have any arc connection, it acted slow then fast more than ill notice when actually welding. thought i have secured spool wrong or something but i had to research that

 

Sounds like you already have the solution you're looking for ^
Just switch the plug on the welder to match whatever your drier has. It should have something like a 30amp plug and breaker on 220v and the plug can be purchased anywhere that sells them. Not much of a hassle to unplug the drier each time you go to use the welder. Also leaves any extra breaker spots for other stuff

 

you're going to want to eventually add a 220v line in the garage.

that said, i'm working with an eastwood mig90. i've ran about 20-2 pound spools through it at this point, and am on my 3rd tank of gas(i started off with a tank the next size up from the one you got, and then upgraded one size up every time i exchanged it. the gas/exchange is only around $50-60, but the tank upfront cost is the obscene part).
https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads...a-non-titled-homebuilt-trailer-thread.821530/

i've been really happy with this welder overall. it's got some weird quirks-- many times i need to double-tap the trigger to get it to feed out, almost like it missed the trigger signal to start. the 2 pound spool limit is really annoying on my larger project. and the short lead length starts to really get in the way, it's either far too close and i can't move, or too far away.

like they said, running more than a few inches of weld, especially .030 or 0.35, and in 1/8" or thicker materials is nearly impossible. on 120v, i would really suggest running .023 wire(not available in flux core though), and keeping to around 1/16" thick material if possible.

i've already changed my setup to run on a 30A 120v breaker, because the 20A breaker popping all the time was infuriating. i added a 30A rv plug just off the panel to the outside of the house, then use a 30A-to-20A adapter, and then run a 12ga 50' extension cord to the garage for the welder. all in, i was around $200 in materials for the 30A addition. the last BOM i built up for running 220 to the garage had me around $1500 in materials, not including a new $1500 welder.

don't be too afraid of hooking up the gas. it's actually far easier to learn with shielding gas than it is to learn the techniques with flux core(flux core also runs reversed polarity from standard mig wire). i like to run my regulator around 10-15 pounds output, which is always a balance between using up gas, and maximizing the life of the tank-- it's also why most of my welding is done inside my garage--to limit/control airflow. done in the open yard, wind is a much larger problem, and you might need to run higher gas pressure as a workaround.

 

Some more progress on the exhaust

 

things have gone poorly for my bank account.





i haven't stopped by eastwood since last summer. i figured it'd be cool to see what new tools they might have.

$400 for a mig 180, with spool gun, as a scratch-and-dent special. really hard to pass up considering it's basically the same as a primeweld 180, but $200 less.

 

Downpipe just about done. Just waiting on some more vbands to use as a heat sink while welding the vband on the downpipe. Then I'll throw the muffler on and build the rear section of the exhaust that goes over the axel.

 

And done. Probably should've just bought the one I took inspiration from, but mine's nicer.

 

Hi all - how do you guys recommend I practice TIG welding?

I recently won a TIG setup on auction - Miller Diversion 180 - and I’ve been just running beads on 1/8 and 1/4 scrap steel I have laying around. I’ve blocked of 30 min every day after work to try and get better….any recommendations on what to focus on initially?

I’ve been down the YouTube rabbit hole, so I have entry-level knowledge of how I should be prepping the steel, moving/angling the torch and filler, etc. Taking a class isn’t an option right now as my job makes that prohibitive. Thanks guys.

 

there are some online/video classes, if that's of interest to you, but it's not all that different from youtube. if you've got an eastwood near you, they just restarted holding short weekend classes on the basics of anything to do with vehicle restoration(including mig and tig welding), with knowledgeable people leading the class to help through issues and give guidance.

but personally, no official training is as valuable as just finding a project you're personally passionate about that utilizes and requires your new skillset, and see it through to completion. maybe that means making a new dinette centerpiece(steel roses?), or a new exhaust for your vehicle.

in my case, that's much of what my trailer project is--but my 'completion goal' isn't really to get a finished trailer. it's to have some fun and learn to deal with a lot of the issues that come up while also learning to weld on a very large-scale project.

the best part of metal working is that it's not like wood working. in woodworking, if you cut too far, everything stops, and the process must start with new material. in metal working, nearly every misstep or mistake is correctable with grinding and more of the core process--welding.

 

Cut this out on the new CNC table.Got it bent, all welded up, and it's all ready to go.









It's a metal recreation of the small paper art sculpture provided.

 

Update - welded





I made the mistake of not asking and just assuming tacks would be ok. Mainly because beads would distract from the design or so I thought

 

Tractor repair today.

The seat on this old craftsman was ruined/eaten by some racoons. Before that, apparently The Hulk tried adjusting the non-adjustable seat. All the metal around the seat base hinge was fatigued and cracked.

So it's getting an ariens seat from a scrap mower because it's free, and new tractor seats are $100. But none of the brackets line up.



It's also expanded to the entire rear of the tractor getting painted, because I need to do something for the new metal, and the old metal was rusting through the paint...

 

Cut and welded a set of parts; first set done on the new table.

 

Saw a chuck mounted to a guys welding table the other day and since I have 40 sockets to weld in some tubing and an old lathe chuck, some bearings, and scrap laying around, figured why not.

 

1st time welder here... Just a 300$ mig welder.
PROJECT: 1965 GMC G10 Van doghouse fix'n rebuild extension.
Motor housing was too tight to fit an automatic transmission swap from 3 on the tree manual.
Built this extension from 1" tube steel and 16g sheet steel. just tack welds for now cause I suck... lol

 

Been a long time since ive welded anything serious but im getting back into it a little as ive been fixing some pitbike frames.

The old welder we have is a POS. Its not consistent and im not a fan of the preset amperages. Ive tried a new ground wire, new wire, flux cored & gas shielded setups. Have not been happy with any. For reference its a clark mig 130en (so at least for 10 years old).

Buddy tigged up a frame for me and then let me try aluminum tig. First tig weld and aluminum weld ever and it was surprisingly easy with his pointers.

Anyways looking at the titanium 140 multiprocess. Anyone have input?

 

I like them. They are not even in the same category as the Clark welders. The new inverter based units are miles better than the crappy transformer welders that Clark used.

I have 2 friends in my circle that own one of these and I've tried them out. They work amazing.

I am a skilled MIG welder, so please take into account that I have years of experience.

Regardless, these are pretty easy to "dial" in. I expect a novice with a few hours could get some pretty nice welds. Even quicker if they had a coach.

Please, don't be afraid to show pics of your welds. Bwe got some pretty sharp cats' on this thread that have no problem offering constructive criticism.

I have never been in love with multi process machines, but I get it, we all love options.

My friends that have the multi process machines only MIG weld, they never switch to the other 2 options. The way I figure it, I don't have enough life to spend mastering the other welding styles.

MIG welding does 95% of all the welding I do.

If I need TIG or stick welding done, I'll just farm it out.