Norcal Spotted and BS Thread

Hell yea my dude! Its a fun skill to learn thats forsure

 

Wait till you try it with gas on clean metal! It'll really get you excited! My first project was a fence with flux and then second was my rear swingout with mig. You will be suprised at how much simple stuff you can build with simple tools like that welder.

 

Can’t wait to get more practice in and upgrade to gas in a few years!

 

I have a Lincoln 140 and it works for about 80% of what I want, but I have noticed limitations for things like suspension brackets or things that I need to know are solid. I learned by getting some metal scraps from a fab shop and literally just welded them together, cut it, welded, cut it, welded it lol and watch youtube on how to approach different welds!

May wanna consider a 240 or 120/240 when you step up just in case you want the extra go juice.

It really isnt that hard, and you get to be really creative! Im still not that good but youre gonna do great! Shouldn't run into issues unless you want to weld aluminum (mig can with a spool converter), stainless, or something exotic.

 

That’s cleaaaaaaan!! thanks for the insights and encouragement! exciting and fun!

 

It’s a great skill to have. I made a wheeled holder for my VersaHaul. Fixed a couple of trailers. Stuff like that. Been toying with getting a TIG machine to give that a try.

 

I went the odd-ball route and started with Tig and its just so satisfying. Challenging, but satisfying

 

I wanna learn tig so bad. I've been eyeballing the Everlast multi function mig/tig welders. Sure it's not gonna be as good as a dedicated mig and dedicated tig setup but I'm not running a fab shop.

As far as I'm concerned, something like this with a cheaper plasma cutter will do everything I need.

Even the diy smaller cmc builds using the plasma seem cool.

I follow this guy on youtube and he's being doing all sorts of cool things. Originally found him because of my vw rebuild and he has in depth rebuilds for the alh tdi motor, but he also rebuilds LS, does motor swaps, and build a tdi tacoma. Currently he has the fj40 he's doing a one ton swap and ls swap into along with a full refurbishment. It's dope seeing what he does with pretty simple setups.

https://youtube.com/shorts/QNRfD6iI-J8?si=8YvpvzHbbexmsGR_

 

Lol I also follow him, lotta fab motivation. Its fun to watch the process.

I dont have experience with everlast but they have a good rep with DIYers.

I have a real low budget AHP Alpha tig. Going on 4 years with this machine and its been great. And at $600 for the unit w/ all the goodies it was worth every penny
I just recently upgraded to a water cooled torch and now I can burn non-stop for hours

Prime-weld also make some very decent low budget machines

 

I'm super into his videos, super easy to follow and not boring. And on top of that he's doing cool things. I enjoy learning by watching the things he's doing

 

You actually got me pumped to build something so I decided to mod the cement mixer my buddy let me borrow and made a trailer hitch for it so we can move it around

 

Sweeet! bad assery! I actually went to Metal Mart (local metal store) and picked up some 1x2, 1x1 1/2 rectangle and an angle iron today. I’m hoping I’d be able to weld a bed rack. I’ll just need to figure what I could use other than and angle grinder.

 

Heres some friday metal-melting motivation for ya Welded up these pivots I designed for a custom wall jib crane for work. 1/4” clean plate is the most fun I’ve ever had with a tig.

Not perfect by any means but they are beefy

 

I’ve been wanting to take some welding classes and this thread is making me want to even more! I’m tempted to pick up that same Harbor Freight Titanium welder above to just start trying.

 

Awesome! clean!!

 

I’m having fun with it! worth the $135.

 

Harbor freight chop saw is good to have for a budget option. Another option is a metal miter saw but more monies. And cutting, grinding, and wire wheels (basically req'd for flux) for the grinder. Angle magnets are basically a must. Degree finder magnet is a must if you're ocd. Drill bits and a small harbor freight drill press will help too.

Or market place the stuff

Riv nuts might be good for that project. You could make inner and outer sleeves on the verticals and horizontals so you can adjust the height and width with some pins.

https://www.amazon.com/s?k=rivnut+t...efix=rivnut,aps,370&ref=nb_sb_ss_ts-doa-p_3_6

 

Those are nice looking stacks. It's crazy how different mig and tig look. Entirely different skills

 

Thanks for the insights and tips! I’ll grab a chop from HF.

 

Any local classes in the South Bay you know of?

I've been eying a HF welder just for kicks, especially after playing with my buddies stick and mig welder before he moved.