Do it. You're not going to have much more fun for $100.

thats looking good dude. try doing a c motion instead of doing circles if that makes any sense. you dont really want to go back into your weld pool it can lead to porosity and trapped slag.

Actually going to the .30 was a good idea too. Those welds look as good as anything I've done. Good job!

Its sad how much bad welding advice I see on Internet forums!

So say something smart, and not help people.

Good job!

Why? I try to post up facts and I get told I'm wrong, my inbox is full of messages about the subject!

On the push/pull thing? I kind of doubt the strength difference is relevant for something like a bumper, but I suppose that won't stop people from taking sides on an argument.

Because some people, like alaskan (or me before being told other wise) dont know either way, so when 10 people say the same thing he might believe that. You could just give him the right info so he can at least look into it.

My guess is about the welder right? Harbor freights isnt good enough to get quality welds because it dont get deep enough into thicker metals?

Im picking a small mig up but going to go with a miller or lincoln. They are like 300$ Thats still cheap to me, specially when I can make that money back on a few small jobs.

They just picked me up a licoln powermig 140. It's a fine machine running core wire. I think they are relatively inexpensive, I own a miller passport 211 it runs off or 220v or 110v. I highly recommend it.

Welding/fabrication is the only job ive had since high school. I've logged 26000 hours since 1998 in the trade. So it gets irritating when a guy who works at a bank or a college student is gonna call me out like I'm makin this **** up. If you have a question PM it to me.

damn i really want this welder then ive only got 110 in garage but hopefully this summer gettin ready to convert to 220 but before then i need a better welder cause ive reacher the maximum amount i can weld with my hf welder which yes its cheap but great to learn on and get into welding with so how much is the passport 211? and im guessin its flux core and mig? please let me know im real excited bout this...and a estimation of cost please?!

I've been using this little 110v licoln all day.

It's pretty legit, running beautiful beads with core wire every on a 100' extension cord!

http://www.homedepot.com/h_d1/N-5yc1...atalogId=10053

My iPhone camera won't take a good enough picture to show how nice these beads look! The vertical ups look great

Also, check out Blue Demon flux core wire. I find it to be superior to licoln's core wire!

I'll have to check that out. My welder came with no-name 0.030 wire and 0.035 tips. Are you supposed to use 0.030" tips with 0.030" wire? It seems kind of tight but the arc appears to be smoother.

This isn't a rule by any means, this technique is something I discovered by accident, running .030 wire with .035 tips. I run very little stick out, in other words I have the tip 3/16 to 1/4 away from my material! The closer your tip is the "hotter" it is! When you change the distance from material the welder tries to compensate for this so it is important to maintain a consistent amount of stick out.

All that being said, being that close causes problems. The tips get very hot, and collect alot of spatter. Wire tends to freeze up in the tips. Long story short I ran out of the correct tips and had to run larger dia. And the problem went away! Also with core wire nozzle dip is a must, makes your tips last way longer!

Also since we are on the subject I see alot of talk about voltage as a heat reference. This is a common misconception! The wire speed is actually the heat! The number 1-10 are basically a percentage of the machines amps. So for example, if your on 3 is kinda like 30% of the machines max!

Think of voltage as flow like water from a garden hose, the higher the voltage the more penatration.

I see my apprentices trying to fine tune they're welders by tinkering with the wire speed, this is backwards. Keep in mind this is for a machine that you can adjust infinitely, not a machine with 4 or 5 preset voltages.

The first thing you must do is set your amperage, then play with the voltage till the dingleberries disappear. I recommend getting a millermatic welding calculator! This is a chart that gives a good baseline settings for the material you are welding!

When your amp and Volts are set correctly there should be little to no spatter at all! This goes for hard wire and innershield flux wires!