Jake.

Hey guys I looked thru the last few pages and didn't find a welding thread so I thought I would start one. Basically just for showing off some welding skills or looking for tips. I will start with a few pics.

Miller bobcat, 1/8 7018





I am new to heavy gauge GMAW, been doing body work and sheet metal most of my life. Got a 75/25 cylinder for my personal Hobart rig today. Here is a test piece I was fooling around with today. Any pros have tips let me know. So far I can tell I need more overlap on my stop/starts.

Atmos

sweet. bout time we had a weld **** thread


I'm finally starting to get the hang of mig. miller 350P. stitching up the new jeep trailer. nothing fancy

94XjSport94

God I need a good machine, my welds would look unlimited better.

Here is my junk from a HF machine.
Before the scale was removed since that was when my die grinder took a crap.

My pretty weld next to a pro's


My welds haven't fallen apart yet lol.

Jake.

I finally got my gas bottle only because I want to build a utility trailer. Now there is a billion other things I want to do to the cherokee. I priced out material for a 6x10 and I am looking at around $375 and I do all the labor. Not bad when similar trailers are running 1k+

94XjSport94

Anyone running 90/10 instead of 75/25? Gas place refilled my friends bottle with that last time and seems to work a little better as a shield.

Jake.

I might go 100% next time, depends on what I am going to be welding. If you look where i welded the pipe to the plate there is still a little bit of spatter. I've welded with 100% and there was zero spatter. 75/25 works good enough if you have a flap wheel or some anti spatter spray. I may have had the wire speed a bit high as well

94XjSport94

Hmmm. Food for thought. I really need to get a Hobart or Craftsman.

Jake.

I would go with a hobart or if you go to national welders supply/airgas, they run a special usually that is a Lincoln mig along with a Lincoln auto darkening helmet for about $600-650. Hard to beat really

94XjSport94

I've got everything else other than the machine. I'll probably go Hobart 140.

Jake.

That's what I have at my home shop. Hobart handler 140 mig 115v, 75/25 .030 hobart solid wire. If I need to weld anything thicker I have the miller stick at work.

94XjSport94

My grandpa has a stick, but that'll be my set up too.

xjzaped

Miller mig is what I'd get. The harbor fugitive migs aren't bad once you figure them out.



I welded this entire rear bumper with a Lincoln 225 AC arc welder when I was 18 in high school. Cut it all with a oxy/acetylene torch too. Now that I think about it, the external welds around the receiver tube were with a miller mig at school. I found I prefer 6013's over 6011's on that project.

The headache rack I made with a 90A Craftsman mig (flux core). Torch and cutoff saw when I was 19.

If you go to F150 forum and search zap, you can see the build progress of both those.

This last summer I built this spare tire carrier with my dad. I did all the welding and designing (more specifically modifying the JCR rear bumper). He got handy with the cutoff saw. Built with a harbor fugitive special.

Jake.

Can we make this a sticky?

Dan91

I work at a welding gas supplier, just for reference 100% argon is used for aluminum MIG welding. You'll get quite a bit less penetration trying to run 100% argon as opposed to a dual mix, not to mention waste money (argon is expensive). Anyways, I'm not totally sure on the resulting weld difference between 90/10 and 75/25 mixes, however the 75/25 is the most common seller by a long shot.

Jake.

Sorry for my misinformation, you are correct. 100% yields less penetration although that is what I am used to (sheet metal work). I think the culprit in my spatter is wire speed. 100% argon for al mig or tig or tig stainless unless you need more penetration you can go 25% helium or even straight helium if TIGing thick stuff