So I had an interesting topic to bring up. There is a lot of talk about 110 flux not being strong enough for various heavy applications. So what types of welders would you guys recommend for what applications?

Obviously some flux core for simple roof rack things.
but at what point is flex core not powerful enough?
What would you need for welding some control arms?
What about something for building a bastard pack, what kind of welder are we looking at there?

I am a noob here so from my research I am imagining im leaving a few things out (amperage is obviously a big factor in how thick of metal you can weld), but all in all any thoughts on this?

I use my 110 Lincoln alot. I love it and it welds good and strong. I poster alot if pics of my welds with it. Over 1/4 " I go to my 220 volt mig. I use the 110 for everything from bumpers to frame work and everything inbetween. U just need to know how to.use the machine.

I would run my 110 for control arms, but I basically have the best 110 unit you can get. I would not run flux on this tho, hard wire. As far as the bastard pack, don't ever weld on springs, you shouldn't even need a welder for that. I personally use flux core for body work, rusty metal, galvanized, etc. Its not that flux is weak, our shop does really large and specific fab, and we run alot of flux wire in our 220 machines.

Control arms can be built with flux core no problem.

Building a bastard pack requires no welding. Period. If you put a welder to a spring you are going to have bigger issues.

Again flux core is not a problem, the smaller machines running flux core "could" be. 90 Amps from a 110v unit will weld just as good as 90 amps from a 220v welder. The duty cycle will be different but the weld will effectively be the same.

So more or less if I am reading this right....

Get a welder that is easy to use and practice enough that you can get a feel for what a good weld looks like. Penetration is everything so make sure to cut your welds in half and check for things like that. Start messing around with different amperage's to get a gauge for how deep you can get that penetration.

After enough practice it becomes more of a "my welder cant put out the amperage to get the penetration I need" and thats when you need a larger and more powerful welder?

Basically what he said, those cheap harbor freight welders aren't strong enough. Practice, Practice, Practice

Awesome. Now this thread is starting to get some good solid facts to it.

So practice practice practice... This only brings up more questions then.

What are you guys thoughts on the different types of wire out there...
Flux is the first thing i heard about and first i researched. But now I am seeing mentions of solid wire?
So there are different kinds of flux to do different kinds of things. I am going to go out on a limb here and say that solid wire is a different thing with a different set of properties to it?

We have talked about amperage's and the machine, so what about the sires you are putting into the machine?

Thanks again guys this is great!

Awesome. Now this thread is starting to get some good solid facts to it.

So practice practice practice... This only brings up more questions then.

What are you guys thoughts on the different types of wire out there...
Flux is the first thing i heard about and first i researched. But now I am seeing mentions of solid wire?
So there are different kinds of flux to do different kinds of things. I am going to go out on a limb here and say that solid wire is a different thing with a different set of properties to it?

We have talked about amperage's and the machine, so what about the sires you are putting into the machine?

Thanks again guys this is great!

EDIT - The forum double posted me, could i get a mod to delete this guy if i cant figure it out first.

Choosing wire depends on the application of the metal. Selecting the right wire depends on the metal you're welding on. FLux is shielded so you don't need gas to protect the weld. I assume you want to know about MIG welding?

Well In between asking questions on the boards im looking up info on the various responses that have been posted. So I am all sorts of curious about everything honestly.

Idealy end game I would want an on board welder I could us in trail. Like every hobby you need practice, So I am just trying to make sure I have my ducks in a row so that I dont end up harming me or somebody else. Obviously I dont plan on building long control arms on my 10th weld through but at the same time I dont want a boat load of splatter to be happening and me have no idea why. Those kinds of things.

The way I see it in my head, get a broad understanding of all the major principles involved then start getting into those specifics. That and I am trying not to jack this entire thread to my wants. providing good info for the whole is preferred especially since the first parts of this thread was dealing mainly with opinion rather than actual tips and tricks.

>>90 Amps from a 110v unit will weld just as good as 90 amps from a 220v welder<<

There isn't a 110 machine on the planet that puts out 90 amps. A welder is a power supply. If you supply 220 volts at 40 amps, and reduce that to say 24V, how many amps can you get? (hint: you can't get out more than you put in)

Someone was asking about wire. Flux core wire is run with reversed polarity, which in my opinion makes it a bit more finnicky to weld with as the puddle does not run together as readily and takes a bit of finesse to look decent. Solid wire is used with shielding gas and normal polarity, and will produce a fine looking weld with minimal effort. However, you can't weld outside with it much since the wind blows your gas away.

This isnt true at all, i weld 3/16 with it. I welded 1/4 on both sides and we welded another with a 220 hobart, the hobart weld broke at a few thousand psi less then the HF flux welder in our tester at work. Also flux core doesnt mean its less strong, they use it to build ships and bridges, its not as clean though so most guys like regular mig. Just about anything youll need for your xj can be done on the $100 HF welder its a great starter welder and practical

Sooo what your saying is Miller and Lincoln severely overrate their welders?

*The Millermatic Autoset 140 has an output of 90 amps on....you guessed it 115v input.
*The Millermatic Passport Plus has an output rated at 110 amps on a standard 115v 20a plug.
*The Miller Multimatic 200 is also rated for 110 amps on a standard 115v 20a plug.
*The Lincoln Power MIG 140C does 90 amps on 120v.

Then there is all kinds of TIG and SMAW machines that are actually rated a bit higher, I can put them up here if you would like.

Also the formula for figuring max amperage from 115v 20a outlet would look like this: 115x20=2300w So knowing the output voltage of the welder of being 20v (approx since the miller machines are a tad bit higher and the Lincoln is a tad bit lower) the formula would now look like this: 2300w/20v=115a so in a perfect world it could do 115amps. But of course the world is not perfect and their is some loss in conversion of 115v to 20v hence the ratings are a bit lower.

Well put....btw..my miller tig will throw down a solid 200 amps at 220v on a 40amp single phase breaker all day.

Mine would too if I would just quit using it as a stick machine. Just to lazy to practice with the TIG torches and hook up the gas.