seriously...you guys are going to get this thread closed with your BS.

There is a difference between correcting someone on a proper technique or method, and just plain out attacking their work. Stop doing the latter of the two - this is supposed to be an informational thread.

At this point you are all embarrassing yourselves.

 

Just read this whole thing. Way too much drama. Could barely separate the tips from the drama.

Anyway getting my first welder in a week, never welded before. Getting a smart choice 140 from home depot. Its made by lincoln. I get unlimited scrap metal to practice.

My main questions are the limits I can do with this machine.

Do I use flux for body work?

What do I use if I wanna replace brackets on axles.

Basically how do I know what wire to use for what thickness of material

 

I really can't think of a reason to run flux core wire over solid except in cases where there isn't any way to keep shield gas on the part....like if you're outside and it's windy.

Thin part = thin wire Thick part = thick wire. In some cases this won't be true, since you can adjust wire speed. There is probably a chart in/on the welder with guidelines for wire size/material thickness.

 

Can you flux on body work and stuff. Won't have the cash for gas. So will be just using good old 110v to start

 

We used to run hard wire and then spray .062 flux over the top of it on some joints when I was building garbage trucks but that's a whole other animal.

 

I worked as a welder for about fifteen years, off and on. Back in the 1980's I was a Coast Guard-certified hull welder at Hunter's Point Shipyard in San Francisco. The last few years I worked for a tool and equipment rental company. The customers were mostly idiots who broke stuff faster than we could fix it, almost. Because we were usually involved in field welding on job sites and repairing rented heavy equipment out in some mudhole, we mainly used stick welding. The rental company rented out gasoline-powered mobile welders on trailers too, so I usually just took one of those--we rented older Lincoln 200's with a four-banger in-line engine. Several of them were surplus Navy machines that the boss got at an auction. They would pretty much weld anything 10 gauge and thicker like a dream. Those old generator-welders had HUGE power and could easily push any rod I used.

Around the shop we used AC/DC Lincoln 225 buzz-box rectifier welders. Compared to the big engine driven machines the buzz boxes were weak, but they were easy and convenient. I burned E6010 rods for 90% of the jobs, but on big, thick-steel dozer or backhoe repairs I used E7018. Sometimes I'd wind up using an AC buzz box (we rented those too) and ran E6011.

We had two Hobart wire-feed machines, but they were in great demand, so it seemed like every time I took one out to the shop, somebody wanted to rent it. I ran .035 solid wire and 25/75 mixed argon/CO2 gas on the Hobarts. They welded good, except in windy weather, the breeze would blow away the cover gas and the weld would get contaminated. I used the Hobarts a lot for tacking big projects together and for sheet steel and body work on vehicles.

My only advice for new welders would be clean the steel VERY WELL. Grinders can leave inclusions, so if you're looking for an x-ray quality weld, don't use a 4-inch grinder much, use a die grinder with a good-quality ball or cone. (ALWAYS WEAR EYE PROTECTION AND EAR PLUGS TO AVOID SPARKS, SLAG CHIPS AND STEEL GRINDING SPLINTERS.) Probably most of the welding done by people on this site will not require an x-ray quality weld, just a good, clean, solid bead or a small build-up. For regular shop welding, like welding on shock absorber mounts or spring shackle mounts, a 4-inch grinder is fine. Just be sure the metal has absolutely no rust, dirt, grease, paint or anything like that, both on the side you're welding or the inside of a tube or backside of the weld area.

Try to avoid breathing welding fumes or smoke. If you're going to weld a lot, wear a dust respirator like you would for shooting auto paint. If you are going to weld every day, like at work, take special care to avoid grinding dust, sandblasting dust, welding smoke, paint fumes, etc. by wearing an MSA approved respirator mask. Ten minutes of welding won't kill your lungs, but TRUST ME, your lungs were not designed by nature to deal with all that crap in welding smoke.

If you can get the job positioned flat somehow it will be a LOT easier to get a good weld (like remove the bumper and put it on your welding table, for instance.) All of the welding techniques in the posts up the list are pretty good ones. I used the "backwards C" method a lot. Vertical welding, I'd turn the machine down a little and use the "alternating J" method uphill for 6010, and run downhill and pretty hot with a mig machine. Downhill is faster for mig, but uphill is stronger, in my opinion. With two pieces of different thickness, keep the heat on the thicker of the two, and let the weld puddle sort of flow onto the thinner piece. Also--thinner metal, thinner rod; bigger metal, bigger rod. If you use a rod of too big a diameter to weld thin metal you'll just blow a hole in it. Oxy-acetylene welding is a good option for auto body tears and fabrication, too.

I often had to take two pick-ups and a helper to shovel out all the mud and crap off the damaged area of a piece of equipment. I'd tow a Lincoln 200 and the kid would bring a gas-powered pressure washer in the truck bed and tow a plastic tank of water on a trailer. He'd pressure-wash off the mud and crap, then grind the weld area. I'd pre-heat the weld area to dry it out good and to burn off any paint we couldn't see, then we'd figure out some way to "splint" the broken area (there was sometimes a crack we'd have to close, maybe by setting the bucket on the ground and pushing down, etc.) and I'd weld it up while he stood by with a fire extinguisher. I set the woods on fire a couple of times welding, and with your hood down, you don't really notice a fire started by welding sparks.

Welding in your garage or in your driveway, disconnect the battery ground cable on your Cherokee, place your welder's ground cable clamp as close as you can to the weld, cover everything you don't want sparks to fall on with one of those welder's sheets from Northern Equipment, make ABSOLUTELY SURE there is no gasoline, diesel, acetone or any other flammable liquids around, and it's a really good idea to have somebody on fire watch while you're welding. Be damned careful not to strike an arc on the gas tank. Wear welding gloves, a welder's cap under the hood and at least a long-sleeve work shirt. I recommend an "automatic" lens welder's helmet. Sometimes a darker lens actually makes it easier to see while you're welding--the lenses for the older style helmets come in different shades. I don't know if the automatic helmets do or not. I doubt it.

If you ever have to cut the top out of an empty 55-gallon barrel, COMPLETELY FILL IT UP with water first. An oxy-acetylene cutting torch will easily cut right through the steel top, water and all, but if the barrel is full of water there won't be any air with which possible flammable liquid residue could create fire or explosion. The water displaces all the air in the barrel. The little bit of flammable liquid there might burn a little on the surface of the water, but it cannot explode, because there's no air. But if there is air in the barrel, it can (and will) blow up like dynamite.

One more thing: do not mig weld in an enclosed space, like a closed garage in the winter or a closet or locker. Over the years, three of my co-workers have died from suffocation in enclosed tanks or spaces welding with wire-feed machines. Two of them were on the same farm, in an old Texaco aluminum gas tank trailer. The argon gas is heavier than air. It built up in the tank like water filling up a bucket until it went above their noses. They passed out and keeled over under the level of the argon gas. Ten minutes later, they were dead as a canned mackeral. Solid-wire mig welding in the open is relatively safe, but don't do it in an enclosed space. (Of course, flux-core mig has no cover gas, but I still say "No mig welding in enclosed spaces." It just gives me the creeps.)

Also, never, ever weld on an oxygen or acetylene cylinder. I know this sounds crazy, but when I was a kid, some idiot here in Texas tried to weld "handles" on an acetylene cylinder. They didn't find enough of him or his shop to fill a coffee cup. Oxygen cylinders and shop tools were found in a huge circle 100 yards around the former site of his shop, stuck in the ground like fence posts. Corrugated roofing, 2x4's etc were just blown to smithereens.

 

respect, and thank you for your knowledge

 

Thanks for a productive post Low Profile.

 

So I'm looking to pick up a welder to fab up sliders, bumpers and other metal objects. I would like to get a MIG welder but I don't want to spend a lot of money.

Any recommendations for the $300-$400 range?

 

You just made everyone look at me funny. Apparently, it's not usual for someone to scream while they read.

 

Look for a used 220v Hobart or Lincoln. They're on CL everyday.

 

I'm sure it's already been covered, but wear earplugs when welding in odd positions. I managed to get some mig splatter in my left ear today...still hurts.

 

I agree--ear plugs are necessary for both welding and grinding, as well as any "industrial" activity that causes loud noise, like sandblasting, striking things with a sledgehammer, operating a chain saw, a hammer drill, a big impact wrench, etc. I am completely deaf in my left ear and partially deaf in my right ear from years of industrial labor, from 1960's rock concerts and from gunfire during service in the Marine Corps.

What can I tell you? I thought I was ten feet tall and bulletproof. Turns out that was a misapprehension on my part, LOL.

Hearing damage is caused from very loud, very high-frequency noises, like gunfire, or something like running a chainsaw, but even loud low-frequency noises can damage your ears (like sandblasting, machine shop background noise, etc.) Hears a tip for you youngsters: standing in front of the speakers at a rock concert turns out to be not such a good idea after all.

I guess I could just make a list of "Things You Should Never Do" and "Things You Should Always Do," but kids are kids, and they don't like listening to lectures from old farts. (I didn't, for sure. That's how I wound up deaf in one ear, LOL.)

When I was working at Todd Shipyards in Houston, a newly-hired welder's helper who was working with me as a tacker and grinder got hit in the eye with a little hair-like steel sliver and had to go to the E.R. and get the sliver removed from the surface of his cornea. (This kind of thing happens a lot to welders, I've been hit in the eye several times.) He came back all indignant and said "Nobody told me I was supposed to wear goggles!" I said, "Bobby, whose eyes are they? Are they your eyes? Why should anybody have to tell you to protect your own eyes? Take responsibility for yourself, dude."

He didn't get it. He wanted to call the union and cause a big stink. It was "all the company's fault." Really? I don't think so, but of course, I learned the hard way too.

 

Anything over 80 decibels will damage your hearing, especially if it's continuous. I didn't wear ear protection when shooting as a kid, so I have some hearing damage from that in addition to loud music and lots of other things. Working in a machine shop is noisy sometimes.

 

I have a question. I'm a tractor/trailer mechanic and do a lot of welding with a Millermatic 180. I can run a pretty good bead flat or down hill but upside down I have a problem.

Are there any tricks to welding upside down? I have to weld the underside of frames and brackets quiet often.