Welder Question

[marrt]

I would like to learn how to weld in order to create some of my own implements and for other projects. Without going into a lot of detail, I need a welder the will weld 1/4” to 5/16” mild steel. I wouldn’t be welding stainless steel, aluminum, or any exotic metals. I have never welded anything but am reasonable skilled and usually “self train” myself on most stuff. I assume, from what I have read here, that my least expensive option is an AC 225 stick welder (even though I understand it is much harder to use initially than a MIG or TIG). If I have a few extra bucks to spend, my next best option would by an AC/DC stick welder. Correct?

 

[rdbrumfield]

If you can come up with a DC welder you be much happier with it. A "buzzbox" AC is harder to master, but will do the job. You can get special rod for the AC. One thing abjout starting out with stick welding, it wil make you a better mig welder. You get better penetration with the stick. I still have to watch myself about getting cold welds with the mig.

 

[Anonymous Poster]

For the type of welding you plan on, either a 180 amp or 225 amp ac machine will serve you a long time.
I learned on a Linclon 225 Ac 40+ years ago, and can still go back to the same type machine and make good welds with it. Once you've mastered overhead welding with an AC machine most other techniques are a walk in the park. A lot of people who learn on DC machines never really learn to weld because they count on the machine doing the job.
MIG machines are convenient, and easy to operate, BUT, most people who rely on MIG make a lot of cold & dangerous welds. You can lay down a good looking weld with MIG that isn't going to hold anything. They are called hot glue guns for a reason.
An AC machine will force you to learn the craft.

 

[Green_in_MI]

You are correct. A mig weld can look very nice but not hold a thing. When I first started, my welds looked great but I could pry them apart fairly easily. My solution is to turn up the amps and move the gun slower. I only weld with gas now and that seems to perform better than non shielded wire. I test all my welds with the big hammer application. If it passes the hammer I use the piece. My grinder gets a lot of work cleaning up the mess though. I actually don't know the first thing about proper welding but my projects seem to turn out all right. I don't have time to take a class at the local JC but I am still going to use my welder. But I am not going to weld anything that I would risk someones life on either.

 

[pruntyc]

If you learn to weld with a stick welder, and you decide to move up to mig later. Then you will find out you are already a pretty good mig welder. Mostly because you will know how to weld. But if you learn on a mig, you will not be a very good stick welder, at least till you have done quite a bit of welding with it. I learned on a mig first, I know. Now I can do them both well, but it took a while to learn the stick, even though I thought I knew how to weld. Life is really a long learning process, and we never get to know it all, we just keep learning. 69 years old now, and wish I had another 69 to learn all the things I would like to learn yet. Oh well, just play on the tractor and enjoy life for a while longer.

 

[MossRoad]

I agree with the others. I learned to weld on gas, then stick, then MIG. I like gas the best, just because it seems like art, /w3tcompact/icons/laugh.gif however, I usually use AC stick. It works great.

 

[wroughtn_harv]

<font color=blue>I learned to weld on gas, then stick, then MIG. I like gas the best, just because it seems like art,</font color=blue>

That's the path I took, well, kinda, sorta./w3tcompact/icons/laugh.gif

Actually the first thing I welded was lead. I worked for the telco and back then we used lead for closures. If you want some pressure have a prestolite torch, a cylinder thirty inches long, ten inches in diameter, a days work forming it into place, and a couple of thousand copper wires inside protected only by paper insulation and some cotton wrapping from the heat. Now solder it together along a seam without setting your livlihood on fire twenty feet in the air with a stiff breeze blowing......those were the good old days.......

The problem I have heliarcing aluminum is I revert back to watching for the flow of the metal like I did with the lead.

Like David I love gas welding. My dad had insisted that I learn to weld if I was going to keep coming up with projects for him to weld up. Every week end it seems I'd come in with a project all cut out and fitted. He'd glue it together.

He started me welding on with an old Forney A/C machine putting together galvanized thin wall tubing. You learn to weld purely by faith. If you see a puddle you're nanno seconds from seeing your boots through the material you're working on.

I decided to use up some of the GI Bill on welding classes. They started me out on gas welding. Like David says, it's art. But probably the best thing about starting with the gas is you learn the process. You get to see what happens when it's just heat and material dancing at your command. After that when using any other welding process when you have a problem you can think back to the basics and figure out what's going wrong and then adjust accordingly.

I think the most fun is welding aluminum with the heliarc. It's clean and neat and everything works slower so you have time to appreciate the moment.

I make my living welding. But I think it'd be neat if everyone knew how to do it. The pleasure of making things is something so special everyone deserves equal opportunities at it.

 

[MossRoad]

You know, I've seen some of those lead cases in our building's phone closests... and I was wondering, how in the heck could you heat that thing up without cooking everything inside it... now I know /w3tcompact/icons/laugh.gif

Something about moving that pupple around with a flame, right /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif

 

[Rockyroad]

Marrt-

I am no expert on the subject. I am a beginner who is also learning.

The only advice I can give you is this: I purchased the Lincoln "tombstone" AC/DC welder from my local Airco dealer. The price difference over the AC only was only about $100 if memory serves. I felt that the slight dfifference in price was worth the added flexibility. I have been practicing with AC and DC both. It has taken me a lot of time, but I am fincally able to run a bead that is passable. Lots of eye/hand coordination necessary. Which leads me to my next point:

I was having a lot of trouble with the regular cheap welding helmet. When I flipped the helmet down, I would lose track of where my hand was in relation to where I wanted to strike the arc. My solution (an expensive one) was to buy an Optrel instant darkening helmet , also from my local Airco dealer when they had them on sale. What a diffenence in my welding! I can see what I am doing right up to the point where the arc starts.

I also bought a good set of torches and I am practicing with gas welding (as well as cutting). I agree with the experienced guys who say that you learn a lot about the process itself when learning gas. I purchased a few video tapes off the internet, and that has also helped.

Last bit of advice: Buy name brands only that are supported by a local dealer. I bought a mongrel MIG several years ago at one of those local big box stores and now the company is out of business and I cannot get parts for it. Ingersoll Rand bought them out, but they no longer stock parts for the unit.
I will probably end up buying a Lincoln MIG this spring and give the old one to the teenager across the street who is starting to play with welding also.

Having said all of that, boy is welding ever fun! Hope you have as great a time learning as I am having.

PS - lots of GREAT advice from guys here on TBN who are pros and can steer us weekend warriors in the right direction.

 

[pruntyc]

I left out gas welding, that is about all I do anymore, when I do sometimes weld. I have a A/C under the house, and just leave it there and light up my torch, and have at it. You mentioned heliarc, I loved doing that, when I was working and something needed it, it sure makes the aluminum flow beautiful, loved to watch it as I worked. You got the old man thinking of the past, nice memorys though.