I "need" a welder..?

[knute_m]

Re: I "need" a welder..?

I wholeheartedly agree with CRD.

I mostly agree with SoundMan.

I'm no expert. But, I learned to stick weld, oxy weld, and braze over 50 years ago. I've done it out of necessity ever since, unless I've been able to convince some unsuspecting soul into helping me also whitewash the fence.

When I needed to again get my own equipment a year ago, I was amazed at the difference between stick welders and flux core welders of the same amperage. I'd never used flux core or MIG at that time. There is absolutely no comparison.

I did exactly what CRD suggested. I took a 6-session, 3 hour per night course, over 8 weeks at the local community college. What an eye opener. If nothing else, it sure improves your trivia knowlege.

I'd already bought my wimpy little 115 V / 140 Amp welder by then. But, it gave me a $50 gift coupon at the "big box store" where I bought my measly little welder. From that I got my auto-darkening helmet. If I had it to do all over again, I'd happily make the all same mistakes over again.

No, I'll never weld a D-8 Cat to the bottom of the Brooklyn Bridge with my little welder. But on our 25 acre farmette, with my adolescent little tractors, and all their little Howse and King Kutter tag-along buddies, I'll do OK.

And you want to see smooth? Try shielding gas with flux core wire!

Knute

P.S. I've attached a picture of a baby tractor I had until a couple of weeks ago. I used it for bushogging some nasty overgrown fields with saplings up to 2-inches, and for logging. On the front is a wimpy little bumper I built with my wimply little welder. The wimpy little chain welded to the front pulled out some pretty good size logs. The trailer hitch plate regularly pushed a 4 x 8 trailer that hauled over half-cords of cut and split oak out of the woods. In about a year of aggravating this poor little machine, my bumper never broke or fell off. The bumper is made from 4-inch pipe with 1/4-inch wall.

 

[HGM]

Re: I "need" a welder..?

I'm in a similar situation myself.. The thing is that I made my mind up that nothing short of 220 will do... I have a small stick machine that drives me nuts... It will work........OK, on a peice of sheet metal(thin) if I use the higher setting with the smaller rod... If I try to get it to do something(it may have been designed for) it will trip the internal breaker... The DC makes a difference, if you are trying to weld your bucket hooks and it trips as soon as you get it going, it will take forever.. Maybe your more patient, but time is money(even if its your personal stuff) my time is very valuable to me and my family, I dont need to fiddle with something for hours if the right sized machine could do it in 5min.. Thats my personal decision on the matter.. I've even decided on the MM210 or Lincoln equivilant(I hear the lincoln parts are cheaper if it needs repair too).. I'm looking at $1200, still swallowing that and trying to fit it into the budget, but I'm sure it will be worth the wait in the long run as I hate wasting money on something that "might" do what I need..

Something else to think about that concerns me about your posting too.. You keep mentioning bucket hooks.. They need to be solid, a marginal weld on one could kill you or someone else...

Sorry to be a bummer, but you'll be happier in the long run with a larger machine.. Kinda like hunting deer with a .22 .. It can do it, but your much better off with t a 30-06..

 

[Soundguy]

Re: I "need" a welder..?

On the front is a wimpy little bumper I built with my wimply little welder. .....The bumper is made from 4-inch pipe with 1/4-inch wall.

I think it's fair to say that ( in this thread ) it has been well covered that 1/4" welds ok with 110v welders.

Soundguy

 

[Sully2]

Re: I "need" a welder..?

I think it's fair to say that ( in this thread ) it has been well covered that 1/4" welds ok with 110v welders.

Soundguy

Thats all someone needed to tell me back at the beginning...LOL

Oh..BTW..I DO understand about the "emergency" weld job in the driveway!! Sometimes life's a BI**H aint it! It cant break in the barn..AFTER your finished...lol

 

[Soundguy]

Re: I "need" a welder..?

Only once was I lucky enough to have a failure right at the barn. I was driving my 8n in to the barn, I pulle din, hit the clutch and eased the brake down and as i came to a stop, the steering wheel and about 8" of steering shaft came right outta the top of the steering box!!!.. pretty much right as the tractor stopped moving.... go figure..

Soundguy

 

[Sully2]

Re: I "need" a welder..?

I'm in a similar situation myself.. The thing is that I made my mind up that nothing short of 220 will do... I have a small stick machine that drives me nuts... It will work........OK, on a peice of sheet metal(thin) if I use the higher setting with the smaller rod... If I try to get it to do something(it may have been designed for) it will trip the internal breaker... The DC makes a difference, if you are trying to weld your bucket hooks and it trips as soon as you get it going, it will take forever.. Maybe your more patient, but time is money(even if its your personal stuff) my time is very valuable to me and my family, I dont need to fiddle with something for hours if the right sized machine could do it in 5min.. Thats my personal decision on the matter.. I've even decided on the MM210 or Lincoln equivilant(I hear the lincoln parts are cheaper if it needs repair too).. I'm looking at $1200, still swallowing that and trying to fit it into the budget, but I'm sure it will be worth the wait in the long run as I hate wasting money on something that "might" do what I need..

Something else to think about that concerns me about your posting too.. You keep mentioning bucket hooks.. They need to be solid, a marginal weld on one could kill you or someone else...

Sorry to be a bummer, but you'll be happier in the long run with a larger machine.. Kinda like hunting deer with a .22 .. It can do it, but your much better off with t a 30-06..

I thank you for the input..and glad you used the analogy of "deer hunting" and the 30-06. I had one...shot a big doe at 150 yds running away.. Hit her in the right ham..it came out her left front shoulder...blew her all to He**! OVERKILL!

1) The bucket hooks are ALREADY welded on the FEL. I just used that as an example of the "small sized" jobs Id attempt. Im not planning on doing 12 linear feet of weld on something.
2) MY FEL isnt going to get ME or anyone else killed..Im too dammed cautious using it to lift things.

Now more than ever Im POSITIVE the 120V...140 AMP..Hobart will do me fine using flux core wire. I dont need to "budget" for anything...but I dont need to spend $$ on something that after the first years I'll use about 5-10 hours A YEAR..welding up little items....such as ..??...maybe..?/..a angle iron weight rack for concrete blocks on top of a small set of disks..or ..??..some such little things.

 

[Sully2]

Re: I "need" a welder..?

Only once was I lucky enough to have a failure right at the barn. I was driving my 8n in to the barn, I pulle din, hit the clutch and eased the brake down and as i came to a stop, the steering wheel and about 8" of steering shaft came right outta the top of the steering box!!!.. pretty much right as the tractor stopped moving.... go figure..

Soundguy

LOL..."My luck" is never that good...lol Id break down while going thru a mudhole mired down axle deep...lol

 

[Soundguy]

Re: I "need" a welder..?

Just curious here.. how much $$ is the hobart 110v/140a flux job going for?

Reason i ask is that a lincoln or hobart AC stick welder in the 225a range is about 240$ and will weld anything....

Soundguy

 

[Sully2]

Re: I "need" a welder..?

Just curious here.. how much $$ is the hobart 110v/140a flux job going for?

Reason i ask is that a lincoln or hobart AC stick welder in the 225a range is about 240$ and will weld anything....

Soundguy

$450-500..depending on where you get it! And your right...Local TSC has that Hobart stick welder for ??..$240-245..somewhere in that range. It would do me..IF...IF.I could use a "stick welder" worth a diddly darn....lol. That why I thought Id ATTEMPT using the wire fed rig. "Supposidly"..?...lots easier to make good looking welds with???

 

[Soundguy]

Re: I "need" a welder..?

Remember.. flux core mig doesn't produce the pristine clean welds of a mig using shielding gas. You do still have to chip some flux and slag.. though not nearly as bad as stick. Add to that you can run a continous bead, instead of striking a new arc every few inches as you change rods.

Still .. with practive.. you can make some darn perty welds on stick.

I buzzed up some foot steps-ups for my allis G, and they look ike they were welded with a mig using gas... I used 1/16 easy strike rods on a 70a setting, and had clean metal to start out with.. was welding 3/16 and 1/4 to a 3/8 crossmember. Nice even beads.. alomst looked like a DC weld... Guess I got lucky that day!!

I think the key to stick is a steady hand.. and practice.. just knowing what the puddle is going to do. Surface conditions and surface prep .. while not as important for penetration with stick, still contribute greatly to the appearance of the weld. No doubt you can make a safe 3/8 to 3/8 weld with a big ac stick if the metal is painted pitted and rusty... but the bead may not look as good as if it was clean 3/8 to 3/8 with nicely ground edges... etc

I'm not trying to influence you one way or the other... besides.. it's not my money. For me.. the cheaper unit would be fine, as i don't mind chipping and grinding a bit if I have to... And every bead i run looks better than the next.. so to speak.. ( but yes.. mig is easier than stick.. though i did learn mig -after- i learned stick.. so that does have some bearing on my opinion..etc )

soundguy