Need a welder for a novice

Turfman · Nov 15, 2002

I'm heartbroken, I just spoke with my brother-in-law about helmets. Monday he was at a closeout store and found an new, name brand (I forgot the name) autodarkening helmet in the box for $10.00. He bought it and sold it Wednesday to a guy at his work for $50.00. The local welding store had it for $210.00. He said he'd keep watching, but deals like this are next to impossible to find.

Gary_in_Indiana · Nov 16, 2002

For what it's worth, I think I paid somewhere around $160-$170 for mine. I'd like to have found a deal like that, too. Heck, I'd even have paid double that. /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif

frank_f15 · Nov 16, 2002

i would dis-own THAT brother inlaw../w3tcompact/icons/grin.gif

Anonymous Poster · Nov 16, 2002

If you're welding mild steel in doors (or out of the wind), MIG is fast and really hard to beat. There is no or very little clean up of the weld, and really thin material is easier. For the situations that W-H mentions, stick welding is great, but don't underestimate the talent he and the other pros have. They can make things like vertical and overhead welds look easy.

Alan L. · Nov 17, 2002

Bird, I also learned on the Lincoln 225 in high school ag class a LONG time ago.

For the few of you who have never done it, just picture a flashlight shaped handle with a little clamp on the business end, where you clamp a metal rod about 12" long perpendicular to the handle. You then close your helmet (like shutting your eyes), try to remember where exactly the piece to be welded is, and then try to strike the rod on the metal piece that you can't see, but never get more than 1/4" or so away from the metal, then maintain this 1/8" or so distance away from the piece during the weld, while breathing noxious burning fumes and being bombarded by white-hot metal fragments.

If you strike to hard and get too far away, no arc, and if you don't strike hard enough the rod gets stuck to the piece you are welding.

I've never done mig, but I'll bet its a whole lot easier.

Gary_in_Indiana · Nov 17, 2002

After reading this I can barely wait to get back to my welding class tomorrow night. /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif Honestly, I'm having a lot of fun with this class despite the accuracy of the above description of stick welding. The one major difference is that with an auto darkening helmet you can see what you're doing when you start your weld. Outside of that, I can't fault the description at all. /w3tcompact/icons/wink.gif/w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif/w3tcompact/icons/grin.gif

Anonymous Poster · Nov 18, 2002

I'd like to know how most of you store your rods. I was going to bang together a plywood box, put some ridgid insulation inside, and add a light bulb in a coffee can. Any suggestions? I'm welding in a unheated area and I've lost loads of rods to dampness, gotta smarten up!

Anonymous Poster · Nov 18, 2002

We always used a mailbox with a small light bulb inside. It doesn't seem to need any insulation.

Bird · Nov 21, 2002

<font color=blue>never done mig, but I'll bet its a whole lot easier</font color=blue>

Everything I've read said it was easier, but since I only tried it once, I never got the wire feed speed adjusted right. It either fed out too fast or too slow. I'm sure it's like a lot of other things; a little practice and get used to it and I'd probably like it.

Gary_in_Indiana · Nov 22, 2002

For what it's worth, the welding class I'm taking uses an old refrigerator with a couple light bulbs inside. I never looked, but I'm guessing they're just connected to the electric wires used for the normal refrigerator light with the shut off switch disabled or broken off.