Welding 1/4" steel- Mig or stick?

[Egon]

DO NOT WELD on anything that may cause death or injury if the weld fails. Leave that to the pro's until you are a pro.

Now that is a woser of a wozzer statmentment!

 

[canoetrpr]

I'm using DC and I do stick the odd rod.... especially when I start the session. Takes me a good two or three rods before I get the hang of it in every session. Rods are also a bit easier to stick when you are welding a joint that you have bevelled the stock for and trying to get into the groove.

It is possible that I just really suck at this and thus sticking rods ;-) Now I don't stick every rod I use, but like I said, I need a few rods to get my techinque down a bit.

If I go with a mig it will have to be usable on 1/4" and 3/8" as I don't *plan* on doing stuff other than modifying implements, mucking with tractor stuff etc. I had the Hobart Handler 187, 210 in mind and the Millermatic 185/210/212.

There is a Millermatic DVI on sale on ebay around here that the owner says has never been used. The bidding starts at $600. Didn't seem to sell the first time around so he has re-listed. What do you guys think it is worth paying for this? I suspect a new one is about $1200-1300.

Millermatic 212 in the classifieds is listed at $1650 OUCH!. No tank with either.

 

[RobJ]

Would my welds pass x-ray tests? Probably not all of them, but they look good and they don't fail and that's pretty much what I need them to do...

Farmers welds...the best kind!!

 

[Egon]

Yep, them are the best kind but why???

 

[Gary Fowler]

Sully
"
Shielding gas with FCAW IS NOT NEEDED unless you are specifically buying "dual shield " wire..and thats the reason why fluxcore was created. Out of doors shielding gas is typically a JOKE and gets blown away"


You missed the point of dual shield wire. It gives you additional shielding gas to go with shielding gas that the cored flux produces in the standard FCAW wire. With any welding type, if it is windy above about 5 mph then you should provide some type of windbreak to shield the weld arc. If the shielding gas either from a flux coated stick rod, fluxcored wire, or inert gas ie TIG/MIG is blown away by a high wind, you are going to get porosity and likely also entrapped slag. While this may not mean much to you for sticking two pieces of metal together, making them strong enough so that the steel base material breaks before the weld requires some attention to welding parameters which goes way beyond what size your welding machine is.

 

[IslandManMitch]

Canoetrpr, Making a recommendation on this subject is just asking to be stomped on but... go with something with at least 200 amps and 60% duty cycle and you will be able to weld just about anything on the farm. You are correct "they are expensive" but that is the entry level where heavy duty machines start. How much are you really going to be welding? Is it going to be a toy or a tool? If you have the bucks and want to buy a toy go for it. If you said your going to be making money fabricating things on a regular bases I would say get the MIG. Even if you had a large welding project that might could justify it OK. But for me and most others the AC/DC stick machine you have will serve you well. For out of position welds try practicing with scrape metal in almost flat position. Then tilt it up a bit more until you can make a clean weld. Then tilt it some more until you are eventually welding vertical. You will grin like a fool when you can weld the cap and the slag curls up like a scorpions tail. I hope this is useful? Now let me get my flak vest on, Mitch

 

[Sully2]

Sully
"
Shielding gas with FCAW IS NOT NEEDED unless you are specifically buying "dual shield " wire..and thats the reason why fluxcore was created. Out of doors shielding gas is typically a JOKE and gets blown away"


You missed the point of dual shield wire. It gives you additional shielding gas to go with shielding gas that the cored flux produces in the standard FCAW wire. With any welding type, if it is windy above about 5 mph then you should provide some type of windbreak to shield the weld arc. If the shielding gas either from a flux coated stick rod, fluxcored wire, or inert gas ie TIG/MIG is blown away by a high wind, you are going to get porosity and likely also entrapped slag. While this may not mean much to you for sticking two pieces of metal together, making them strong enough so that the steel base material breaks before the weld requires some attention to welding parameters which goes way beyond what size your welding machine is.

I didnt "miss the point"..I didnt elaborant on the use of dual shield...and as I stated before..with normal fluxcore wire shielding isnt needed

 

[canoetrpr]

Mitch - thats a great idea! I'm going from flat to vertical... makes perfect sense to tilt and work my way up!

I'm not going to be welding a heck of a lot. At least I don't plan to be I picked up the machine with the excuse that I need to fix stuff. My landscape rake isn't the highest quality and the welds on the guage wheel assembly came apart and I just broke a tine on it yesterday.

That said, I am also looking for stuff to weld now Decided I'm tired of adjusting the lower links when I switch from my box blade or bush hug to my landscape rake - which is obviously not built exactly to the Cat 1 spec . Cooked up an idea to widen the lower pins and convert them to the 'captured' type. Then looked at my bush hog and decided it too could be converted to a 'captured' type to make it easier to get the lower arms on even with a Pats. I find that the Pats works best if the implement has 'captured' type lower links.

Stuff like that. I sure as heck can't justify spending $$$ on a mig right now so I will probably stick to the stick and get more proficient at it. I better get some more time on it before I start ripping into my implements To be honest, my $ might be better spent right now on a plasma cutter or a set of torches to cut. Not looking forward to using a cutting wheel for some of these projects.

 

[IslandManMitch]

Canoetrpr, A 200+ MiG machine and a plasma cutter? You have a taste for the good stuff. Start with the oxygen acetylene rig. Very useful. Even one day after you have the plasma cutter you will still have a need for the o/a torch rig. Oh no. Do I see another fuss subject in the making? Victor is the best. No Smith is. My Craftsman can cut through 6" plate in one pass. Mitch

 

[Sully2]

If I go with a mig it will have to be usable on 1/4" and 3/8" as I don't *plan* on doing stuff other than modifying implements, mucking with tractor stuff etc. I had the Hobart Handler 187, 210 in mind and the Millermatic 185/210/212.......

Millermatic 212 in the classifieds is listed at $1650 OUCH!. No tank with either.

A HH210 wont really do 3/8ths in a single pass..even though it says it "can". 1/4" is no problem though.

Miller 212 is a different "animal"...Im sure it can handle it BUT its a lot larger machine than a "Handler" is and a higher duty cycle.

$1650 for a used MM212 is crazy!...Try this place..http://store.cyberweld.com/millermatic210.html...they sell it NEW for $1511.oo