Yet another welding question

[Laminarman]

After a lot of thought I decided I need a stick welder. OK, so MIG and TIG and gas guys go off on me, but here's my reasoning. I have a 120V Lincoln 135 that works great for my light sheet metal work. I do not want more gas, more wire, more expense than necessary. The heavier welding I will do will be outside most likely, on dirty farm implements, and portability is a nice feature. What is with the AC/DC thing? I found a Hobart AC/DC unit for $328 locally (Tractor Supply) which says it welds up to 1/2" which is enough for me. The non AC/DC unit is about $100 less. The local "welding shop" is $399 for the same AC/DC unit, it's not in stock, and they're not too friendly to deal with. I have gloves, helmet, jacket, apron...etc so I need a welder for heavier, perhaps dirtier stuff. Any recommendations from you guys, and do I need AC/DC whatever that is? I'm looking at the Lincoln tombstone and the Hobart. I have a whole pile of steel to practice with and am searching for a few evening classes (to no avail). So is this Hobart a good deal and a good unit? I think Lincoln owns them ???? /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif

 

[bitternut]

Hobart is owned by ITW which also owns Miller welders. Hobart has a very nice welding forum as does Miller. The Hobart line of welders are very similar to the Miller. They provide very good customer support and make good welding machines. I have a HH175 and like it a lot.

 

[thingy]

Well,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,lets giver a go,,,,,what the,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,yeah,,,seems like fair enough price,,,,,,,it needs to have a 60% or better duty cycle,,,,,,,it needs to have that duty cycle at about 120- 130 amps,[or more],,this is so you can run 1/8 rod,,,basicly all day....
Now,,,that saying,,,"will weld up to,,so and so a thickness",,,crap,,,,,,,,if it will burn a 1/8 inch rod,,,all day,,,like I said,,,,,it will weld 3 ft thick stuff,,,,,,,you just gota make multi passes,,and clean between each pass,,,,,so that talk,,,means less than nothing to me anyways,,,welding supply salesman!!!!!,,,thats gotta be where that talk came from,,,wouldn't of come from a welder,,,,,,,,,a.c./d.c. thing,,,,,,to put it as simple as I can,,,,d.c. runs much smoother,,,,,most rods will not run near as well on a.c.,,,,some won't hardly burn at all,,,,,,alternating verses direct,,,,thats all you need to know,,,get a d.c. one,,,and use d.c.e.p.,[that stands for direct current,,,with the stinger,,,,electrode holder,,,,being the positive,,,plus sign,,,,,,,,,,,,neither units you talked about is portable,,,you need a moter generator welder,[one you put gas in],,to be portable,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,and you need to clean your base metal off the best you can,,,no matter what process,,,course,,,if you don't want to,,,it ain't got nothing to do with me,,,,,,the thing,,,[lets see how this goes????????????]

 

[kennyd]

Thingy,
Is your,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,Button sticky or what? To much soda or coffee in the keyboard?

You seem knowledgeable and well informed, but your post's are just plain hard to read /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif

 

[thingy]

Well,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,my advise to you would be,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,don't read em,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,just skip over them,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,go on to next one,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,make it easy on your self,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,seriously though,,,,you know why I do it.....................................................,,,,,,,to make people like you ask why I do it,,,,and it works,,,,,,,,don't it????????????????????????????????????????? the thing

 

[Laminarman]

t,,,,,,,,,,,,,,hi,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,g,,,,,,,,,,,,,y

I appreci,,,,,ate your post. I will not be welding all day. Far from it. We're talking fix my busted gate, fix my boom pole, fix my rake, fix my chain harrow carrier, weld a bucket hook on, and get on with life. I will never, ever,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,ever weld all day. I saw your other post,,,,,,,,,,,,(s). You're hardcore. I'm not. I want to fix my frickin equipment and get planting, mowing, plowing and digging. Time is limited. As far as portability, I have a generator. When I mean portable I mean put it and the generator in the bucket and go maybe a half mile away, tops. So although I wish I had your obvious skill, knowledge and passion (of which you have,,,,,,,,,, a ,,,,,,,,, LOT!!!) I really need to get mean, down, dirty and...oh my God...sometimes weld over dirty metal to just get back to work.

I do have a question though, and please indulge me and reply without all the commas. When you say make multiple passes, is that passes over and over on the same bead line, or do you have to bevel the metal and start deep and "build" for a multi-pass technique to work??

 

[bitternut]

Here is a link that explains and shows pictures of different weld joints including multipass. Check it out and you will get most of your questions answered. Also there are no sticky key boards at that link.

http://64.78.42.182/sweethaven/BldgConst/Welding/lessonmain.asp?lesNum=3&modNum=2

 

[thingy]

Well,good to hear you got one question now,out of all the ones you did have,,multipass welding,,,,lets see,,,lets say,you got two pieces of 1/2 inch steel plate,,and they are butted up tight together,,well,you can weld the edges together alright,with probably one pass,,but it will not be a strong JOINT,might be a good weld,but not a strong joint,cause you did not,in that one pass make the two pieces one,and thats whats you TRY to do when welding,make two pieces one.
What you could do,in that situation is,bevel each plate edge,to say 30 degrees from flat,,now you have a space,to weld in,and on the first pass,,of those two edges,you might,,if you gap it right,use the right heat and technigue,fuse the two bottom edges together,,,so,now we got the bottom edges fused together,,,then you brush off all slag,,and maybe grind out any uneven spots in first bead,to make it even,than you weld second pass over first pass,,,,,,now,,since just by draging the rod over first pass makes it only slightly larger,[if you make puddle a little bigger by going slower],we got to come up with something different on third pass,,,,well,,,there is a thing called a weave bead,,,just like its called,you go from side to side,[edge to edge] of the bead below it,,and there you can go to cap pass,[final pass,,just going wider and wider untill you get it filled,,,then capped,,cleaning and grinding as you go,,,,,,there is another way to do this,its called stringers,,you do first couple of [passes] as you did before,but after that,you just run a bead,[a stringer],,start on one side,than beside it,than beside it,untill you get the width of joint filled up,,,cleaning between each pass or stringer,,than you do same on top of that fill pass[passes],,may take 4 -5 stringers next time,,,than so on and so on,,till you fill joint up,,and last stringers are cap,just like last weave pass was cap,,,,,thats it,,,,,,trick here is cleaning slag and uneven spots off,,,and burning hot enough to fuse each pass into each other and base metal,,,thats how you multipass weld,,,,common sense will tell you,if you got enough heat to fuse a little bit in one pass,,you got enough to fuse same amount in next pass,,you just got to use right technique and clean good,,between passes,,,the whole object of welding is two make two pieces of steel one piece,,you can accomplish this several ways,,multipass is one way,you can make two pieces of thicker stuff one,,about the only way,with stick,mig,tig,fluxcore,,this is the way all pipe is welded,all thick steel is welded,,pipelines,steamlines,etc,,we never try and do it in one pass,,unless it is very thin and we have no choice,,see,,minimum commas,thingy

 

[bobodu]

Lincoln 225AC.

 

[thingy]

Duty cycle,,,how many min out of say about 10,,that a welding machine will run at a given amperage without over heating,,,,,so you are not going to be welding all day,,,surprise,,surprise,,,how about 10 min.????? so,,,you may have to take your generator and buzz box,,in your fel,,which is attached to your tractor,,and repair,,,well,,I guess anything but tractor,right??,,,,,,,,,,,,seriously though,,,,,,,if you have anymore questions,just ask,glad to help out,thingy