Welders.... what are you rockin

[Jscotty]

no offence meant by that. i just figured since there are alot of kids on this fourm i'd mention that.

No offense taken.. and I am glad that you brought that up because I honestly did not know that the welding machine sucks up so much juice. When the guy was over here a while back I vaguely remember getting an electric bill that was more than double what I pay normally but I attributed that to having a 6x6 hole on the side of my house for a week while I was getting termite damage repaired.

Yesterday I went to visit a guy who showed me a few things about welding and he even showed me the separate electric meter that he has on his garage. He said that it makes it easier to manage the costs because he can watch the meter and make a calculation of how much he will have to pay at bill time so he does not have any surprises.

[Justin B]

Millermatic 175 on Steel mix. This system rocks for what I use it for. Welds up to 1/4 and works great!!

Doesn't hurt that I work for Grainger (Click to see Welder)so I get it at cost!!

Same welder I have! It's awesome :)

[Borat]

For TIG I would agree with you. For MIG, find a friend who can do it decent, buy a shitload of scrap and goto town. MIG is very easy to learn in a few hours. When I first got mine, a pro showed me the basics in about 10 minutes. I then spent the next few months practicing welding of all types, butts, overlap, etc etc, with different gauges. Eventually it becomes second nature about settings/speed/wire etc.

Agreed, just get someone who knows what they are doing to explain it all to you. As long as they can explain to you how to choose your settings (not just set it for you) you'll be fine. MIG is pretty easy once you have the settings right.

[der affe]

no offence meant by that. i just figured since there are alot of kids on this fourm i'd mention that. i about shit myself the first time i saw the damage a couple of big jobs did to the bill (a 6 point cage w/ doorbars and fishplates and a subframe mod and bridge notch). if you use a 110v it will run the meter harder than a 220v too.

[Jscotty]

Well I own my home and pay my own bills so there is nobody to piss off but if a welding machine uses a significant amount of electricity to where you notice it on the bill, then I see why the pros usually have the self-contained generator mounted on a truck. I imagine that you get more bang for the buck when using a diesel generator in lieu of plugging the rig into the municipal power system.

[der affe]

if you are going to be using the welder at home, and you are the one paying the power bill, be aware that lots of welding can possable put a BIG dent in your power bill!!! that can result in pissed off parents or roommates!

[Jscotty]

Thanks for your input everyone. That's good info. I happen to have quite a few projects around the house and the shop where welding would be useful but I have been reluctant to buy the machine from home depot and doing it via trial and error.

[der affe]

if you can swing it go for a good 220v welder. i do bodywork for a living, we have NEW millermatic 215v (i think ) welders (3) we just got for the new shop/building we are open on the other end of the dealership. they work really well for the heavy stuff like rails or suspension, but they don't dial down on the amperage very well for the lighter sheetmetal welds. i still like my Matco 160 (made for them by Century...who i think is owned by Miller now). it's 160amps max. i upgraded it with a Tweeko gun (smaller and easier to use and fits in more tight places) the welder has stitch welding settings (never tried or use it) and single sided spotwelding settings too (also never used this). it can weld heavy stuff, but when i was welding a bumper impact bar on a GL450 (benz suv thing...i work at a benz dealer) i had to run it pretty much maxed out on the amps (8 1/2) and 7 wire speed to get proper pen. but has not prob welding beautiful weld on sheetmetal w/o blowing big holes in it.

you can weld heavy or heavier stuff with a 110v mig if you pre-heat the metal (plumber torch etc.) i have welded sandrail frames and rollcages this way when a larger welder was not available at the time. al long as you cherry the metal you are going to weld and then weld it, you will get excellent results.

if you are going to be doing bodywork and general 'round the house fab stuff. use .023/.025 wire. the .030 that came with the welder you were looking at is too big for sheetmatal, where as the .023 will work for sheetmetal, and heavy stuff with a little more wire speed.

also invest in a cart that will hold your bottle. (make sure you get the bottle too). it is a little more $ but get an alum bottle insted of a steel one. it will be easier for you to lift and easier on your cart too. i have found that most mig welders will work best with the gas set at or around 12-15 psi more than that seems to screw with your welds.

when it comes to helmets harbor freight has an auto dimming one for around $70ish. you really can't beat it for the price. it is not bad, i notice if i do alot of high amp welding for most of the day i seem to have a little eye strain, but otherwise no prob withthe cheaper one.

check out HTP welders too http://www.htpweld.com/ great people to deal with, excellent welders at a fair price. i am prob going to get my TIG from them. they also have REALLY nice helmets, but they are priced that way too.
hope this helps you out,
greg

[FredK]

Whew, nice setups in this thread!

Since I only planned on welding up a stray exhaust and maybe a quarterpanel or tail panel or two, I figured I'd go easy and get a Mig.

I got a Millermatic 140 and a Speedglas Utility helmet. Welding is pretty fun! Not very fun when it's hot as hell outside and you have to wear longsleeves etc., but it's pretty satisfying to join metal together.

[AlarmedBread]

millermatic 200 wire feed is all I have atm. It sucks, no pretty welds for me with this bad boy. :(

[Keith M]

Miller 110V mig we bought for cheap.

Miller Dynasty 250 TIG. Argon gas and is able to weld 030 Alum. (Just barely) This was for a patch on a RR sunroof. If we make a new piece we try to use 060. (3003 or whatever works for the situation)

K

[LivingLegend06]

I learned to weld in HS and started with MANY passes on 1/4in flatbar in a T with a stick welder. The teacher cut them apart to examin our penetration etc etc. I moved onto MIG and tried out TIG/ OXY ACE alittle but never got very good at it. I need more practice. IMHO if you have someone get you started int he right direction and you just need to practice alot. Inshort... +1

Thats exactly what we had to do in first year metal shop. shop instructor cut them in half and everything. Welding with oxygen/acetaline was not to hard for me, but i never got the hang of tig on aluminum.

[backtrail69]

I learned to weld in HS and started with MANY passes on 1/4in flatbar in a T with a stick welder. The teacher cut them apart to examin our penetration etc etc. I moved onto MIG and tried out TIG/ OXY ACE alittle but never got very good at it. I need more practice. IMHO if you have someone get you started int he right direction and you just need to practice alot. Inshort... +1

[LINUS]

Trent, I should have been a little more clear - I'd actually spend a few weeks (one night a week) learning on a stick welder. Then once you can actually make few decent passes, move over to a MIG booth.

Once you figure out how to hold a rod so you don't leave a ton of hot rods as a ground stick on a given piece of metal, MIG is a walk in the park. Personally, If I'm on the fence as to whether or not I'd want to buy a rig, there would be nothing like having 9 weeks to screw with a lot of toys, then decide if I'm buying or not.

I think you & I were both intent on getting one, so our situation was slightly different.

Jscotty - you need to figure out if the expenditure for a welding rig will pay off, or not. I suggest anyone take a community college class, as you get to burn more in rod/wire and misc. than what it would cost you in real lie to learn on.

I've been through 3 classes at the local CC. - 2 were paid for by my employer, but still worth it if it wasn't. You learn to use a generic welder, and you get a "over the shoulder" perspective on what you are doing.

Def worth it.

For TIG I would agree with you. For MIG, find a friend who can do it decent, buy a shitload of scrap and goto town. MIG is very easy to learn in a few hours. When I first got mine, a pro showed me the basics in about 10 minutes. I then spent the next few months practicing welding of all types, butts, overlap, etc etc, with different gauges. Eventually it becomes second nature about settings/speed/wire etc.