Welders

[yardhippie 0]

I have to go w/ most of chopchops advice. whilst he has WAY MUCH more experience than me. I have welded w/ everything from "hobby" (your example) to the large millers he talks about (me likes) I have a friend who burnt one up (maybe a size bigger than yours) one a huge trailer/house/rv project.
Me being a poor person have always used stick for larger jobs (such as you describe) and MIG for smaller more delicate stuff.
Everybody and their brother has a stick welder that gets up there about 400 amps around here. but finding a good MIG is tough sooo... we make do.
IMHO.... find a miller that is ready for gas, is 110v powered, and your heat and wire speed are all adjustable.

Goddam dirty hippies piss me off! ~GFD
"What do I get for closing your rig?" ~ me
"Anything you want." ~ female skydiver
Mohoso Rodriguez #865

[Swoopyswoop 0]

lol I hear ya, I have a pile and I mean a pile(like about 12 or 13) of lincoln SA 250's. There a great machine no doubt. But I like the fact that my bobcats and wildcats have provisions for a high freq mod that allows me to run my tig in the filed. Its handy when your in a dairy welding stainless or on the road welding an aluminum trailer. havent had good luck with lincolns unit and there tig. But I didnt spend a lot of time setting it up either. Bith are user friendly just different characteristics is all.

"when I die, I want to go like my grandfather while im sleeping, not like the passengers riding in the car with me
Swoopster
A.S.S. #6 Future T.S.S holder

[akarunway 1]

Most small welders have duty cycles. If they're less than 100% you have to give them a rest. you can't just keep on welding or you'll burn em up

I hold it true, whate'er befall;
I feel it, when I sorrow most;
'Tis better to have loved and lost
Than never to have loved at all.

[fasterfaller 0]

Go miller . Search local pawn shops and the ad section of your sunday paper . I would get at least a 175 amp model as it is better to have more amps than you need .

[VectorBoy 0]

I hate you.


Ah, some day...some day, just not ........

Hey then you will love this. Last summer in the high sierras I had the blessed opportunity to do some emergency field repairs to the steering linkage of an old 70's ford bronco with some other jeepers up till then unused brand new $1100 premier underhood high frequency stick welder half the size of a shoe box. Was one of the best machines I've ever used and I own a square wave tig / big amp stick machine. That pup was very handy indeed, I gotta get.

The ford driver loved the work so much he said once he got back to civilization he was going to remove the field repair and have it framed on his living room wall........course you think things like that when you have 16 miles of extreme rock gardens and boulder hopping to do before you reach blacktop.

[AggieDave 6]

Yup, Perky, I agree with you on your opinion of cheap tools as well. I, however, don't have a sweet job like you. Basically, I need something that will get me through until I can buy something nice in a couple years.

Looks like it has become a non-issue at this point, since a friend of mine has hooked me up with a "loner" setup that his business isn't using and won't be using for a while.

That'll get me through the projects I have coming up.

--"When I die, may I be surrounded by scattered chrome and burning gasoline."

[murps2000 86]

After a bit of reading, I see you've gotten a lot of good advice. My $.02: I work at a misc. fabrication shop (which, by chance, Treejumps' dad owns), and we have a little 120v millermatic 130 that I've taken home & used on everything from real thin sheet steel (like 18 gauge) to 5/16" plate. For the thicker stuff I had to run multiple passes but it made nice welds. The wire we use in it is .023" outer shield flux-core, and I'm very impressed with how it runs, and this is WITHOUT gas. You may be able to find one for around $500 retail. It only has the 4 voltage settings, but I found this to be quite adequate. With practice, you will be able to adjust your wire speed so that it will weld nicely for just about any application you need. Admittedly the 240V machines weld way better, but they are hardly portable. You can find 120V power anywhere. And like your cell phone, there will come a time when you will need it in the field. One thing, though. If you run it on a 15amp circuit, it WILL trip the breaker on the 4th voltage setting. It will run okay on a 20 amp circuit. I believe it's a 40% duty cycle machine, which is pretty good. You can run it for about 4 out of every 10 min.

Regardless of what type you get, tho, as has been stated several times in this thread, Miller is a great brand. My own personal Millermatic 185 is superb. I typically run .030" wire w/ 75/25 Argon/CO2, and it makes just the prettiest welds. I also use a 300 amp Miller at work, and it, too, is an excellent machine. It's always Miller time when I weld.

Good Luck, and let us know what you get.

[chopchop 0]

That sounds awesome.. you get to learn on somebody else's light industrial machine.. it'll prepare you well for when you haev to buy your own in the future.. Good luck with your projects.

chopchop
gotta go... Plaything needs a spanking..

Lotsa Pictures

[AggieDave 6]

Quote

Good luck with your projects

Thanks! Don't worry, I'll post pics when I'm done with my projects. Especially the grill. This thing is going to be badass!

I'm going to be using some parts I have laying around for the grill, what do I have? The stock Chevy wheels (16") from my truck, the old leaf-springs from my truck AND a pair of 33" tires from my truck. Thus, I'm going to have a sweet pull behind grill that rides the same height of my truck, but still low enough to cook on. (Yes its legal, I checked).

--"When I die, may I be surrounded by scattered chrome and burning gasoline."