welding

I just got a cheap welder from Harbor Freight to learn the trade and practice with. I've had some experience with MIG welding in the past and can make some decent lines and welds, but was wondering if there is any good reading material that I can use to brush up on some skills?

Anyone have any small and simple projects that would be a good learning aid? Keep in mind, it's a tiny 90 amp welder so I'm not welding structural steel or anything like that.

 

i would also like to know. i bought a new miller 225 amp a/c d/c welder i couldnt pass up $175 ive been holding off re welding the back part of my frame back on that holds the rear seat .

 

i was doing some reading on here, and people say putting their welder on the bottle is a big diference.... I get my welding practice from our beet harvester, it has 6 cylinders, each a foot in diameter and its about 25 feet long, and wrapped around that is a 1"x1" strip of metal, and every year we go over it... theres probably 80-100 feet of the metal that we have to weld...
just practice with twopieces of metal with about the same thickness, put them together and make nice steady back and forth movements but keep making U's (upside down U's)

 

yeah. Flux is junk. If you can get the gas get the gas. I've got a little 110v mig and the gas made a huge difference.

First project welder cart. You'll wish you had one sooner or later.

 

Get some scrap of different thicknesses and practice. Experement with different amp and wire speed settings. With a little torch time you can run beads like a pro. A gas sheild is nice but you can run some real nice beads with a flux cored wire and practice.

 

Go to your local machine shop, or fab shop and ask the boss man
if you can pull some small pieces of scrap from his dumpster.
practice different kind of joints, but joint (two pieces side by side pushed together), T joints ( make the pieces form a T) , Try some pipe welding
all the way around (pieces buted together). Get yourself a good angle grinder, cuz you want to clean the edges very good before you weld them.
And yes, Argon gas is the way to go for a nice clean penatrating weld.
And by penatrating, I mean make sure the weld burns into both pieces, not just lays on top. Have fun!

 

its all about trigger time.the more you do it the better you get.dont breath the smoke though if at all possible.use a small fan on the other side of your project to suck the fumes away from you.if you have the fan blowing on your project it will take away your sheilding gas and cause poor welds.
and what everyone else said...

 

to check that you're getting good penetration. weld a couple little tabs together then put one in a vice and grab the other with something stout enough and do whatever you can to bend, torture and rip the two apart. the welded portion should be stronger than the base metal. Also cut then grind away a cross section of the weld and examine it.

 

I would try buying a 1lb spool of "buckshot" wire my welding supplier says its the thing to use for nongas welders

 

Yup. Totally agree. My 110volt welding rig I have running with Argon and .035 I think it is, wire. Works great. I can weld up to 1/4" technically, but certainly thinner like 1/8" for heavier duty use. I mainly use mine for fabrication of brackets, exhaust work on my old truck, etc. etc. Penetration is good but like some have said, I wouldn't build a trailer or something using 1/4" square tubing using anything less than a 220volt mig. Not enough penetration. However, I do run my 110volt setup on a very large extension cord (10 guage wire) running off my sub-panel on a 30 amp breaker and that plug is run to the panel with 8 guage. I use a beefy 30amp twist-lock on the wall plug and a heavy duty regular plug on the other end. So there's no shortage of surge amps there.

I welded up broken weld spots that were previously done with a flux rig on a buddy's lawn equipment trailer about 8 months ago, everything is still working fine he said, no weld cracks, breaks, etc. Gas is the way to go.

 

Perhaps we should turn our farm into a chop shop :twisted: :twisted:
Thumbilly MC Customs

 

Ohhh, me likey! lol

 

Wow, my set up pales in comparison. Haha

I did manage to cut apart a cheap wrench and weld it back together. It definitely holds, but it's definitely not pretty.

 

anybody weld with dc reverse stick machine? is it really as good as others claim?

 

I think you should practice Low Heat, 2-Inch long Welds on Sheet Metal. You want to develop the confidence and technique to repair a Fuel Tank. Once you get so you can put a leak-proof Bead on Gas Tank ... you'll be able fix anything.

 

Argon Gas with non-flux wire will do excellent welds, that's what we use at work for handrails, less splatter.

 

pure argon (or other inert gases) is better for non-ferrous metal welding, for steel you want to get a mixture of argon and CO2. C-25 is 25% CO2 and is much cheaper than straight argon, one downfall is more spatter but if you can deal with a little cleanup (anti-spatter spray helps a lot) its a great choice.

 

Mig-mix, Argo-mix, different suppliers have different names. There is argon and co2 in 75-25 mix or 85-15 mix etc.
This link may give you a bit more info as to the applications of gas in welding.
http://www.gts-welco.com/gts-welco.aspx?pcid=278&ptid=5

 

Like others have said Argon is more for mig welding aluminum and Argon CO2 mix is for steel or stainless. I use 100% co2 on my mig when welding thin pieces of steel, exhaust pipes, etc. It works very well but has quite a bit more spatter than ar/co2. The benefit is that straight co2 is much cheaper. Flux cored wire has its applications. It is great for welding on items that arent perfectly clean, or if you are just starting out welding. Theres no point in having to buy wire AND gas when you are just practicing your beads and penetration.

Dont mean to bust your bubble but those harbor freight flux wire welders suck. Plain and simple. The wire feed is very unstable, the power adjustment is a joke, and the arc stability is horrible. A friend of mine had one briefly...until he used my lincoln and saw what a real welder was like. If you want a good welder inexpensively, try to find a used 110v lincoln or miller on craigslist or local classifieds. I paid about $600 for mine new but I have seen good quality mig welders sell for a couple hundred dollars used. The deals are out there.

 

Many moons ago I was using an older Lincoln that gave you AC/DC/Reverse up to 200 amps. I burned up probably 100 lbs of rods with it and never had any problems. Dead nuts reliable arc, and in the right application the reverse DC was great to use. I spent an entire week one time rebuilding a set of buckets for an excavator, welding up to 5/8" mild steel. Great machines.

As others have said, HF may have welders, but save your money and get a used Miller or Lincoln. You'll be MUCH happier, as will the guys here in the States assembling them.