Welder advice....

[downhillracer]

I want to do some fab work for the jeep but I dont have any experience with purchasing the equipment. I have experience with mig welding but I was wondering if flux core would do the trick for steel up to 3/16". I was looking at a 110v flux core. I know the duty cycles suck and they throw alot of slag around but other then that I dont see a down side. Can anybody learn me a thing or two.

P.S. I know this should go in advanced fab/tools but it wont let me post. I guess I should set some money aside to be red. Thanks guys.

[jpcherokeekid]

i would recomend using a miller 175 with gas not flux cord, it works the best for small fab jobs. hell i built my rear bumper and sliders with that welder.

[downhillracer]

Yeah I know what I should get but I was trying to do it on the cheap. Maybe I should go work at Weiss for a week or so.... build my junk.... then quit huh?

[jpcherokeekid]

yeah your not that desperate yet lol. im pretty sure my dad paid 600 for his out the door. seeing as how i make my living welding i wouldnt skimp on buying a decent one.

[downhillracer]

some guy local here is selling a millermatic 130 and a hitachi chop saw for like 700. But buy the time i buy the tools and the steel I could probably buy the #1 combo from jcr and be done with it. Im lazy.

[Captain Ron]

I want to do some fab work for the jeep but I dont have any experience with purchasing the equipment. I have experience with mig welding but I was wondering if flux core would do the trick for steel up to 3/16". I was looking at a 110v flux core. I know the duty cycles suck and they throw alot of slag around but other then that I dont see a down side. Can anybody learn me a thing or two.

P.S. I know this should go in advanced fab/tools but it wont let me post. I guess I should set some money aside to be red. Thanks guys.

So go to your local welding supplier and ask some questions. Go to some shop and see it in person. I guarantee you that I, or anyone else running an operation will help you.

But...

Asking on the internet about welding is like posting a sign in public for help getting your wife pregnant, but dumber.

Really.

:D

You dumber than dirt kids need to get off the internet and get some real life, seriously. Advanced fab? That was my clue.

--ron

[Bryan C.]

Wow, looks like Ron was busy being, well, Ron over the weekend. Judging by time of his post I bet he was several margaritas deep when these comments went up. Just like the rest of this internet forum stuff, most comments should be taken with a grain of salt. Kind of like Ron's posts. He did offer some good advice, but sent it along with a good dose of sarcasm. Take the advice or not, but I do agree with him on some level about getting out from in front of the keyboard had go have some fun. Pretty soon you got to get out of the library if you want to learn something.

Oh and Ron, play nice or we'll make you the next Big Red of the Sierra chapter. :firedevil

I wonder how many posts of his surfaced around the internet last night a little after midnight? :wave1:

[downhillracer]

Ok well I found all the answers I needed on wikipedia. Now if there was just some way to drag my computer into the garage so I could watch the video I found on the INTERNET about how to weld as I'm doing it. In the meantime Ill go over to the Mods section and ask what gears im going to need with my new tires or which lift people think is the best.....

[Letterman]

Ron is right, he posted some good advice. Asking on the internet about welding is going to get you responces like that! I bet Ron has used a welder once or twice.

Flux-core burns hotter and deeper then gas, as the sheelding gas cools the weld, not a better weld, just hotter.

Take the time to at least one store and ask, if you drop some good money now you can keep and use the welder for life. I went into 3 or 4 shops and picked the brains of everyone working at each one before I got mine.

[downhillracer]

Seriously..... why is asking a question on here where I can pick the brains of hundreds of people who have experience a bad thing? Why should I get one (or two) jackasses telling me that they know what they are doing but I should go to some store to pick the brains of a handfull of people. It doesnt make any sense and it is not good advice. Thank you Letterman for at least somewhat trying to answer my question... I guess. The question is pretty damn simple if ya ask me. Will a 110v flux core welder, weld metal up to 3/16". It is pretty much yes or no.

[HTeK]

First, Ron has valid points. Look past the sarcasm and try to learn something.

Let me see if I can give you some good advice...

The question is pretty damn simple if ya ask me. Will a 110v flux core welder, weld metal up to 3/16". It is pretty much yes or no.

Almost nothing about welding is that black and white. Can a 110v flux core welder throw down an adequate bead on 3/16? Sure, it can. BUT -- as you mentioned, you will be maxing out the duty cycle. Joint prep will be crucial on 3/16 material. And flux core sucks. I used it for years... now that I have gas, I dont want to touch the stuff. I only use it when its appropriate for the application (i.e. welding outside when windy). You have already stated the downsides... and I think they are pretty significant. Welding is hard enough as it is, the more you can do to make it easier on yourself the better fabricator you will be. I have fabricated enough to know that shitty equipment is frustrating and makes for shitty products.

You are no different than than a ton of people who want to start fabbing -- everyone ALWAYS asks if they can get away with a cheap 110 machine. And do you know what the answer ALWAYS is? Get a quality 220 unit, period. If you weld enough, you will be exceeding the limits of your welder and your welds will likely suffer as a result.

Spend the $550 for a hobart 187 - its (imho) the best bang for your buck. All the power and (almost) all the features of the nicer more expensive 220 machines without all the cost. Most people recommend what they have, I dont have a HH187, so I am trying to just make a recommendation based on what I am hearing - not what I own.

Do yourself a favor, dont skimp.

[Letterman]

You are asking a question that noone here can answer, look here:
http://www.millerwelds.com/products/mig/onephase.php

It says all the 110 welders can get into 3/16 with the low end at 90 A at 20% Duty Cycle. You going to build a cage with this? Bumpers that you will use as tow points?Suspention parts to drive on the road at 70mph? I would not and I have experence with welding. Some people will tell you it is fine, some will tell you that they have built lots of rigs with a Home Depot 110 Weld pack welder. But most in the know will not answer this question anymore, it has been asked 1,000,000 times and more often then not the person dose what they want in the end. So now most in the know will just ask if they can get your wife pregnant.

[downhillracer]

If this would have been the first response that I would have received, I would have said thank you and not looked at this thread again because I got the info that I was asking for. I still don't see how Ron's response has any validity, and due to his shitty attitude I doubt I will concede to the idea that it does. I have welded plenty of things with mig, as well as arc (I'm by no means an expert) and the only question that I asked was if a 110v could do 3/16". Thanks for the yes/no response I was looking for.

[HTeK]

HTeK, its nice to see someone who can offer some more insightful information without being an ass hole. this site should be about helping people, not treating them like shit. sorry for my language but the recent spike in jerkoffness is just pathetic.


I have had too much to drink tonight, and thereofore had a serious lapse in judgement. I publicly apologize to the Sierra Chapter. :dunce:

ignore my previous statement.. buy whatever you want and learn for yourself.

Seriously though, my post was simply MY opinion. On this topic, everyone has a different thought on the matter (as pointed out by Letterman). So with hundreds of opinions floating around, who do you trust? Hell if I know - i dont even weld, I just used wood glue on my suspension, crossmembers, and rockers.

[Phil]

Seriously..... why is asking a question on here where I can pick the brains of hundreds of people who have experience a bad thing?

Because you have no idea how much welding Ron, or HTek, or Bryan C, or Letterman, or anyone else has done, or how much experience they have with selecting materials, processes, or equipment.

By the way, Ron, when are you going to come north? There's something I could use a hand with...:D

[downhillracer]

By that standard nobody should ask any questions about anything in any forum on NAXJA because nobody knows who actually has experience and who is b.s.

[Bryan C.]

By that standard nobody should ask any questions about anything in any forum on NAXJA because nobody knows who actually has experience and who is b.s.


As I said earlier in this thread:

Just like the rest of this internet forum stuff, most comments should be taken with a grain of salt.



You can ask all the questions you want, but you should know by now that not everyone who will respond has actual hands on knowledge of whatever the question was. This is the biggest problem with internet forums, people with good intentions who post worthless information as if it was gospel. A big part of anyone's life, on or off the internet, is trying to figure out who is telling it straight, and who is full of crap.

[Letterman]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DOhKrL5DB1Y


Hasta

[Jes]

http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a399/dlddesign/LameStuff/NABMA.jpg

:laugh2:

[Letterman]

http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a399/dlddesign/LameStuff/NABMA.jpg

:laugh2:

"I’m just trying to do karate and get'in females pregnant"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j14YlS4szMs&NR=1

[downhillracer]

what happened to your sig line letterman?

[Starboard M]

I dont think Ron knows what hes talking about. More the likely hes some hillbilly living in the back woods with a little 110 flux core welder. I bet he doesnt even know how to weld!





And for that matter, does he even own a Jeep that can wheel?

[basalt51]

Don't listen to these Yahoos. The 110 will be fine. Like you said its just a little splatter and dirty welds. I hear harbor freight sells a good on too.

[Letterman]

All that's missing is the caption:

"We get the job done."

:D



Got it:
http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a399/dlddesign/LameStuff/NABMA1.jpg

[waggy401]

I second the Hobart recommendation. It's made by Miller, but you don't pay for the name. Hobart is actually one of the best companies for commercial kitchen equipment, but I suppose you need to weld some of that stuff, too.