welding

[woodymm3]

im sorry for the newb question but i am thinking about doing welding myself on my 70 blazer however i dont know anything at all about it. planned on teaching myself before diving in. so for mig welding is the flux wire welding even worth buying or should i go gas. i know that flux causes more slag but other than that i havent heard anything bad. was wanting to get others opinions so i can either buy one of these and start learning or find out if it would be more cost effective to just have someone else do the welding for me..... and what is the best welder for the price.... i am kinda on a budget hoping to get something under 300

thanks

[slug]

flux core wire is designed for outside conditions where mig shield gas will be blown away by wind. it also works on thicker material. for welding sheetmetal you need to use .23 or .25 solid wire (70s-6) and a mix gas of argon/co2 (75/25 or c-25 what ever the supplyer calls it). and set your welding machine to the thickness of metal you are welding. on sheet metal you also want to do spot welds as to not warp your metal. if you do a search on the site im sure you will find many topic discussing welding sheet metal.
as far as what machine to get. im partial to the millers but you might be able to get a hobart (made by miller) for a little less. but remember you will have to buy wire and rent a compressed gas cylinder and you will need a welding hood. and that adds money on to what your going to spend on a welding machine

[vintagesteel]

every bodyshop I've ever worked for has used .030 or .035 wire in their machines. by the time you get set up you're looking at over $500.00 for a decent setup.

[woodymm3]

so flux or gas?

[slug]

for sheet metal, solid mig (70s-6)and c25 (75/25) mix gas

[79oldj]

Gas is the only way to go for body work or pretty much anything as far as that goes.

[S10Fan]

Mark me down for gas as well.

Welding shield/helmet.............. I wouldn't take anything for my automatic shield. Love It Love It Love It

[BB70c10]

i was in the same boat as you about a month or so ago.i shortened my lwb and had alot of welding that needed to be done.i had a co-workers son come to work and weld the frame back together.it cost me $120 for him to do it,which i think was probably a great deal,but slammed1 told me to watch him weld,and it basically turned into him teaching me how to weld.he left the welder at work and i ended up welding up most of the plates and boxed the frame.mig welding is pretty easy to pick up on.i ended up buying a hobart handler 140 mig.it comes ready with guages/regulator for gas.all you need is the bottle and argon/co2 mix.the welder was $470.i bought an auto darkening helmet from northen tools for $50,the bottle was $90,gas was $35,and gloves were $12.the bottle is a one time fee and then all you have to pay for is fill up after that(like propane for a grill,you just trade out or get your bottle filled).for $650 i was welding that afternoon.i figured by the time i welded the bedsides back together,shave the body,weld the exhaust,etc. the welder will pay for itself.not to mention you dont have load everything up and wait for somebody else to do it for you.so far,the welder is the best investment i've made.i know you can get them cheaper than what i paid,but some of them dont come with guages and i dont think they're cheap,so you have to take that into consideration.id say listen to some of these guys more experienced than me and do some research on what size welder would suit what you plan to do,and you wont regret it.just my opinion.

[truckn']

woody IMHO I have worked in maintenance for 15 years and done all sorts of fab work in shop but never on a truck until now(I'm on my first project). I bought a small flux core welder and it will weld but you get a much cleaner weld with non flux, especially if you are gonna weld inside. If I had it to do over, I would just get the right stuff the first time and be done with it. I will eventually get a better welder, but for now I'm stuck with the one I have. I hope this helps you with your decision.

[woodymm3]

thanks guys think i will go with gas... maybe ill get a dual mig .... thanks again

[LONGHAIR]

thanks guys think i will go with gas... maybe ill get a dual mig

Dual mig? care to explain that?

If you mean that you can use either wire (flux core or solid) then any MIG machine can do that. You just load in the flux core wire and turn the bottle off.
MIG, is an acronym....Metal Inert Gas. Flux core is just a "wire-feed" welder, the two are not the same. Somehow any wire feed welder has gotten the term MIG, like it is generic.

I use a small 110v unit with .023 wire. It takes less power/heat to use the smaller wire and it is far more portable. Smaller machines have limitations as to material thinkness, but for the home hobbiest, it should be plenty.

[slug]

Originally Posted by LONGHAIR

Dual mig? care to explain that?

If you mean that you can use either wire (flux core or solid) then any MIG machine can do that. You just load in the flux core wire and turn the bottle off.
MIG, is an acronym....Metal Inert Gas. Flux core is just a "wire-feed" welder, the two are not the same. Somehow any wire feed welder has gotten the term MIG, like it is generic.

I use a small 110v unit with .023 wire. It takes less power/heat to use the smaller wire and it is far more portable. Smaller machines have limitations as to material thinkness, but for the home hobbiest, it should be plenty.

to be correct, to use flux core wire ( inner shield) you must also reverse the polarity of the machine

[j.files]

Originally Posted by slug

to be correct, to use flux core wire ( inner shield) you must also reverse the polarity of the machine

Very true. All sheetmetal work should be done with a MIG welder running hardwire (.025 or .030) and C25 (75% argon 25% Co2) sheilding gas or a TIG if one you know how to use one and have access to one. I design Oilfield Equip and all of the equipment that I design, I specify the weld procedure to use. There are 2 types of flux core wires. There is the cheap stuff you can pick up at Home Depot that does not require a shielding gas and there is the more expensive flux core that requires a sheilding gas that can only be bought from a welding supply shop. The misconception with flux core is that it welds like crap. This statment is so untrue as most average people do not know how to make flux core welds look good. Are you welding up hill or down hill. Are you pushing the puddle or dragging. All of these need to be taken into consideration when talking about welding. Flux core welding with a sheilding gas is used at almost every fab shop around for STRUCTURAL fabrication due to flux cores penetration.

[mintscorpion]

if i were you i'd get a millermatic 180 with autoset that way you can do sheet metal and frame stuff. i'm a fabricator at a streetrod shop and i use the older version millermatic 185 to weld sheet metal all the way up to 3/8". the 180 will run you about $700 i think, then you need a helmet - $50 auto darkening from harbor freight, 75/25 gas, wire(ers70-6), gloves and i'd recommend welding sleeves. after you have your tools go out and buy some varying thickness' of metal and start practicing. don't trust the cheat sheet on your welder either... it's usually a good starting point but you should learn adjust the power and wire speed settings by yourself. in no time you'll be a pro.

[63sbssbbw]

Thank you BB70c10, Just what I was looking for.
Response #8 should be in the welding sticky,if someone could copy it to there it may answer Q's from others ( and my request for such a review)
Thanks again
Is this not the best site on the planet or what?
Trent

[kevindtimm]

Originally Posted by j.files

Very true. All sheetmetal work should be done with a MIG welder running hardwire (.025 or .030) and C25 (75% argon 25% Co2) sheilding gas or a TIG if one you know how to use one and have access to one. I design Oilfield Equip and all of the equipment that I design, I specify the weld procedure to use. There are 2 types of flux core wires. There is the cheap stuff you can pick up at Home Depot that does not require a shielding gas and there is the more expensive flux core that requires a sheilding gas that can only be bought from a welding supply shop. The misconception with flux core is that it welds like crap. This statment is so untrue as most average people do not know how to make flux core welds look good. Are you welding up hill or down hill. Are you pushing the puddle or dragging. All of these need to be taken into consideration when talking about welding. Flux core welding with a sheilding gas is used at almost every fab shop around for STRUCTURAL fabrication due to flux cores penetration.

It is my understanding that the purpose of flux-core is to create the same environment (shielding) with the flux that is created by the gas. It's just two ways to the same end. I don't recall anyone ever saying that they used gas AND flux-core. But, then again, I don't design, I just read

[slug]

there are two types of flux core wire.
innershield-wich uses no shield gas
outershield-wich uses gas, used for industrial welding.