Welders!

[Ogier]

Miller 251 with 75/25 and Argon on the spool-gun.

Nuff Said

[mbgmike]

welding is like having you PHD in medicine. I could fax you our companys welding standards but it would tie up the line too long and once you got em you would need an interpretor. A good welder is as valuable as any doctor. they just don't get paid as much. I buy all my stuff from welding shops I pay more but they will help you out more. deal with pros if its in your budget. Its not in mine but i deal with them anyway.
you can get more than you pay for.(note: some welding shops don't want to mess with small guys like body shops but go somewhere else)

[hotrodmtodd]

Has anyone dealt with L-Tec welders? It is a commercial grade Mig welder that was given to me by a friend when his companys building was destroyed in a flood here in SEP '04. I was just just wondering if it is worth investing some money into to refurbish? Give me your thoughts. Thanks, Mike

[whitdog72]

if your looking for a stick or tig welder for home heres what i would recomend
http://www.millerwelds.com/products/...xstar_150_sth/
i personally have the 125 which i dont think they offer anymore, but i love mine, its small it will stick or tig just as good if not better as any big a$$ old shop welder will, did i say there like the size of a shoe box?! the unit i have is a 110/220v welder and there is no switching leads it automatically senses what voltage your running. they are a little on the expensive side i bought mine when i was welding for a living i got mine at the time in the range of 1200 bucks. it comes with everything, leads, argon gauge, tig leads.

Quote:The main downfall though is how much the flux will splatter which means more grinding for clean up!
go back down to your welding shop and by flux splatter spray or you can use like WD40 its basically like a oil and it keeps the splatter from sticking
just my $.02

[beaucon]

First, I am lousy at welding, so this is not expert advice. Second, I recently switched out the lense in my helmet from an 11 to an 8. In one day, my welding improved 100%. I can finally see what I am doing. I am not suggesting that everyone should use an 8. However, I wear glasses. This automatically cuts down on the available light. I never new I had a choice of lenses. So if you find that you cannot see what you are doing, just remember that you are not locked into one grade of darkening lense. I think the new lense cost me less than $3.00. I screwed up way more steel than that over the years so it is worth expirementing. You don't have to make such a dramitic jump from 11 to 8, considering the cost of the lenses and the value of your eyes you may want to sneak up on the right grade for you.

[LUCKIN-FOU]

My dad walked beams in New York City they used Lincolns. When he came off of the beams they had Lincolns in the shop. He told me when I got my frist machine make sure you get a Lincoln , Miller , Or Hobart that way no matter were you go in the world it can be fixed. So now all I run is Lincolns
140 Volt 110 Mig
SP 250 Mig
Power Mig 255
Square Wave 275 Tig
Precision Tig 375
Pro Cut 55 Plasma Cutter

[kyle4381]

I have a miller 251 It is a sweet MIG welder tthat is well worth the money. you can weld sheet metal and up to 1/2 inch steel..

[shaneo2112RUSH]

im looking to buy a welder and wondering if anyone is selling!!! i figure i would give the forum a try before i start looking on ebay

[67/72junkie]

I have used the L-tech tig with argon and it does beautiful.If you get a mig go with gas and get it from a welding supply.My neighbor has a lincoln SP175 he bought from lowes.I have a lincoln SP175T that I bought from the welding supply where I get my bottles filled.When he tries to weld anything like a frame his will get hot and shut down after a few minutes.I have not had this problem with mine but my supplier told me that the one I purchased from him was commercial grade with a higher duty cycle.I have been very pleased with mine.

[72LS7Propane]

There is an American Company called HTP America. I happen to own their
200 amp mig, 160 amp tig and a resistance spot welder. They have more features than most welders for a better price.

They offer outstanding customer service. I had the president of the company
troubleshoot a problem with my tig welder and he guided me through it on his 1-800 phone line after hours. It needed a new printed cicuit board which he guided me through removing and promptly sent me a replacement.

This company has definitely left me satisfied, with no regrets and offers outstanding products. They also offer a beginner Mig welding video for $15.00
which is refundable upon the purchase of a welder.
They offer 6 Migs from 120 -240 amps. Some of the mig accessories are really cool as you can use them with your mig welder. Such as Stud welding so you can pull out dents with a dent puller instead of buying a separate unispotter, shrinking attachment so you can add heat to a high spot or oil
can in sheet metal without having to use a torch. A spot weld nozzle, so you can drill or punch a hole in the top sheet of metal and spot weld to the lower sheet without having to move your welding gun and on apreset timer which is built into the welder.

There are many more cool toys, and I would definitely check out their website
and/or order a current catalog. I live in Canada and paid for shipping and customs charges with no regrets. Their welders are not manufactured in the U.S. and I would not trade them any day of the week.

The company is located in Arlington, IL.

Tell Jeff or Dianna that Warren Oliver says hi from Calgary, Aberta, Canada. Hope this helps.

Web site: www.usaweld.com

Phone: 1-800-872-9353

[kyle fitz]

ive been using a Snap-on 140 mig, and 100% duty cycle. with .023 wire it is perfect for sheetmetal. its got a timed spotwelder on it, which is great for bed sides and any thing with a lot of spotwelds. of course being from snap-on its expensive, but worth it!

[>X<]

i'm pretty sure 10 is the lowest you can go for mig welding, its just your eyesight though you might want to check into that

[badone07]

I've been using "9" for many years without any problems. I don't wear glasses at all.

[70 net440]

We have an L-tec at our shop. We got it from the local parts store about 17 years ago. We have abused it continuosly and it has worked great. We repair garbage containers, truck frames, and do some fabrication with it. I even welded a fender bracket on my son's Blaster today, no problems. I would like to find a good 120v welder for using at the house to save trips into the shop.

[hotrodmtodd]

Originally Posted by 70 net440

We have an L-tec at our shop. We got it from the local parts store about 17 years ago. We have abused it continuosly and it has worked great. We repair garbage containers, truck frames, and do some fabrication with it. I even welded a fender bracket on my son's Blaster today, no problems. I would like to find a good 120v welder for using at the house to save trips into the shop.

Thanks 70. Sounds like they must be decent machines. Anybody else have experience with L-tec? Any parts sources or e-mail links? Thanks, Mike

[shifty]

Hey guys,

I think I'm going to take the plunge and buy a welder. I guess it's the last thing that my shop is missing, honestly (except a plasma cutter, metal brake, drill press, DA sander, ... ).

Seriously though, I know nothing about welding. I don't know what people mean when they say "ARC" welder, I don't know what TIG and MIG means, when you would use gas mixtures, what gas mixtures have what benefits, what kinds of wire to use with different welders....

Man, I need some help learning all of the ins and outs of welding and the styles and uses.

I'd also like to find a welding tutorial online for welding different types of steel together - it would be nice to have a matrix (grid) showing what type of welding works best in diff't situations.

The types of welding I can see myself doing consists of: Welding fabricated brackets together, welding things to my frame, shaving body panels, doing other body work like frenching an antenna housing into my stock gas filler hole.

I see lots of welder recommendations above, but that doesn't help if I don't know if that welder is right for what I want to do. I don't even know how you'd add gas to a system or what that means I'm a super-n00b.

If anyone can give any advice or answer any questions I have above, please help. Thanks

[k-20]

Originally Posted by shifty

Hey guys,

I think I'm going to take the plunge and buy a welder. I guess it's the last thing that my shop is missing, honestly (except a plasma cutter, metal brake, drill press, DA sander, ... ).

Seriously though, I know nothing about welding. I don't know what people mean when they say "ARC" welder, I don't know what TIG and MIG means, when you would use gas mixtures, what gas mixtures have what benefits, what kinds of wire to use with different welders....

Man, I need some help learning all of the ins and outs of welding and the styles and uses.

I'd also like to find a welding tutorial online for welding different types of steel together - it would be nice to have a matrix (grid) showing what type of welding works best in diff't situations.

The types of welding I can see myself doing consists of: Welding fabricated brackets together, welding things to my frame, shaving body panels, doing other body work like frenching an antenna housing into my stock gas filler hole.

I see lots of welder recommendations above, but that doesn't help if I don't know if that welder is right for what I want to do. I don't even know how you'd add gas to a system or what that means I'm a super-n00b.

If anyone can give any advice or answer any questions I have above, please help. Thanks

tig=tungston inert gas,mig=metal inert gas,mma(aka arc,stick)manual metal arc,we generaly use an argon/carbon dioxide mixture for welding steel(mig),pure argon for aluminium(mig and tig)pure argon for stainless steel(tig)
mig welders are the best choice for an all round welder,some thing around the 150 amp-200 amp range should do all the work that you will be doing.

[cdowns]

learning to weld is a mostly hands on deal//most welders come with a good instructional video and book//


places for help:
1 local welding supply /lincoln and miller both have schools and sumtmimes have travilin techs that have seminars//and the local sales guys will be glad to take thier time to get you started on the basics and have info on local training// while on this subgect i'll also add that sometimes it's worth the premium price of dealin local to get this knowledge and tech support in the future

2 local community colleges or trade schools for a 5-6night course

3 local library ====nothing like a good book// places like speedway,summit,jegs have good books on welding//eastwood has expensive videos

its really not as hard as brain surgury just start picking up old pieces of metal off the side of the road for practice an go at it

i have a nice 220volt/135amp lioncoln welder for sale $350 if you want to pickup in daytona i'll give u some quickey lessons

[63lwb]

There is a great book out by Monster Garage with alot of great info and pics from the Jesse James series called How to damm weld near anything. It goes through the different types of welding,welders,and techniques. It's a great book for the shop. There is a whole series of these books on customizing, you can find them at borders,or barnes a nobles.

[>X<]

hey shifty go to your local miller store and ask some questions. if the welder is a MIG it is gas ready. there is a hole in the back, plug in the hose, read the directions/watch the included video about reversing the polarity and stuff, then start welding. if you want to do body work its not even worth practicing with fluxcore. you'll only learn by digging into an old fender and warping some panels. check out www.millerwelds.com to see the choices. the chart with the diff setting/thickness stuff can be found on the inside of your welder. its not as hard as it sounds.

[shifty]

Thanks guys.

cdowns - I think I might buy locally just for the sake of ease as everyone seems to be mentioning. there is a new Hobart Handler 135 someone has for sale here for $300, but after reading krue's first post in this thread, I'm thinking it won't do argon/c02 mix.

It would be perfect though - I've got two weddings near you in the next 3 weeks .. one in Fernandina Beach, one in St Augustine.

[>X<]

that quick lesson from krue might be worth not buying locally. videos are cheap and the welding place still will help you if you buy your bottle/gas/gloves/mask/etc from them

[shifty]

what quick lesson? i think i missed something. i was just thinking about buying a welder locally. i've got a friend with a bunch of welding DVD's ripped to his computer (gotta love technology), I'm downloading those off of him right now so i can actually have a chance of educating myself at home before venturing out in the world.

[shifty]

Here is a link to LOTS of educational material on welding from Miller:

http://www.millerwelds.com/education...pamphlets.html

Lots of cool projects for beginners, novice and advanced here:

http://www.lincolnelectric.com/community/projects/

Just look for the links that start with "Project:"

[dwcsr]

For beginners just one note about galvanized metal welding if you weld it and the fumes go into your helmet and you think hey that stuff doesn't smell to bad, kinda sweet smelling. You may think your going to die the next day you may have the shakes and the feeling that if someone killed you now it would make it better. Drink a glass of milk it helps. Then use a fan to exhaust the fumes to somewhere else.