Point of no Return

[Brimmstone]

Straight argon is for welding aluminum

Unless we are talking Tig. Then it can be straight Argon, straight Helium, or a mixture of the two. Although if you want to get some real penetration when mig welding Tri-Mix is awesome. Usually used for doing stainless. When I'm migging something thick I'll swap to my bottle of Tri-mix and start laying beads. Penetration is beautiful with it.

 

[brdmh44]

I should have clarified my post a bit better - When I implied "straight argon" I meant to say I will never weld with flux core, I only use a mig welder with shielding gas....I do in fact use a 75% argon 25% Co2 mix - heck my supplier doesn't even have straight argon anymore. Sorry for the confusion guys, should have been more clear with the message.

 

[david85]

Another point not discussed , is which welding you are morre familiar with. If you tig oftern and are familiar with your machine it will work fine. Same can be said for Mig.


I am the avaiation welder on the base so I am usually behind a tig torch several tiems a week. I do get soem good time on the Mig as well, so i stay pretty current. My point is if you are more familiar /comfortable with one process over the other, then go with it. Keep in mind the thickness of the metal your welding and make short tacks then short welds, it should work out fine.

Yeah those are good points.

At the time I was a bit more comfortable with the Tig, and the Mig also had a wire feed issue (would bind and produce a chattering feed). The tacks I put down with the Tig were generally about 1/8" in size (no filler). The mig couldn't produce anything smaller then 1/4".

The Mig was also an old hobart analogue machine while the Mig was at the time a state of the art PLC integrated solid state machinne.

I practiced for hours on some identical thickness scraps before settling on the tig. Both could produce satisfactory strength and penetration, but I wasn't able to get the weld size small enough with the Mig (starting near an old tach would also throw the heat range off). No doubt other machines would have done better.

Wish I knew what I did with the photos, but it was a good 5 years ago...not sure I would do it again today

 

[FordGuy100]

From grinding down today two things are aparent.

1: warpage wasn't that bad at all. And;

2: I'm going to invest in s small MIG welder that has a tank instead of flux. I would say nearly half of my welds didn't bond well with the fenders. So the bed will sit until next week when I purchase one. Wanting to get a small Lincoln, Hobart, or Miller. Found a good price on a small Lincoln that includes gauges and everything for $280.

I literally could have been done with the welding today but I'm glad I stopped. Flux core defiantly isn't something I will use ever again. Now I won't attribute it all to flux, but I think that's where my problem is.

 

[Sw1tchfoot]

What type of a tool do you use for making cuts into the body like this? I need to do some fender and cab corner work.

 

[FordGuy100]

I used a 3" air cut off tool. Worked just fine.

 

[FordGuy100]

http://www.sears.com/shc/s/p_10153_...21x00003a&ci_src=14110944&ci_sku=00920580000P

http://www.amazon.com/Hobart-500550-Welding-Welder-Regulator/dp/B002VECKTM

http://www.ruralking.com/welder-aut...&cvsfa=1908&cvsfe=2&cvsfhu=303135323434323436



Thoughts, opinions? 1/8" isnt that thick but I honestly dont know what I would weld that thick that isnt a custom fab.

I like the Lincolns price, but I would like the flexibility of being able to weld thicker metal.

I do have the go ahead to buy one from the wife....she just got couches its my turn!

 

[gatorman21218]

I would recommend getting something that can run off either 230 or 110. 110 is not going to do much more than 3/16 or 1/4 at the most. And if you are doing sheet metal you will want to use solid wire so you will need gas.

Flux core is all I use for my projects. mostly 10 gauge angle and square tubing. The welds arent all that bad. It does splatter like crazy.

Another thought is just buy the small mig for thin stuff and get a buzzbox for the heavy stuff. a buzzbox is only like 250 bucks.

 

[gunz]

Thats my current set up at home. I have a loncoln weldpack that is my little 110 mig, then I have a lincoln AC 225 that is a 220 stick welder.

While i can weld exhaust pipe with the arc, It looks so much nicer with the mig, and heavy gauge is nice to make one pass with the arc instead of messing with the mig.

Any real critical stuff I bring to base and use the big miller in TIG mode.

 

[Brimmstone]

The lincoln unit at sears is a rebadged craftsman that was originally a rebadged century. It will work but weld quality is complete crap.
http://www.homedepot.com/h_d1/N-5yc...splay?langId=-1&storeId=10051&catalogId=10053

A good machine just a little pricey. I would watch ebay for a Lincoln 135Plus. I loved mine till it got swiped.

 

[RLDSL]

If you could find a real good 220 machine, they can come in real handy, but a lot of folks find that the Miller and other 220 machines will burn heavy stuff but they won't do light gauge stuff well, it takes a high end machine to be able to handle both ends well. You kind of have to decide what it is that you are going to be primarily doing A Hobart Handler 140 would be the next step up from a 130, and it will handle 1/4" in single pass with flux core and a steady hand . If you get good at staging your multypass, there's pretty much nothing you couldn't get done in a jam with that thing ( I had one for years, and it served me well, but I just found myself needing to weld heavy stuff for critical situations and NEEDED something stouter ), but it will also let you turn way down with a light wire and gas and work thin sheet. The beads that thing put out on 3/16 with gas are identical to the ones laid out on the factory welds on my 5th wheel.