Tweet
I have from time to time needed one of these,but usually run to a local guy I know to do the deed,However I am biting the bullet on this one cause I'm such a tightwad, some ya'll might be interested in one as well , http://www.homedepot.com/webapp/wcs/...QkWzw0&cj=true
-
-
Dang, that's a good deal. Too bad I'm in debt-reduction mode these days. -
Unless you are only welding thin stuff and aren't picky, this unit won't make you happy.
The 5/32" rods are hard to find, the voltage control is 'iffy', (meaning that even if you just use it for welding body panels on a car, you'll get blow outs, burn through's or cold welds).
I had one for a short while and it was good learning experience. I'm not a welder by any means, but this thing was a POS from the word go.
I took it back 3 times and none of them was worth the wire to build the transformer they used. In fact, my $38 Magic Chef microwave had a better transformer.
I actually ended up building my own from an 1100 watt microwave that will do up to about 5/16" - 3/8" steel and uses standard 1/8" rods.
You can find plans on Instructables or elsewhere.
Good Luck!
Comment
-
Think I'll yake my chances with this vs anyrhing from instructables, those folks are usually nuts and I don't like the idea of geting electrocuted by something that looks completely unstable, that being said the reviews I have found all were very good on this model and since I'll be learning rather than using it for work or on a regular basis its fine as most all I have is 1/8th inch or less metal to be welded, prolly sign up at the local tech school for some night class's for a better understanding and then if I need bigger I'll look into a larger unit off CL, But for $69 shipped its hard to beat. Thanks for the info on the rod size
Comment
-
I thought about that some more, and decided that even at that cheap of a price, I'd rather have a MIG. It's what I taught myself when I was fabbing bumpers and side plates for my Jeep days.
Geez, that was over ten years ago now.Comment
-
Figure to possibly move up to that later,but for now just learning to weld at the ripe age of 58 is enough of a challenge for me,Baby steps
Comment
-
Chris a question, Did you learn thru some schooling or are you self taught ?, The few folks I know who weld basically learned thru their familys and aren't really willing to take on someone to teach and schools in the area are not abundant.Comment
-
Adult education classes thru the local school system usually has classes for welding. Usually takes place in the evenings and is pretty cheap.
ConwaygolferComment
-
One really important concept is to "see" the puddle. Too many people focus on the bright light, thats the arc and you dont want to focus on that. You need to look past that to see the duller light which is your molten pool forming, that is what you look at and gauge by size to understand whether your rod speed is too fast too slow, whether your amperage is adequate for the thickness of metal and rod type. The 7014 is a very good suggestion, it will give you very good results in a short time. Practice a lot, someone told me you can expect to burn through 50lbs of rod before you get it, but this is just a rule of thumb saying, I have produced some decent welds in about 15lbs, but I can still throw out some chicken poo also ;-)
CL is definitely the place to go for a used welder. I picked up an old buzz box for IIRC 75, but I needed new cables, check those carefully because those being copper can be expensive.I think in straight lines, but dream in curves
Comment
-
Make sure to keep track of the receipt. It will more than likely be returned in a few days. I paid $125 but failed to return mine and then sold it on a garage sale for $65. I was a welder for 7 years and I could never get it to do anything but what is referred to in the trade as turkeysh.t. If I ever buy another it will be wire feed. A friend has one and it works well.Comment
-
Thanks to all for the advice, Hopefully I won't set the shop on fire or my yard and garden and I will be keeping the receipt ,but folks at the local HD refer to me as the return guy already
Comment
-
I am self taught, on a farm, from watching my dad and another fellow. I watched their actions and was never told what to do. IF you had asked me I would have said - "Strike and arch, hold the distance and start moving as a small puddle builds up." Listening to you describe the action is exactly what I do, I just did not know how to describe it. Kinda like being able to speak correct English vs teach it. Our FFA and shop teacher went to my dad when I was in high school and asked him If I could join FFA and be on the shop welding team. (He found out that I could weld). This did keep me after school and out of farm work one day, about twice a month, so I didn't mind.
At a regional welding contest in N MS, I won that event. So, watching and observing paid off. I just was never told what the specifics in descriptive verbal/word form.
I am in the market for a somewhat low end inexpensive one and I have been wavering between the wire feed and rods. I am not ready now but within a few months, I will need one. I sure would like to get one that does aluminum also but that is BIG bucks.
I don't know what to look for in the wire feed. It seems that there is a manual feed and auto feed. I have only looked at HF and of course the manuals on those and the people in the stores are no help. I had the lowest of the line Japanese welders that was available in Japan and quickly learned that I had to move up away from the bottom end to get decent power to weld anything of thickness - 6 mm or so (1/4 inch).
QUESTION How do you manually feed a "wire feed" welder? Do you hold it in one hand and feed it with that hand while holding the welder with the other? That has not made sense to me and I haven't been able to figure it out from online manuals.Hank Lee
Experience is what you get when you don't get what you wanted!Comment
-
I'm one of those people who could learn to do brain surgery in about four days, it's just the way my brain is wired. I can see it, I can usually do it in short order. I just fiddled around in my friend's garage until I got the bead decent. Decent, not perfect by any means. Most would have said it was ugly, but it certainly worked. Once I fabbed the tabs and boxed the ends I attached the bumpers on the Jeep and proceeded to run them into a dead tree repeatedly at slow speed, similar to what would happen if I hit a rock on the trail. Welds held fine, and that sucker was heavy.
Just takes time and materials. Spend the money on an auto-dark helmet, one of the hardest things I found to learn was trying to find or keep my spot when I couldn't see.
Unfortunately being so long ago, I didn't take any pictures of the process and have very few remaining of the Jeep. All my pictures and pages were on sites that haven't existed in years. I learned the basics of how to make a bumper and saw how the welding was done at a business off of, I think, I-20 out in Douglas County. Want to say it was called Kennesaw Mountain Bumpers, but that was ten years ago. They are the ones who did the sliders in this picture, angled so it accounted for the body lift. Got to help out and learn, and I got a discount. Couldn't beat the deal. Built the rear bumper you barely see in the pic, the front one was by a guy trying to get in the business, he needed a model so to speak.
May have to look on some old hard drives and floppies (had a Mavica, they saved to 3.5" disc) to see if I can find some more pictures.
Comment
-
Nice Jeep, We'll see how it plays out Cass HS has welding class and I am inquiring to see if its a night class I can attend, thanks for the infoComment
Comment