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Welders..


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Welders are one of those things that you *really* get what you pay for.

 

Always buy a name brand, Miller, Hobart, Lincoln, and so forth. If you get a cheap knock off one, you will regret it later.......or at least until someone lets you use a nice one. I've had a Lincoln Weld-Pak 100 for 7 years now, and never had one single problem.

 

Always buy one with variable heat AND wire settings. The ones with switches don't give you enough control for many auto projects.

 

Contrary to popular belief, the 110v migs actually work very well, and will work for 99% of any home projects you will ever have.

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wow this is an old thread.. tangent made it even lol.. it says his last activity was yesterday, but i havent seen him post since 07 lol.. did we ever figure out what happend to him? did we scare him at canby 07 or something ? lol

 

lol nvm found him! http://www.forum.ratsun.net/showthread.php?t=12372 lol good to see he's alive

Edited by lynchfourtwenty
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Well here she is.

016.jpg

 

 

this is the same welder i have...i had to put a heavier spring in the trigger(would stick and start feeding wire for no reason)...and just the other day it was feeding the wire very slowly and i had to take the spring spacer off of were the wire roll is attached

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jeff ya burned some wire through that yet? I curious if those work as well as they claim can you overide the auto settings? i hope:unsure:

 

I don't even know what the overide is for.... It welds fucking awesome!!!! I need to plug it into a plug with a 20amp breaker though. If I turn it up it pops the 15amp one :( So far from the few small things I have welded I'm very happy. I will let you know what I think after the wagon is done, there is a ton of welding to do on that baby. Good thing I bought an extra 30lbs spool of wire :D

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  • 3 months later...

hey this is wierd you guys are talking about a miller 211, i went and priced one at a friends welding shop he quoted me $935.78 no sales tax but the ones on ebay are new with free shipping going for 965.77 free shipping? thats wierd how a smalltime weld shop can beat ebays prices? lol anyways any of you guys with a miller 180 or 211 how do you like it? i have used the miller 140 and i loved it (even though the 140 is 115v, and i normally weld with a lincoln 350mp!!!) i am thinking about getting the miller 180 but i think i might justy go ahead and get the 211

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totally gonna get a millermatic! anyone with hemorrhoid welds probably needs to do some of these things.

  • slow down! it isnt a race, its welding.
  • turn up your voltage
  • slow your wire feed speed. if the gun is pushing into your hands, youre wire is WAY TOO FAST! but if the arc keeps skipping and burning up the wire- you need to increase your speed.

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  • 2 years later...

so arC or mig, for say, 1/4" SAS kinda work?? I have a little 100amp arc welder

115v... Does Te sheet metal well enough. Just made some half doors with em... But now i wanna do SAS. Would 115v cut it, or jump to a generator and 230v. My duplex doesn't have 230v, go figure....

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I bought a Miller Autoset 180 last August.

AutoSet180.jpg

It works good for me. You will need extra tips until you get the hang of not clogging the tip. if you get the tip too close, they will clog.

 

You will need lots of practice to weld. Start with heavier metal before you try to weld Datsun sheet metal.

 

Spray some PAM cooking spray inside the nozzle, the slag will not stick to it then.

Always cut the end of the wire off for every weld. It is a PITA, doing sheet metal welds, but it works better.

Keep the welds on clean metal. I have a die grinder with a wire brush, I use when I have to go and put a new weld on top of the last one.

 

It is very difficult to actually run a bead with sheet metal. It needs time to cool. Make lots of tack welds.

 

Wayno, or MikeK know a lot more about welding than I do. PM, or post questions to them.

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I bought a Miller Autoset 180 last August.

AutoSet180.jpg

It works good for me. You will need extra tips until you get the hang of not clogging the tip. if you get the tip too close, they will clog.

 

You will need lots of practice to weld. Start with heavier metal before you try to weld Datsun sheet metal.

 

Spray some PAM cooking spray inside the nozzle, the slag will not stick to it then.

Always cut the end of the wire off for every weld. It is a PITA, doing sheet metal welds, but it works better.

Keep the welds on clean metal. I have a die grinder with a wire brush, I use when I have to go and put a new weld on top of the last one.

 

It is very difficult to actually run a bead with sheet metal. It needs time to cool. Make lots of tack welds.

 

Wayno, or MikeK know a lot more about welding than I do. PM, or post questions to them.

 

 

You don't actually run a weld on sheet metal, it gets to hot and warps, you just spot weld sheet metal, i've done a hole 521 KC spot welding, didn't even use a helmet, actually two of them now, the first one with a cheap habor freight unit, worked great.

The second one I did with my millermatic passport plus, what a great welder, works on 110 or 220, gas or flux core, and I can carry it around, it's in a suitcase style container.

I use flux core mostly, when you weld outside the wind makes using gas a bitch.

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You don't actually run a weld on sheet metal, it gets to hot and warps, you just spot weld sheet metal, i've done a hole 521 KC spot welding, didn't even use a helmet, actually two of them now, the first one with a cheap habor freight unit, worked great.

The second one I did with my millermatic passport plus, what a great welder, works on 110 or 220, gas or flux core, and I can carry it around, it's in a suitcase style container.

I use flux core mostly, when you weld outside the wind makes using gas a bitch.

although it is hard to run a weld bead on thin sheetmetal with a mig I have seen it done, it really depends on heat input and how much heat the particular area your welding can absorb. Some times it possible to run short beads about an inch long before you input enough energy for the metal to melt though, or warp a panel. you have to keep in mind though that you are melting the metal to begin with, its just the degree of melting your controlling. I have used wet rags to absorb heat, used fans, used the air compressor to blow welds after welding to remove heat etc.

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I am not saying you cannot run a bead on sheet metal, it is just beyond my abilities, currently. My dad used to weld sheet metal on horse trailers, using an old 225 amp Miller AC only arc welder.

 

I have a few pieces of 1/4 inch thick copper I use to back up welds sometimes. I have also used a piece of copper pipe that I flattened to back up welds.

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I am not saying you cannot run a bead on sheet metal, it is just beyond my abilities, currently. My dad used to weld sheet metal on horse trailers, using an old 225 amp Miller AC only arc welder.

 

I have a few pieces of 1/4 inch thick copper I use to back up welds sometimes. I have also used a piece of copper pipe that I flattened to back up welds.

copper works great as a heat absorber! your on the right track my friend!

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although it is hard to run a weld bead on thin sheetmetal with a mig I have seen it done, it really depends on heat input and how much heat the particular area your welding can absorb. Some times it possible to run short beads about an inch long before you input enough energy for the metal to melt though, or warp a panel. you have to keep in mind though that you are melting the metal to begin with, its just the degree of melting your controlling. I have used wet rags to absorb heat, used fans, used the air compressor to blow welds after welding to remove heat etc.

 

OK, you can run a bead on sheet metal, and when it warps on you, then it's over with, it's to late.

I just am not going to take the chance, it's almost impossible to fix once it warps, you have to cut the piece of metal out and start over.

I have done a lot of sheet metal welding over the past couple years, and there might be 1% on here that can do what you and DanielC have discribed on fender, door, top, any exterior sheet metal.

I have watched/looked at a few of the journeyman welders on ratsun, they all spot/tack weld there sheet metal, "Bob3" spot welded quite a bit of the MX520 project, even though a lot of it wouldn't have mattered if it warped a little, because it wasn't the outside of the truck, "521 Johnny" is just about the best I have seen, that guy seems to have no limitations, he spot welded his 521 project sheet metal together as far as I can tell, every shop I ever went into and seen replacement rockers, lower fenders, ect, have spot welded them on.

I have ranted enough.

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where was I objecting to spot welding sheet metal for autobdoy repair? Thats the same process I and everyone else uses, I was just stating the fact that you can run a bead on sheetmetal on things like tanks, boxes etc. lol geeze, if you can minimize heat input with a process such as TIG then it is very very very possible to run a bead on thin sheetmetal with minimal warping. The reason why body shops dont use tig is because it

  • takes more skill
  • takes more time
  • costs more money

ever tig welded a pop can? :sneaky:

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Mig welding sheet metal is bad.

If TIG is not available I rather oxy/acetylene gas weld it.

oxy fuel is a great process, I have a smith turbo torch setup for welding aviation 4130 tubing. nearly all aviation tubing is still oxy fuel welded. With tig welding you have a heat affected zone on the edge of the weld where the metal can crystallize and cause cracking. The oxy fuel evenly heats the weld area and thus prevents cracking. Its a tough skill to learn but you can create high quality welds. My grandfather was an autobody man all his life, he used oxy fuel the whole time. He once oxyfuel welded some aluminum!

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oxy fuel is a great process, I have a smith turbo torch setup for welding aviation 4130 tubing. nearly all aviation tubing is still oxy fuel welded. With tig welding you have a heat affected zone on the edge of the weld where the metal can crystallize and cause cracking. The oxy fuel evenly heats the weld area and thus prevents cracking. Its a tough skill to learn but you can create high quality welds. My grandfather was an autobody man all his life, he used oxy fuel the whole time. He once oxyfuel welded some aluminum!

I learn to oxy weld from my dad, he is also an old school body man like your grandfather. If I could I would oxy weld most of the panels I do, but it's just more time consuming and people now days don't wanna pay for that. I have never tried welding aluminum with oxy, I've seen people do it but I never had a chance to.

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A couple of weeks ago we were looking to add another welder to the shop, the Miller rep came by and let us use this Dynasty 200 dx to see if we liked it.

 

photo2emy.jpg

 

It's pretty amazing what such a small welder can do. It welds aluminum pretty good too.

 

In the end we end up getting a syncrowave.

 

photo1pi.jpg

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  • 2 months later...

That does look a good deal. Holy moly that's a tiny tank.... You'll need to upgrade quick. Search CL and make sure to get an "owner" bottle, and one with no company name stamped on it. I picked up a 150cf for $100, couldn't go to full 330cf because I need to carry full bottles up and down stairs.

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