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Thread: Home welder suggestions?

  1. #21
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    bb99,

    I would go against the grain and suggest an oxy aceletene rig for your project. The cost will be the lowest of all mentioned. The process is slower than electric welding but the skills learned will transfer. Also the gas rig will allow you to braze, and cut off.

    Additionally, many companies BOC, AIR gas, Linde, and many welding supply houses will provide bottles and deliver. The advantage is that electric welding can be tough to impliment properly with out some good practice time. The recommendation of a community college course was excelent.

    I think that Gas welding would be best since it is unlikely that you will have itchy eyes the next morning. Additionally wiring for a welder can be tricky. I had the electricians at work wire our Miller welder and the electrical code requirments were confusing.

    If you don't need to do aluminum, I would suggest that for short money gas for steel welding would be your best choice.



  2. #22
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    The only problem with gas welding is the distortion. Whenever you heat metal, it shrinks in the area heated and pulls everything out of square. That'll make it really hard to get a good CNC frame done! I have a little 110 Century MIG that my mom got me when I graduated high school (thanks mom!), and in the last 7 years I have welded everything from 22 ga, to 1/4", though the latter is very tough to get good penetration on. I think that it cost somewhere around $400, and would be just right for welding a 3/16" tube frame together. By the way, the gas bottle is almost never included! Don't learn this the hard way. I would like to suggest though, that you bolt together your first frame. This will get you up and running, and alignment won't be so difficult. Even professional welders can have a hard time welding together a steel frame that is true to even 1/16". Its hard enough to build your first machine, without learning to weld at the same time. Don't take it the wrong way though! Welding is an invaluble skill, that most people love, but get to know it well first. That way you can save the surprises for later when you know how to handle them! And the fewer surprises, the less expensive anything is.

    Stop talking about it and do it already!!!!!

    (Note: The opinions expressed in this post are my own and are not necessarily those of CNCzone and its management)


  3. #23
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    i have a lincoln power mig 200 at home. i do not find filling the gas bottle once a year to be a big concern. the time speny by not having to replace sticks on a stick welder is more than made up.



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    Get a mig welder.
    The one you want is a MillerMatic 200. (larger is better but smaller will give you limitations)

    Don't worry so much about the gas.. They make 2 sizes of bottles and my guess is the small size will last you over a year...

    The large bottles (5 feet tall x about 10 inches diameter) will weld together about 200 feet of steel at 1/4 inch thick. (400 feet if your indoors and you keep drafts to a minimum)...
    My bet is that you wont weld 200 feet of steel in the next 10 years if your just interested in welding square tube together... In other words, you may need a new bottle once every 2 or 3 years unless your doing heavy welding.

    I've spent 12 hour days doing nothing but welding.. (Big tanks).. It takes me at least a week to burn a bottle and I"ll go threw 2 large 30lb spools of .035 wire doing it.

    I've been welding for 20 years.. Miller welders are the best... Lincoln are a close second.

    1 suggestion, DO NOT get a solid state welder.. These are the new types that use capacitors and SCR's to drive them.. They are finicky and un-reliable. Stay away from them. Make sure to get a Transformer driven type as it will last you for the rest of your life if you take care of it.

    2. Stay away from the household 110volt welders that you can plug into a normal socket.. These are so weak and have such a low duty cycle that they are useless for building anything heavy.. They are ok for welding exhaust systems on a car or welding thin sheet metal but fall far short on penetration power when welding anything thicker than 3/16 steel.

    3. If you buy a mig welder, and don't plan on welding anything thicker than 1/8 inch, tell them to set it up for .023 wire instead of the more popular .035 wire. The reason is that it is easier to weld thin stuff with the smaller wire and it is to use the larger wire..

    4. Find someone to show you how to weld who knows what they are doing. A good looking weld is usually a strong weld. Weak welds will always break at the worst possible time.

    A word on DUTY CYCLE..
    This is one of the most important ratings of a welder.. A welder that is listed as having 100 amps of power means nothing if the duty cycle is only 5% or 10%.
    A ten percent (10%) duty cycle means that at rated power, you are only able to use the welder 1 minute out of 10 minutes. You must let it rest for the remaining 9 minutes to cool off. A 60% duty cycle means you can pull the trigger and go for 6 minutes.. It must rest the remaining 4 minutes. During warm summer months, reduce your duty cycle by 50% of rated DutyCycle. During winter months, you can increase it by 50%.
    Anyone who is looking to build something that requires allot of welding would not think of messing with anything less than a 100% rated machine. (very expensive)..

    EDIT: If your going to be welding aluminium, get a tig welder. Dont even try welding aluminium with a mig welder if your a newbie.. Its very difficult, finiky, and hard to do correctly. Even experienced welders like myself have a hard time doing it right.
    If you need to weld aluminium, a tig is the ONLY way to go..

    Good luck,
    Murphy

    Last edited by murphy625; 06-21-2005 at 10:48 PM. Reason: More info


  5. #25
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    i didn't pick out my welder, (lincoln mig 200) i had a professional welder pick it out for me. i probably would have gotten a lot smaller machine that would not have been appropriate for some of the big stuff i weld on the farm. the 200 mig welder is good to 1/2'' witht the correct wire. most of the stuff i weld is 1/4'' to 3/8''. i have not tried to weld aluminum yet.



  6. #26
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    Quote Originally Posted by bb99
    After looking at the prices of aluminum extrusions, I've decided to build my CNC frame from steel square tubing. ......
    After looking at the (European) prices of steel square tubing, I've decided to build my CNC
    frame from 50x50x4 steel U-beams.
    Since my welding is about the level of "it looks ugly, but sticks together", i expect lots
    of distortion of the frame, so i make everything adjustable, and bolt everything else to the
    frame. motor and spindle brackets will all be bolted, since they are likely to be replaced by
    more beefier versions. have you started building yet ?
    Jaap. http://jwstolk.xs4all.nl/mill.htm



  7. #27
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    start with a lincoin sp125 mig with .035 flux cored wire then pratice your skills



  8. #28
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    Some gas bottle companies also do medical gases, so they are very well setup to deliver gas to your home. Also, DO NOT weld galvanized coated steel indoors, or inhale the yellow gas it admits. Some people like galvanized electrical pipe for projects, cause it's cheap.

    If you got plenty of money, buy a TIG. I wouldn't trade my TIG for anything. If not, get a Hobart or Miller MIG welder (same company, Hobart is the cheaper units they make). Get some flux core wire, and try to get a bottle of gas and wire without flux. That way, the gas bottle will take a long time to use.

    Keep a 5 gallon bucket of water around when you weld, good to cool parts down, and very good to put out a small fire. Don't weld, then jump up and go somewhere, the sparks can smolder and a fire break out much later. Get yourself a fire extinguisher for the shop.



  9. #29
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    While your at it BB99, make sure you've got plenty of ventilation. The fumes from ally welding are not to be taken lightly.
    Ian.



  10. #30
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    [QUOTE=Don't weld, then jump up and go somewhere, the sparks can smolder and a fire break out much later.[/QUOTE]
    Very good advice.
    I don't know about the rest of the world, but in the Netherlands your fire insurance is not valid if you leave within an hour after finishing welding.

    http://jwstolk.xs4all.nl/mill.htm


  11. #31
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    Evening all, can anyone tell me if you can conect a tig torch to a stick welder direct?
    By that I mean will it work? Or is the tig welder electrics different to the stick welder electrics, apart from the fact that the tig has high frequency and a gas valve etc.
    I know you have to have a high frequency to get the arc to start but I've heard you can also do "scratch tig".
    I've already got a 200 amp stick welder, and a tig torch will cost about A$100 with the gas connections at the connection plug to the welder, and a gas regulator would go for A$50.
    Is this feasible? I know some of us are dedicated pro's and probably wouldn't dream of mixing and matching, but if there is no problem as to "will the darn thing work" then I would like to give it a go.
    The other thing I've seen advertised is the range of DC inverter welders of 160Amp capacity with a duty cycle of 60%. These are sold for welding ferrous metals and not ally.
    As the stick welder is AC and is used on ferous metals how will this work with a tig torch, if it can be connected.
    Assuming it can be coupled together,(it's only a plug in ) would I then have to have an AC to DC converter to weld steel?
    I've used stick, mig tig and gas in the past, after I was retrenched at 60, and worked part time for a bloke who has a welding business.
    I'm fully retired now and just do work for my own needs and hobbies.
    But having said this I'm not a welder, and can only weld to satisfy the needs of my ex boss, as I'm a fitter and turner by trade.
    Any, all, and even the slighest hazard of a guess will be noted and analyzed and you'll probably open up a whole new can of worms that will keep us going into the wee hours.
    Ian.



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Home welder suggestions?

Home welder suggestions?