Wannabe Welder

[John Ziebron]

A lot of good comments Rich. TIG is the most versatle for different metals but is the hardest to learn. MIG is probably the easiest and my choice for 90% of my welding jobs. It would help us to guide you further if you could be more specific about what you think you would be welding especially in terms of thickness and what types of metal. For example, stick welding will weld rusty steel but MIG and TIG need clean steel.

[Rich Konopka]

Such great advice!! I found a supplier called Metal supermarket less than 10 miles from me. They have everything you need and are hobbyist friendly!! I am also going to check out Harbor Freight or Northern Tool for a Mig / stick welder since they are close buy.

[George Yetka]

+1 on the Mig machine if you plan on welding thin wall. 50 % duty cycle or better.

If you are only welding heavy go stick.

I have options being in the pipe trades we have 15 or so machines used for stick and 1 for MIG but If I were to get a machine for my home it would be Lincoln 210 MP It offers a lot to the amateur welder(myself) You tell it you are welding 3/16" carbon steel MIG It will set itself up with good starting settings.

[Jim Becker]

I bought a multi-process welder, 120/240. For now I am only doing flux core MIG. Everything needed for that (except the wire and safety gear) came with the welder. When I get better and feel the need, I can add a gas bottle and do gas MIG; the welder supports it. The regulator and hose for that came with the welder; obviously the gas bottle did not. Should I progress to the point where I want to weld aluminum, I can add a spool gun and another gas bottle; the welder supports it. And if I want to jump into DC TIG, I can add a foot pedal and TIG gun and another gas bottle. Again, the welder supports it.

I may never need or want to progress past Flux core or MIG. If I don't, I overspent on the welder. But if I do, the incremental cost for each step is pretty reasonable, compared to buying another welder.

This is actually what I believe I'm going to do when and if I decide to learn how to weld. It's not all that expensive to get a multi-process machine and I don't intend to buy an expensive "name brand" machine, either, for the small amount of "needs" that I'd be fulfilling, which would largely be just personal enrichment. I suspect it will be either orange or bright green from HFT.

[Allan Dozier]

My son and I took a class at the local college years ago. They started with and spent a good per cent of the time with oxyacetylene to learn how to read the puddle then moved on to the other methods. In addition to the oxyacetylene setup I then bought a big ass mig and a small 120V portable mig. I added the spool gun for aluminum but haven't spent much time practicing it. Unless you are going to really get into welding skip the tig. If you can afford it by all means get the setup for inert gas shielding.
I get almost all my metal form a local metal scrap yard that also carries new metal. I did have to buy a piece of stainless recently and for convenience bought it from Metal Supermarket. I was short one leg of a table I was building. The cost was several times what I paid at my preferred place but at least they will cut off and sell a small piece. Look for metal businesses in the industrial part of town and it will save you a ton on material but you may have to buy a 20 ft. stick. Mine will cut it for me for easier hauling.

[Tom M King]

Flux core wire or stick welding uses the flux to boil the crap on the surface of metal away and shield the weld from the air. All that stuff boiling to the surface makes it hard to see what you're doing until you get some experience.

Gas shielded MIG uses the gas to shield the weld pool from the air, and lets you see exactly what you're doing more easily. Different gases are used for different metals and processes. For gas shielded MIG welding you have to grind where you want the weld down to clean, bare metal. The only reason to choose Flux Cored over Gas Shielded MIG is so you don't have to grind. You end up with a weld bead you have to clean off though, so for me, my first choice is gas shielded.

Here is the welder on my cart below. It uses a different gas mix for welding the same steel for pulse and non pulse. It runs a beautiful bead.
https://www.millerwelds.com/equipmen...-welder-m30174


I do have a small non gas shielded machine to run flux cored wire just because it's small and portable. A stick machine is used away from the shop if it's thicker stuff as my small MIG machine doesn't have much of a duty cycle enough to put heat into something say thicker than the deck on a homeowner type lawnmower at most.

In either MIG type, it's really just much like a hot glue gun, only a REALLY HOT hot melt glue gun.

TIG requires co-ordination with both hands. You hold the arc with one hand, and feed the wire with the other. It's also gas shielded and you don't want to pull the filler rod out of the gas shielded zone between feeding the weld pool. This is why it takes the most practice. MIG welding is many times easier to start with.

I buy metal for small projects from the places I mentioned in my first post. If I need longer than 3 or 4 foot pieces, I have it delivered in 20 foot lengths because I can get it with free delivery if I wait until they are bringing a load to a local boat lift manufacturer. I do have easy access for a semi-truck and forks for a tractor bucket.

This welder cart was made from metal bought at Tractor Supply. I have bought thicker pieces cut to the size I need off ebay, such as the leaves for these hinges on the doors of the shop with the red front-3/8" thick plates already sized. Doors are 10'x10', barrels bought off ebay. Soil top dresser was built from the 20 foot sticks.

Buying a welder is just the beginning of the list of things you need to buy to be able to weld. Grinding metal doesn't mix well with a woodworking shop. I would say unless you have several grand to spend on it, and just want to do it, you would come out ahead moneywise just to pay a welder to weld what you need, maybe with you buying and prepping the metal. You need to be able to see what you're doing, and a good quality hood makes all the difference in that.

My welding instructor has stuff sitting on the Moon that he welded, and figured out how to weld. He had a pacemaker several years before he left here, and would get me to weld stuff he needed while telling me how to do it with stuff he had prepared. Chuck always had projects going. He wasn't supposed to run a welder with a pacemaker. He sadly left here in 2012 and left me all his equipment, including a lifetime accumulation of metal working and machine tools. I wish he could see the welders we use now.

[Curt Harms]

I've not had any experience with MIG or TIG welding. Stick welding mostly and oxy-acetylene a little. I do have a small buzz box from Harbor Freight bought in the early 2000s. It was like $90 at the time. It will produce functional welds, its biggest shortcoming is difficulty in striking an arc without the rod sticking, something about a low open circuit voltage or something like that. Once the arc is struck it works well. Rod size is limited to something like 1/16" or 3/32", not suitable for heavier work like trailer fabrication or repair. I did fabricate table saw and jointer/planer mobile bases out of square tubing with it and they have stayed together. I run it on a 240 volt 20 amp circuit which seems adequate.

[Paul F Franklin]

This is actually what I believe I'm going to do when and if I decide to learn how to weld. It's not all that expensive to get a multi-process machine and I don't intend to buy an expensive "name brand" machine, either, for the small amount of "needs" that I'd be fulfilling, which would largely be just personal enrichment. I suspect it will be either orange or bright green from HFT.

I considered the HFT Vulcan multi-process welder; it seems like a nice machine and gets good reviews. I ended up going with a Lincoln for two reasons: 3 yr warranty standard, vs. 90 day for HFT (although you can buy a longer plan) and some concern that if I want to buy a spool gun or TIG gun a few years from now, whatever HFT is selling then may not be compatible since they change models/brands so often. Maybe those add-ons are standard and it won't matter; I just don't know. The Lincoln weld pack 180 is comparable in price and capabilities to the Vulcan, although it doesn't have a display to guide you through setup, just a big chart inside the cover that has all the info you need for initial--get me close--settings.

I forgot to mention in my original post that the MP machines will do stick for those that need/want to do it. They come with a rod holder.

BTW, the little folding welding table HFT sells for under $100 is pretty nice for us occasional use guys. It folds up fairly flat and I'm sure it will find use as a portable work table for more than just welding.

[Tom M King]

It's a whole other rabbit hole. You need to be able to cut metal as well as grind it.

There is an endless number of work holding devices. I like magnets. Angle device on one corner of that welding cart. That was just checking setup. More grinding was required on that joint before gas shielded MIG welding. Little gun on the floor is to the little flux core welder. I don't remember what I was doing with that on that day. Maybe putting a new liner in the gun hose.

Typical farm jobs: blade sharpening door on 7' bushog. Hydraulic hose holder to keep them out of harms way if one comes loose on the batwing mower. Before I built that holder of the hydraulic hoses on the batwing, I ran over $220 worth of hydraulic hoses that got knocked loose when I ran over some small saplings to get rid of them on a pasture edge. I doubt I would have a welding setup if I didn't have the place here to keep up.

[Ronald Blue]

If you can get a multi-process power unit it will allow you to do any of the mentioned welding types. TIG, MIG, and SMAW (stick). DC is a desirable feature if you just get a stick welder. As info there are millions of the Lincoln buzz box AC welders out there. They have saved the day in farm shops many times over. I personally dislike them though. In DC stick welding you have reverse and straight polarity. The handy little saying to remember which is which is SEN and REP. Straight Electrode Negative and Reverse Electrode Positive. Duty cycle is how long in a 10 minute period you can weld continuously at a specific amperage. Pay attention to that because as I recall the inexpensive welders (HF) tend to be low on the duty cycle ratings. Good luck

[Mac McQuinn]

Flux core might be your best bet, produces deeper penetration than Mig, easier than stick to do and if you're proficient, you can produce decent looking welds. I would rather have a name brand used machine, saves you money and you can still get it serviced at electrical repair shop. My local shop won't even look at the off brand stuff, too many headaches and lack of parts support.

**Get a good Welding respirator, your Lungs and Brain will thank you in years to come. Welding fumes are nothing to take lightly.

[Bill George]

Most pipeline and pressure vessel welding is either TIG welded root with with a 7018 cap or other spec’d rod, the root can also be 6010 with the 7018 or spec’d rod. My Pipefitter welder son (Union trained) was on a job when the Engineer came out and threw a fit when he found either the rod was wrong or was not kept in the oven at the right temperature.
A lot of grinding and re-welding was the result of not doing things right. My son was not the guy running this job.

[Ronald Blue]

Most pipeline and pressure vessel welding is either TIG welded root with with a 7018 cap or other spec’d rod, the root can also be 6010 with the 7018 or spec’d rod. My Pipefitter welder son (Union trained) was on a job when the Engineer came out and threw a fit when he found either the rod was wrong or was not kept in the oven at the right temperature.
A lot of grinding and re-welding was the result of not doing things right. My son was not the guy running this job.

6010 was my preferred root pass. Often especially in repair welding you can't get get the joint butted up tight. 6010 being a deep penetrating and smoke shield both got a good base in which to come back with 7018. Bill you mentioned earlier that a crappy looking bead was usually a bad weld as well. Trust me 6010 will practically show every heart beat you have. It is great to learn what is wrong with your technique. When you can lay a good bead with it everything else will be a cake walk.

[Mac McQuinn]

I'm was 5G AWS Certed in 1974, I ran 6010 followed by multiple passes in 7018. All of our rods were in temperature controlled cabinets until use. You don't want the joint to be butted, ours were V-ed with a ground land, gaped the thickness of the bare electrode, tacked and welded. That is your root pass, when it's done right, you can watch the bead form on the inside of the pipe, a thing of beauty, especially after a clean x-ray.

[Tom M King]

Here's the mobile base I built for the 24" Centauro. It only raises the saw an inch, has nice 6" casters which makes it the easiest moving big tool I have. Out of scrap angle, a piece I bought off ebay, and leftover cuttings of other fabrication jobs. Also a picture for size of the shop door hinges. No drawings were made for anything I showed in this thread, only measured off the need, and figured out as I went along.

Here are the hinge barrels I bought off ebay. I put thrust bearings on the bottom hinges. The big heavy doors swing and keep swinging with a push of one finger, whereas I felt like I was risking my life opening them with the old bent T-hinges that were on them when we became owners of that building.

There are all sizes of hinge barrels on ebay.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/29362337190...Bk9SR4b02fn0Yg

I couldn't find the exact size plates I ordered off ebay, but these are close. They do combine shipping, so the shipping is not so high for each piece. I may have been able to buy them some cheaper nearby, but at that time I was stuck at home 24/7 for three years caring for my aged Mother, so just had them shipped.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/32274785782...Bk9SR4rTsvr0Yg