The welder selection decisions?

[kb58]

Along with 2 files, hacksaw and a big hammer, I guess we have to add angle grinder (got one) and pointy slag chipping hammer (seen one on video).
Is there a science behind the handle with the bulb-shaped grip made out of a spring?
I guess either good ventilation or 3M mask. I think the fumes are probably not good for you.

All true, but TIG welders generate no slag, no fumes (for clean metal), and I've never once used an angle grinder on TIG welds!

 

[graham-xrf]

All true, but TIG welders generate no slag, no fumes (for clean metal), and I've never once used an angle grinder on TIG welds!

That sir - is an awesome weld!

 

[DavidR8]

+1 on never needing to grind a TIG weld. Except when I put an assembly together incorrectly.

 

[graham-xrf]

+1 on never needing to grind a TIG weld. Except when I put an assembly together incorrectly.

David - is your Primeweld MIG or TIG?
While we are here, have you recovered from when you got flashed?

 

[addertooth]

7MilesUP,
You are correct, you can run flux core wire in a regular MIG rig. Usually my only caution on this is to back off the pressure point which presses the wire against the turning wheel which feeds the wire. Flux core wire is easier to crush (because it is not a solid wire), and will then curl when exiting the gun if the pressure is too high.

Arc weld splatter from a Stick welder can be *reduced* by making sure your rig can do DC, and getting the polarity correct. Get it backwards, or use an AC welder, and you get more spatter. Also, anti-spatter spray makes it so spatter does not adhere to the adjacent metal as easily (I don't actually use it very often, but I have a can of it should I feel the need). My right-angle grinder knocks all those little BBs of steel off rather easily without using anti-spatter spray. Those little BBs of steel, when ground away, tend to fly off very fast, make sure your debris coming off the grinding wheel is not faced towards anything you don't want to strike with those little high-speed balls of steel.

The final hint is on the hood itself. Most of the auto-darkening hoods are adjustable. If the darkening is set too high, it will be hard to visualize the "puddle", and your weld will markedly suffer due to the visibility limitation.

Okay, more more hint. Surface preparation is king. Grind away any rust or milling scale off the metal before you weld for the best possible joint. When constructing tables, steel is less forgiving than wood, dimensions should be watch more carefully than wood, and squareness of cut becomes more vital when building tables for machining equipment.

 

[DavidR8]

David - is your Primeweld MIG or TIG?
While we are here, have you recovered from when you got flashed?

My Primeweld is an AC & DC TIG (and stick) machine. 225 amps. Works like a dream. The operator is questionable though.
The flash was not really a flash in the truest sense of the word. The hood was still down, but I was pulse welding under bright'ish lights so as the arc subsided between pulses the helmet didn't think there was a need to be dark. After much investigation on Welding Web and Welding Tip and Tricks I learned that low amperage TIG is a challenge because the arc isn't always sufficiently bright to trigger the autodark.

In addition to my TIG machine I also have an older 110v Millermatic 130 MIG machine that I use with argon/co2. It works really well.

 

[samstu]

I'm a fan of older professional units (not gonna guess which brand that would be across the pond). These are often free or low cost and are relatively simple to repair and maintain. A quick welder project is also fun if you want to understand how a welder operates. A used well-sorted machine is often superior to lower cost budget units. If it turns that welding isn't your thing, a used machine won't loose anything in value.

 

[ArmyDoc]

I know I am late to the party here. I tried searching and reading - until I dozed out!
The sheer number of brands, types features, jargon and prices. Reviews that are good, reviews that are biased, reviews that are unfair/incompetent/irrelevant, is only part of what we face.

No - I do not want to see a YT video of the "unboxing" of some dude's latest sponsored toy! I am thinking the only way through might have to resort to Baysian weighted attributes decision tree analysis, but before I go slowly crazy, I think there are some yes/no choices that can match to one's needs and budget. There are features that have abbreviations that need translation before even discussing whether one needs it or not. I start from nothing, other than that I remember @DavidR8 bought a Primeweld and a Esab mask.

1. Stick, MIG, TIG? Can any welder do more than one? MIG is probably easiest to learn. Yes, there are multiprocess machines that can do more than one thing. The Lincoln 210 MP is a nice machine that can do stick, MIG and DC TIG. (It can't do AC TIG though, AC TIG is needed for aluminum, though you can do aluminum with MIG and special wire and gas)
2. Gas, or gasless? What's the deal there? MIG and TIG require gass (that's what the G stands for) Stick and flux core don't use gass, they have flux in the stick or wire that serves the same purpose, but they also produce dirtier welds (more slag) that has to be cleaned off.
3. How many amps for HM-style hobby use, if generally about 1/4" or maybe 5/16" angle, or common box sections up to about 50mm square is what we expect? Depends on thickness and material, but for 14# I would look in the 180-210 range. The machine specs will list capabilities.
4. Helmet - features essential. What are they? Welders masks come in two main flavors, Fixed-shade (glass is always dark) and autodarkening. Don't cheap out, get a good one your eyes can't be replaced.
5. Inverter or transformer? Inverter I guess. Only from what I know about electronics, I decode IGBT to mean "Insulated Gaste Bipolar Transistor".
6. Which YouTube reviews are really useful? This old tony has some nice ones on TIG
7.HF Ignition? How does that work? This is for TIG. High freq ignition alows you to start the arc without touching the electrode to the material. Lift start, you start touching and when you lift up, the arc is created.
8. Torch cooling - water or air, or don't need to bother? What is needed? More TIG related, I think. Depends on how much you are doing. For smaller projects, air cooled is fine. If your working for a few hours straight, water cooled.
9. Given I am in UK, and in current circumstances have to use online ordering, the only common point in finding respected brands is Amazon or eBay (perhaps). There are outlets in UK for traditional established brands e.g. Lincoln or similar. Lincoln is a good brand, Miller is another. My son is a welder. He uses Lincoln.
10. Are there types, or indeed brands, that one should avoid? I'm sure there are... If you stick with Lincoln or Miller, you will be unlikely to go wrong.
11. Is there a (low) price point where one may reasonably suspect the quality is likely to be crap? The price range for similar-looking welders can be huge. The relationship between price, and current rating is (sort of) there, but with huge variance. Really depends on how hard you are going to push the machine. For hobbiests, you won't be welding for 8 hours a day, 5 days a week. Look at duty cycle for your anticipated current (based on what you expect to weld) Some machines will have a 20% duty cycle - that' 10 min continuous and 40 min cool down, others will have a 60% (30 min continuous, 20 cooldown) and still others 100% at the highest setting. More money usually brings a better duty cycle. Duty cycle varies by type of welding and power level, with different makers reporting differently, which can make it hard to compare machines.
12. I even see a Hyundai claiming MIG TIG ARC MMA, apparently all in one. So is there such a thing as "one welder does all"? There are multiprocess machines, but I'm not aware of any that does "Everything" equally well. We settled on the Lincoln 210MP, which is a multiprocess machine. Never bought the DC TIG head, because that would also mean we need a different gas cylendar. So, would we have been better off with a cheaper single process machine? Maybe. But I want to learn TIG next, and I can learn DC TIG on this machine when I want to so...
13. Other than gloves and auto-darken helmet, is there a list of other kit that can be considered essential? Clamps, slag hammer, plyers, soapstone marking tool, wire brush, angle grinder, band saw
14. Finally, is there some hope that we can figure out something like a "HM fine and respected" list?

Here is a spread sheet I made a couple years ago looking at several machines. Prices are probably out of date, but the specs are probably still accurate. Hope it helps. Best of luck to you.

edit: Hmm. It doesn't let me upload excell spread sheets, so I put it into a word file. Pring the pages and lay them side by side

 

[ArmyDoc]

When you say "flux core" is what I am curious about. The rods I have seen have the flux on the outside. Is "flux core" what supplies the gas in "gasless"

Flux core is what it sounds like, the flux is in the center of the wire... the core is made of flux rather than metal.

 

[Buffalo21]

I see flux-core being used on an almost daily basis, a lot of outdoor structural weld is done with flux-core. They are using .068” and larger wire and weld in the 300-400+ amp range, a whole different scenario than using flux-core in a home shop

most home mig welders can run flux-core, all you have to do is change the machine-gun polarity