i picked up my el'cheapo mig welder for £120

 

That is cool. I got mine for $125 used without the gas kit. It's a little Lincoln Weldpower 100. The gas kit cost me another $100 and then a bottle (a 125) for another $150 and then an aluminum roller/liner kit for another $60. I really want a bigger head unit but unless I get a helluva deal I am just waiting for a TIG to come along.
I pretty much just use it for aluminum and stainless now.
I built a pretty badass all aluminum cart for it.

My Hobart stick welder I got from Tractor Supply of all places because a guy that works at the place I get my weld supplies from to me they had the best bang for the buck.
He was right because it's an AC/DC welder for under $400. http://www.mytscstore.com/detail.asp...productID=9545
The thing I like most about it is that it has a fine tunable amperage adjustment. I had an old Lincoln stick a long time ago that has the "click" adjustment that bounces in about 15 amp increments. That used to really **** me off because it was usually at least a little too hot or too cold and I would have to compensate with arc length or rod diameters.
I highly recommend this welder.

 

Here is the full spec sheet from Hobart in case you are curious. The duty cycle for a crackerbox is damn good. 100% at 100 amps AC 65 amps DC. I have not had to push this box even close to max. I've welded 1/2" with it and it still had a lot left in it. They are $369 at Tractor Supply and have a $499 msrp http://www.hobartwelders.com/product...te_LX_ACDC.pdf

 

need to trade my Lincoln PowerMig 200 for a Miller Maxxstar STL
like 10lb portable tig, im in love

but i sure hate to loose the speed of a MIG. I guess ill just settle for the Maxxstar SL(just stick, which is fine)


hey Scali, you ever heard of Messer MG Welding Products

they sell all kinds insane rods and wire.
Tin, bronze, Copper, Cast Iron(meant for like engine blocks(oil and grime on it ok!)
Get a load of this, if you shear the head off a bolt(who would do that?) They got stuff that will let you pull bolts, all you have to do is put the elctrode down in the bolt hole and touch it to the bolt, the flux comes off the electrode and fills in the threads so the filler material wont weld to the thread. run the filler material up until you can toss on a nut and weld it to the 'filler' bolt turn the bolt and wahlah! you got your bolt back.

sounds like a great company, i heard they were expensive but if their electrodes do half of what they claim, im sold

www.messer-mg.com

 

Hell that TIG is cheap http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...category=34099 Have you welded with one? I would not expect much in that price range. If that is the real deal I'm gonna get one.

As far as that Messer place goes that is news to me as well. What you described was insane! I would love to try that. That copper filler rod sounds interesting too. I have done a lot of copper in my house for Ms. Scalli When we did a 1800sf addition (1800+1400 ugh, yeah ) 4 years ago I built the staircase and implemented copper into it. It saved me a total boatload building it. She also got me to build her a pot rack out of copper and now 3 neighbors, 2 inlaws, and 1 of her friends have one. Which taught me to be careful what the hell I do for Ms. Scalli!!!
But I have wanted to weld the copper with copper wire in some cases. As you can see from both pics the copper ties to wood in part because I have not had any copper filler to weld out solid copper projects. At least in the case of the pot rack it would help.
Those stairs were a bitch. I inlaid ceramic tile into the treads also.
Here are pics. I guess with the tree it is a giveaway I just took them

 

Wow that looks great, nice home.

as far as i can tell that maxstar is for real

oh call Messer for their catalog, 182 pgs of welding fun
1800 558 8524

 

Thanks. I could not find much on their site as far a details on stuff. Glad you mentioned the catalog.
I am going to have to check with some of the local Miller dealers and find one with a display unit we can drag to the back and give it a run. A 13lb TIG welder? I will be blown completely away if it works well.

Hey Hans is Valley Mills still the main drag in Waco?

 

VM, yea it is unfortunetly...but cops cracked down too much nowadays, so no one races on it, ppl just meet there really, but I left that scene about a year ago. streetracing aint that special, take it to the track(although im not going to preach) we do have some very quick cars for the size of the town, but no one new comes out to race, so no one wants to race, racing scene died out. not to mention the po-po's going nutz on the couple places we did race.

oh but a good friend of mine works at a shop(NX nitrous dealers and performance, mostly LT1/LS1/some mustang) here. and they got a dyno with wb like a month ago or so! I need to try and bum some runs after i get my 7 rebuilt wonder if i can organize a dyno day for some 7 guys for him, for some free runs...

 

scalliwag...if you get that tig would you sell my your mig (http://www.mytscstore.com/detail.asp...productID=9545) hehe.

also me and my friends where looking at this http://www.weldingmart.com/Qstore/p001729.htm

i think we will go with the one ac/dc MIG welder and just convert it to a tig later on. it fits our bugget and well yup it firts our bugget. lol. thanks we where looking for something just like that.

 

Naw I couldn't sell you my MIG. There are at least 6 friends of mine that all want to be "first to know" when I want to get rid of something. I may as well have had sex with their wife as to make a move like that

You definately want to research between the Lincoln you are looking at and the Miller Hans is talking about. From what I can tell they are about the same specs.
Here is a link to the Miller on Ebay decked out with the whole TIG outfit except bottle http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...category=34099 for $1100 which is still crazy *** cheap and they have free shipping
So find out which welds best and what the price to get the actual TIG outfit will cost you down the road.
Something tells me that if Miller and Lincoln have a similar setup then Hobart may as well. So I would look into that as well.
Either they have figured out a new way to make a TIG or they are competing in the "cheap market" since there is always a market for cheap. So many people get cheap welders as far as stick and MIG's that don't know how to weld that they probably assume it is their lack of welding skill causing the poor results when actually a good welder could not do **** with it either. But the good welder knows what is going on.
I hope these are good. I have not shopped or even kept up with any TIG machines in 10 years so I have some serious catcing up to do. Hopefully I am just far behind on the new technology here and something slid under my radar

 

Yep, Hobart has one. So it is just a matter of finding which is the best and where the best deal is on one. I like Ebay for this stuff. http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...category=45031

 

yea but that hobart aint no 13lbs

Miller impresse me, I bought that lincoln power mig and i love it but wish i more adjstablity on amprage, instead of a,b,c,d,e,f,g
but you ccould train a drunk one armes monkey to weld with it, the got some badass technology in it

 

Hey guys sorry to butt in here but IU have been following this whole thing and since talk has turned to welders I wanted to get an opinion.

I have been considering the clarke model 130 mig package that eastwood sells... what do you think?

 

No the Lincoln and Hobart both look heavier but these are still tiny welders. Any of them could be thrown in a car trunk. I just want the know how each of these feel and perform.

 

I have run a Hobart Handler 120 (15 years use and abuse) and I got a Hobart Handler 130 last year. Fine units when used within their capabilities and limitations. Most important!!!!!

Even though thay are 120V units, they are deisned to run on a 20 amp DEDICATED circut!!!; not off an extension cord plugged into a wall outlet.

For Aluminum, they are very finicky and diffucult to master.
For Auto-body work they EXCELL!!!!

If I had to do it over again I would get the Hobart Handler 175.

For a TIG go with an inverter machine the best on the market right now is the TA 185

 

I am not familiar with it but I am familiar with Eastwood. They are great marketers and pull in a lot of useful tools to the shade tree car hobbyist.
They seem to have a tendency to mark up items beyond what you can source them out elsewhere though.
One case in point is that they have outrageous pricing on their powder coat powders. With a little searching the same stuff can be picked up for about a 1/3 of what they have it marked.
That is not to say that is the case here but it is something to consider.
Another thing to consider on a MIG is the consumables and the whip assembly. Tweco is about the most popular gun out there so the liners and tips/nozzles can be bought at any local weld supply and even Home Depot has the one most popular on the little MIG's like the Lincoln Weldpowers from about 150amp down.
As a matter of fact Home Depot has a pretty descent price on the smaller Lincoln. Just be sure the MIG that you buy either has the gas regulator or a kit is available. There are a bunch of low end MIGs out there that are not upgradeable to gas.
They are made strictly for flux core wire which means no stainless or aluminum The only reason I would get one is if I got it for damn cheap. I would keep a roll of .030 flux core on it and use it for 1/8" and under welds on steel. It would be very handy for that and you could avoid changing liners and roller.
BTW remember that when you use flux core wire you want to use tips and rollers the next step higher. If the flux wire is .030 you use .035. That is because flux wire is inconsistant in diameter.
Steel wire will contaminate the liner and if you try to use aluminum or stainless in a liner that has ran steel it will contaminate the weld. Steel and aluminum rollers are different too. Aluminum rollers use a smooth groove and steels are serrated. The steel rollers will transfer the serrated impression onto the soft aluminum wire and it will catch and act up running through the liner and tip.

 

Like this? http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...category=45031
The fact they state it produces a true square wave really makes me wonder about these other machines.
That has plenty of amps and still under 2k.

 

x-mas is almost coming and that means more fuged up bends...just kidding.....just thought i would bumb this up because there is still much to learn about mendral bends and i know i want to learn about them. what else am i going to do in study hall tommorrow.

 

I snagged my LE Tig 175 Pro for 900 bux. The welding shop sold it to me "used" because they used it to fix one of thier light fixtures. (like 10 mins use)

 

Thats the one!!!!

 

i found one i am getting at TSC....i will post link later

 

so Scalliwag whats going on........

 

Getting a shop is putting this on hold a little longer. We have to put down $ on that and I am still recovering from Christmas expenses. It seems Santa was using my bank account

 

are you still alive. even if your not doing the bender project right now you always have intersting things to talk about. anyway did you ever get that ***** if not i saw a hot pink ***** on ebay that vibrates and everything for 30$. a little cheeper then the big silver one you where looking at, though i dont know if it will work as well.

 

Still working on getting a shop opened with David Sanchez. His month in Puerto Rico slowed things a bit and have the timing off there. He was there for Christmas and that was followed by a death in the family and he had to return for that.

As far as the bender, still no "*****" yet.
About the only thing I have done lately is build the vintage rotary forum in my link and I just finished another set of peripheral port housings for Ken Scheepers. Unless you count making solid motor mounts for Ebay sales... that is pretty remedial though.

My garage has become so cluttered it is depressing to try to work out there. I was hoping to have all my equipment in a shop and a lot of things have been put off in hopes of being able to work in a much more convenient setting.
But Ken's new housing went well and it looks like he will be putting out more power and setting more records. Now I have to design a "Scalliwag" sticker for his car that he will sport for my labors.