I bought an El Cheapo MIG welder from Home Depot in case of emergencies.
Well, I finally started using it this weekend.
Things I learned:
Well, it's ugly (understatement) but the welds seems to be holding up. I used to stick weld about 30 years ago, and seemed to have forgotten everything and then some. I did get an Automatic helmet, which is pretty cool.
The welder I got is a Lincoln 3200HD 110v. It can use .025", .030", and .035" wire. It is DC only, with 4 power levels and variable wire feed rate. I think it's 90 amps peak IIRC. I'm currently using argon as a shielding gas, but perhaps CO2 would have been a wiser choice. It did work well on .060" thick tubing with the .025" solid wire.
I can use "flux" wire (.035") and run it without the gas, but I haven't tried it yet. I haven't tried aluminum welding yet either, but will give it a shot sometime.
Well, I finally started using it this weekend.
Things I learned:
- Shorts and welding don't mix.
- You should actually join both pieces of metal together.
- Without the ground hooked up, it doesn't weld much.
- Without the gas on, it welds even worse than normal.
- Stuff gets hot. And STAYS hot.
- Don't hold down the trigger when grabbing the handle.
Well, it's ugly (understatement) but the welds seems to be holding up. I used to stick weld about 30 years ago, and seemed to have forgotten everything and then some. I did get an Automatic helmet, which is pretty cool.
The welder I got is a Lincoln 3200HD 110v. It can use .025", .030", and .035" wire. It is DC only, with 4 power levels and variable wire feed rate. I think it's 90 amps peak IIRC. I'm currently using argon as a shielding gas, but perhaps CO2 would have been a wiser choice. It did work well on .060" thick tubing with the .025" solid wire.
I can use "flux" wire (.035") and run it without the gas, but I haven't tried it yet. I haven't tried aluminum welding yet either, but will give it a shot sometime.