advice on MIG welder

Hi,

I have a small project which requires fastening pieces of 1/2 " x 1/8" steel bar.

This is for a friends "wrought" ironwork hobby.

The instructions specify punching holes and using small bolts which in my opinion look very bad.

I have done both oxy/acetylene welding and arc welding in the past.

I had considered brazing or soldering the joints but the color difference is a problem. These are to be chemically treated for a surface finish.

Spot welding was suggested but I have never seen spot welding of two

1/8" thick steel.

The two options I have come up with are an arc welder using 1/16" rod or a cheap MIG welder with flux/wire (gasless). Both from a local Harborfreight store.

Neither unit has to last very long since there are only a couple hundred short welds to do. Time to clean up welds is not an issue at the moment.

Any suggestions ?

Second item - are the automatic face shields any good. When using an arc welder I always seemed to be looking at the arc before getting the shield in place in order to start the weld.

thanks for any helpful comments.

Reply to
marks542004
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Reply to
Grant Erwin

I had one of the lil HF migs. Short duty cycle, but wouldnt be a problem in your case. It actually worked quite well, and when I upgraded, I gave it to a friend, and he is doing well with it, 2 yrs later. Flux core machine, no gas, so there is a slag removal issue. Might consider the slightly more expensive version and use CO2

Gunner

"Pax Americana is a philosophy. Hardly an empire. Making sure other people play nice and dont kill each other (and us) off in job lots is hardly empire building, particularly when you give them self determination under "play nice" rules.

Think of it as having your older brother knock the shit out of you for torturing the cat." Gunner

Reply to
Gunner Asch

The small fluxcore machines can do 1/8" OK if you maintain a puddle in the base metal and don't try to go too fast. 3/32" 7014 running at about 90 amps would do it if arcwelding with a minimal machine with same caveats. I don't think you'll get there with 1/16" rod.

Reply to
Don Foreman

If possible, you can put a hole in one piece, then weld thru the hole into the other piece and fill the hole all in one step. this is called a plug weld. works well, looks ok as is or is easy to grind flush...... This is real easy with a wirefeed machine......

worth any price in my opinion.....alot of folks here have the $50.00 HF units with good results.....

HTH

Jeff

Reply to
Never_Enough_Tools

But you need a lot of power. I would say at least 50% more like for "real welding" a similar thickness.

Nick

Reply to
Nick Müller

The autodarkening helments are a great investment because you can look at the piece continously regardless of whether or not the arc is struck.

Reply to
woodworker88

Thanks for the feedback.

It looks like I will go with the cheap MIG welder and see how it goes.

Reply to
marks542004

I'd first consider spot welding. The thing here is to try to minimize the size of the spots (4 nice little spots near the corners of the part) that actually get welded will decrease the amount of power needed to weld the joing. The second thing that I'd consider is to do TIG welding with the weld being made up of the material being welded (no additonal rod material added). This will generally allow the finish that you desire. Finally, there is also hammer welding at the forge or with a O/A torch.

-- Why do penguins walk so far to get to their nesting grounds?

Reply to
Bob May

Advice on buying a cheap MIG: buy quality and cry only once. Cheapies are notorious for having down time, and being difficult to get parts for. Then you have some used POS you can't sell for much.

That's my feedback from my observations.

See how your experience comes out.

Steve

Reply to
SteveB

Yup. Check your local craigslist. Mine always has a whole bunch of $200 MIG welders, generally Century or Harbor Freight or bottom end Lincolns.

GWE

Reply to
Grant Erwin

I second the suggestion to buy as good welder as you can afford (this is coming from someone who bought one for $9.99, so you may not give me much credibility).

i
Reply to
Ignoramus26744

"Ignoramus26744" wrote

You got a deal on a good welder. Buying a used brand name welder that has a lot of life in it is one of the best deals going. Buying something that has no parts support, or at best a replacement guarantee isn't so good. Always improve your equipment. Always keep good care of your equipment. And take some of the money to buy better equipment.

I saw a welding truck today at Home Depot. He had two wirefeed units tossed on the back. He had chains through the handles. The hoses and guns were a tangle, and everything looked like it had been sitting out in the rain and weather.

If this guy would roll up on my job, I'd have to tell him to keep going. A man that don't care about his tools don't care about his work either. Or at least that is only my opinion.

Steve

Reply to
SteveB

I completely agree. I admire the good old stuff, the "American Iron", etc. My welder is a beautiful piece, it is even possible to understand how it works. There are many deals for such things.

Absolutely.

i
Reply to
Ignoramus26744

snipped-for-privacy@yahoo.com wrote: ...

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Bob May already wrote that spotwelding is worth considering more, and I agree. If the welds are to hold ornamental parts in place, spotwelds should be plenty strong. But if there is strong tension or shear, using a cheap spotwelder without a timer could be marginal or inconsistent.

I recently spotwelded some sheet metal to 1/2" x 1/8" steel bar and got ok welds. Also fastened a couple of pieces of the bar together as a test. This is using the HF 230V spotwelder,

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it says "Welds uncoated stock as thick as 3/16'' ". The stuff I was welding was galvanized and/or plated and ended up discolored (from the heat) for a few mm out from the weld point. The zinc flash (white powder residue) easily wipes off. I didn't test the bar-to-bar welds to destruction, so I don't know how strong they actually are. They held up to some hammering, where I tried to get the weld to shear.

-jiw

Reply to
James Waldby

I have at the moment rented a spot welder for a couple of weeks. It is a 230V unit and so far has done well. Girlfriend managed to set fire to one piece but that is expected if you try welding an oily part.

None of the pieces hold much weight.

She had tried rivits, which someone had suggested, but had problems with them pulling out. I found she was using a rivit that was too short and a very cheap material. I got some new of assorted lengths and a punch to help set them, so far so good.

I managed to borrow a mig welder from a friend of a friend who wants to sell it to me (flux cored gasless) and it does a great job but running dozens of 1/2" long welds is driving me batty.

Thanks again for the responses.

Reply to
marks542004

That's been my experience on almost everything.

I'm cheap by nature, so it's real tough for me to pass on the knock off brand in favor of a name brand at twice the price (or more). But, I'm learning. :)

Reply to
Dave Lyon

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