Welding with CO2?

I am in the market for a welder. I was looking at an Oxygen/Acetlyn setup but was told for a wider range of uses, to get MIG. I found an adapter kit for the ox/ac kit to make it a mig welder. I have a CO2 bottle i use at home for brewing and paintball. I get it filled at the local weld shop. What is CO2 used for in welding, and is it practical for someone like me at home that wont use it all that often? I also need to weld the exhaust on my pickup that broke last week. I have a little expierence welding from some years back with my dad.

Thanks for the help, Joe Romero

Reply to
NetNews
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I'm really curious to know what the components of this adapter kit are, as I've never heard of or seen such a thing. How would you convert an oxyfuel setup of any kind to running MIG? I can't think of a single component that is shared between a MIG setup and an oxyfuel setup.

As I'm sure many others will answer in greater detail, CO2 gets used as a shielding gas during the welding process. Also, you'd likely get better results from using an argon/CO2 blend instead of straight CO2.

Speaking from personal experience on working with automotive exhausts, MIG is an excellent way to go, if not the single best way to go. It's easy enough to learn and you can produce passable results in a short period of time, especially for something non-structural like exhausts. Even a small

110V MIG welder setup can prove itself to be an incredibly useful tool that pays for itself with the number of smaller household repairs and exhaust leaks that can be fixed. I went this route and was quite pleased, though later I ended up moving to a 220V MIG setup as it worked much better due to power availability in my workspace. Also, I gave up on flux core welding for anything and now would never use anything but a gas shielded welding process for repairs... the post-weld cleanup with flux core was just too much of a headache. In all, though, a small MIG setup is a handyman's dream, and well worth the investment.
Reply to
The Hurdy Gurdy Man

I wonder if you were using Lincoln's fluxcore wire? I've had similar problems fixed by switching wire. Esab is wonderful and expensive but Harris Welco is about as good and the Praxair house brand (Prostar) is good too.

Reply to
Zorro

So go buy one, S/H if needed. This trying to convert oxy-acetylene to MIG is the craziest idea I've heard in ages.

CO2 is a lousy shield gas too, especially for learning.

Use the oxy acetylene. But don't expect much - Unless it was rock damage on a newish system, exhausts rot from the inside out. By the time you're trying to repair them, there's just not much left to work with.

-- Die Gotterspammerung - Junkmail of the Gods

Reply to
Andy Dingley

Maybe the safety equipment (but not the gloves....), but there's no conversion needed to use your trusty leather apron with a mig, if it was designed for oxy/acet... ;-)

Reply to
Jeremy Chavers

I don't remember the brand, but I'm of the opinion that ANY amount of flux dust that needs cleaning up is too much. I really dislike that stuff. But my other motivation in trading up was the welder itself... that old wire feeder of mine had like a 5% duty cycle on it even on its lowest heat setting! Give me good ol' MIG any day. Especially when the part needs to be painted afterwards, and you genuinely want the paint to stick!

Reply to
The Hurdy Gurdy Man

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