Fabricating equipment

[near horse]

I have a question for those of you who make or modify your own equipment – what kind of welder do you use? I’ve got an old Lincoln “buzz box” (AC 225) stick welder and, while I never was a great welder, I’m thinking about switching to a wire feed. What do you guys use?

I’m not saying that the quality of my welding is due to my welder – a good craftsman never blames his tools – but it may require more skill than I’ve got at this time.

Any way – like to hear what you use to cut and weld your carts etc with.

Thanks!

[jac]

Geoff I use a mig welder with 0.8mm wire and think there great for most fabrication jobs.Only prob with the mig is they dont like wind as it blows away the gas so you realy need a calm day or get the whole job in the workshop.. For cutting I use propane and oxy cutting torch. Our village has an engineer with a profile cutter and to be honest I dont bother to make brackets or gussets for strenghners, by the time I mark and cut with the “gas axe” then spend time cleaning up, it works out cheaper to take the drawings down and let them cut it. they keep the drawing on computer and can remake them if you need more. An angle grinder complets the kit.
John

[Ed Thayer]

Geoff,

The old tombstone buzz box is a great welder if you have heavier thickness and don’t do alot of out of position welding.

I have a 250 amp miller AC/DC welder for equipment repair and heavier work.

All my general fabrication around the farm is primarily done with a MIG welder.

As John noted if you use the mig process you need to be inside or have no wind because of the sheilding gas issue. However, there is another wire feed process that does not use sheilding gas and is very common.

It is called Flux Core wire and I use it often. It is as simple as mig welding and allows you to weld anywhere, indoors or out, without worrying about the gas blowing away. There is no gas and the weld puddle is protected as it cools by a flux that is embedded in the center of the filler wire. It will fit on any weldor ad is readily available. I use the Lincoln 211MP wire in .030 dia.

The nice thing with this wire is it will fit in the same liner (sheath that the wire runs through to the gun), as the solid wire mig. So you can use the same wire feed weldor for two different proccesses.

If you buy a weldor for the flux core process only, you will actually save money because there is no need for a gas cylinder or regulator and hose.

Sorry for the novel response, Good luck,

ED

[jac]

Hey Ed .. I didnt know of that wire.. I will be getting some as I seem to spend a lot of time shieldig the weld with bits of cardboard:) thanks for that bit of info..
John

[near horse]

Thanks guys! I too end up “hacking” with my cutting torch and then trying to make things ‘nice’ with the grinder.

It’s pretty tough not to have some out of position welding when fabricating equipment – it’s pretty hard to reposition the big stuff.

I know a neighbor that does some custom metal furniture work and uses a plasma cutter for the cut work – I think it looks a lot cleaner although he’s using a lighter gauge metal.

Ed – no problem with your response. As John mentioned, you never know what one might learn from others’ responses! Thanks again.

What brand/size MIG are you using?

[Rod]

I have a Hobart 140, Northern Industrial (free shipping) and love it. No more burn through and I use both the solid wire and the flux core which I like better except for the splatter. An 11 lb. spool of wire will do a lot of welding. Hobart is made by Miller and a lot of the parts are interchangeable. Don’t buy a cheap 3/16 model, my helper had one, another brand, and it was trouble. I read the reviews on the Northern site before I bought. Mine even came with a free cart which is real nice to have.

[Ed Thayer]

I use an older L-Tec which is a 250 amp mig weldor. I love it and still get parts for it. L-tec was purchased by ESAB, a German company, about 15 years ago. So that tells you how old my welder is.

The new welders are OK. Everything seems to be cheaper built today. But they are what you pay for them.

When I went to welding school in 1987, I attended the Lincoln School of welding in Clevland, OH. I bought everything Lincoln brand.

I have since bought what was affordable and available.

Regarding spatter, if the wire feed speed is adjusted properly, there should be minimal if any spatter.

Ed

[Does’ Leap]

Geoff:

I have an old AC welder that I picked up for free that works great. I have a set of cutting torches and a metal chop saw and can do a lot with these tools with minimal investment. I only feel limited by the stick welder when doing thin steel (e.g. <1/8). I use 6013 for clean steel and 6011 for not so clean.

George

[near horse]

My Lincoln AC225 came from the local HS shop – they got new stuff and just set 6 – 10 of these out in the trash. Maybe my problem is the operator 😮

[Rod]

Hi Ed

I wondered about the splatter, thanks. Would it be an issue of too slow a feed rate or too fast?

[Anonymous]

I bought my Lincoln AC225 “buzz box” used 30 years ago, and it’s still going strong. I consider a grinder essential equiptment when welding. A good welder friend of mine say’s you can weld 2 peices of rust together with 6011’s. That’s what I use most of the time. I have used a DC stick, and it does a sweet job for your thicker metals.

[Traveling Woodsman]

I personally have a Hobart (Miller) AC/DC stick welder and an oxy/acet rig for cutting and heating. I also use the torch as my portable welder since I’m not rich enough yet to afford an engine welder. 🙁 I sometimes find it necessary to repair/modify logging equipment in the field, and the torch works all right. It is harder to use, but that’s the way everything used to be welded. It’s a good skill to have, even if you don’t use it a whole lot.

The DC capabilities really help in positional welding. Can require another learning curve though.

I did a lot of MIG welding when I worked at BBar Ranch, they’re pretty nice to use. They tend to be somewhat more finicky, mostly related to the wire feed, guess you don’t get something for nothing.

6013 rod works good as mentioned, but 7014 also makes a nice, clean weld. It’s a little stronger too. 7018 is the rod to use in high stress situations, but it’s harder to use. Get good with easier rods first.

My experience is that flux-cored wire gives significantly mores splatter than conventional gas shielded wire. I have read about and fiddled with settings all day long, and couldn’t get it to go away, but I did reduce it. My two cents….

[Carl Russell]

For years I have kept my fabrication needs to a minimum, hiring my friends and neighbors. But over the last year I have acquired a buzz box, chop saw, and oxi/acet set. In combination with grinder and sawzall, I am looking forward to developing some earth-shattering animal-powered innovative equipment…… :eek::rolleyes::D

Actually I am enrolling in an adult education welding class at a nearby HS, and hope to be able to at least repair some of the steel work on my standard pieces of equipment.

Carl

[J-L]

I just bought a Miller Big 40 (it’s not here yet, still in Rock Springs). I have been without a good welder for 5 or 6 years now and it’s been a pain in the neck.
I bought a cheap wirefeed from Walmart and should have saved my money. As I tend to make things out of the scrap pile (don’t we all) flux core wire and a cheap welder are next to worthless for that. It does a little better with new, clean metal.
I have welded with the torch as well, as a matter of fact one of our requirements in shop class was welding in high school. My teacher made us learn to weld with baling wire. I have had to do that a few times since and it works well.
When I’m welding the heavier metal, I like the 7018. That stuff makes for a good, stout weld. I did use a friends Hobart gas shielded wirefeed. For most things, that’s a good welder.
Everbody ought to have a grinder anyway, they come in handy for a lot of things besides grinding off my Turkey Turd welds.

[near horse]

I have to mention the guy that taught metal shop when I was in 9th grade – a few decades ago. He was a no nonsense sort that didn’t believe in “all those letters for grades. Either you could do it or you couldn’t.” The first time we had to do something for a grade it was reading a micrometer – he’d set it on a number, hand it to you and ask “What’s it say?” You’d read it off and he’d let you know if you were right by hollering to the TA, who was recording grades in the gradebook, “Give ’em A”. or “Give ’em an F.”

He did actually give C’s on one project. We had to weld up a 4 inch cube using filler wire – no brazing. All the cubes were put in garbage cans full of water and held down with some plate steel on top of them over the weekend. On Monday – floats “Give ’em an A.” Sinks – “Give ’em an F.” Floats half way up but not to the top “Give ’em a C.”

We don’t allow that type of frank assessment in school these days. Might hurt someone’s self-esteem.

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