Found the perfect welder!

[oscaryu1]

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=40388

Gonna be $99 at the sidewalk sale right on the week of summer vacation.

Now... how do I use it? No idea :roflol:

I've read on some ways how to start the arc, but have no idea what I'll need from there.

[kibble]

My friend has that welder, it's kinda difficult to start a decent arc running only 120V. It's doable but difficult.

[AutoMX]

it also comes with almost no instructions, ive had mine sitting for a year and haven't gotten around to splicing on a 220v plug. i have no idea where the ~2 page manual is either so it may sit till i find it to get the wiring diagram.
i did pay only $70 for mine, just went and picked it up at the camarillo warehouse.

[zenki86]

i have no idea where the ~2 page manual is either so it may sit till i find it to get the wiring diagram.

you can download the manual

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/manuals.taf?f=form&ItemID=40388

[oscaryu1]

Does that manual give you clear step by step instructions?

And would it trip a 15A breaker?

[AutoMX]

"Warning! If Arc Welder is operated at 115 V~, be sure not to regulate the current over 70 A, or the 30 A breaker in your house line will trip."

by the way, thanks, this manual is more complete than what i got in the box :thumbsup:

[oscaryu1]

Dangit... that's nice to know...

[Kenny_McCormic]

For $100, I would rather have the homier distributing, "speedway series" 125 amp flux core wire feed welder. Runs on 110@15amps and works great for anything up to 1/4" plate where you have to make a pass on each side. Only downside is amperage is either high or low and selected with a rocker switch. Perfect for cart work, what I used to fix my broken manco frame.

[oscaryu1]

Where would you get that welder from?

[newrider3]

I just got this (http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/Displayitem.taf?itemnumber=94056) one at the sale for $99, works great except for my lack of skill.:rolleyes3:

[Kenny_McCormic]

Where would you get that welder from?

A homier distributing tool sale.

[oscaryu1]

Darn... I don't think I have one close to here :(

[Kenny_McCormic]

Its a temp thing, they are usually at my local fairgrounds every few moths, they send an ad in the mail.

[oscaryu1]

Ah.. that explains it.

[ineed2fly]

If you are going to get a welder, get the $80 wirefeed there, far easier to use than a traditional arc welder, I taught myself to weld wirefeed, and I woun't touch a traditional arc without help.

[oscaryu1]

Where would you get that type? What's the... name?

[ineed2fly]

They have them at HF as well, they are usually a bit more $ but are far easier to use, and you will be happier in the long run. I'd look at this one:
http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=55250
If you have that kind of voltage hooked up in your garage, the bonus with that is later on you can run gas, which is better.

Or this one:
http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=94056

But if you can run it, the first one is better, I am pretty sure you can run gas through it.

[oscaryu1]

Nope... I don't have 230V :( However, the washer room is right next to the garage....

Oooh the 2nd one looks perfect though. 15A? Done. 90A? Great!

Both are automatic wire feed?

[ineed2fly]

Yes they are, they will prevent tons of headaches. And while you are there get a .30 10 lb spool of FLUX core wire. You will blow through the small ones, and the bigger ones are better buys.

[oscaryu1]

Can all this be found at any Harbor Freight store?

Thanks!

Also, I've heard of those auto-dimming welding masks or such? What should I get? Gloves? Anything else?

[ineed2fly]

Yes, they are at mine atleast. You can go with an auto-darkening helmet, I learned on one, and it will certainly help, but they are $50 vs like $25, I don't find it to be much harder to just nod the helmet down. Just put the gun where it needs to be, and then nod, and as soon as you start, you can see. Only benefit the auto-darkening have is that you dont need to flip it up to start a new weld. Get a brush, it will probably come with one, but it will last like a day, and then gloves of course, but don't worry about buying anything too nice looking, get cheap and ugly, they wind up looking that way in about a week anyways. The wire would be a good thing to grab if you're down there anyways. It's gonna be a costly day, and maybe a set of tips isn't a bad idea, I ruined the one with the welder on the first bead....:bannana:

[oscaryu1]

Do they include instructions? What's the clamp for? How do you start the welding? (Like you jab or so for arc welding)

[jr dragster Tyler]

You just put the wire to the metle and pull the trigger and you have INSTANT BZZZZZZZZZZZZZ

[oscaryu1]

What's the clamp for?

[ineed2fly]

You attach it to the metal so you can complete the circuit. Just clamp it fairly close to the weld, and then pick up the gun, touch it to where you want to weld (You will have a 1/4 inch piece of wire coming out of the tip that you will touch to the metal) then press the trigger and it starts to weld, then just travel in a zig-zag pattern just like a stick welder. It's that easy, if you can draw a squiggly line, you can weld with a wirefeed welder!

[oscaryu1]

Yay haha! How much should I hold the tip above the metal?

Are there any first time common errors I should watch out? Breaker tripping? Mask falling off? Something catch on fire?

Thanks guys!

[ineed2fly]

Let the actual tip (end of the gun) rest on the metal, and then the wire should be touching the metal as well. This will all make more sense when you get it, but trust me, wirefeed is like a bajillion times better than stick, atleast for your purposes. I have a welder that will draw 20 amps and won't trip my 15 amp breaker as long as it's the only thing on that outlet. Make sure you get a helmet while you are there, the hand held mask supplied is crap, and it is very hard to learn to weld holding it with one hand. And fire is an issue, just weld in an open space atleast 10 feet away from anything flamable in all directions, so a 20 foot diameter circle.

[jr dragster Tyler]

Ok hold the gas nozzle or flux core nozzle about 3/8 to 1/2 away from the base metel. I found with the flux core welding it makes thicker sparks but they dont fly far. But with the MIG welder it throws colder sparks farther. I've never had a probelem with welding.

[Kenny_McCormic]

Angle the gun so its sorta pointing in the direction you are welding(helps with the flux gas), keep the bead around 3/8" wide. When set correctly the other side of the part your welding should be yellow hot where its being welded. Cover anything that melts (tires, seats, etc) in wet rags so they dont have holes from hot slag.

[newrider3]

Be careful welding in a pair of jeans with a hole in them. The fringe around the hole catches on fire easily, I found this out the hard way yesterday.:roflol: Also get a can of Pam, and spray down the general area you'll be welding. The flux core wirefeed makes a lot of spatter, and the Pam keeps most of it from sticking.

[oscaryu1]

Hmm... so MIG is that easy? Just press the triger? Automatic wirefeed and all?

[Kenny_McCormic]

Flucxcore/mig really is that easy, most of the actual learning is getting good at setting the amperage and feed rate correctly for what your working on.

[ineed2fly]

Yeah, like I said if you can draw a zig-zag line, you can wirefeed weld. And yes, be carefull with the jeans, this has happened to me about...I think 6 times now? You're sitting there welding, and your leg feels warm, and you think your leg is close to a hot weld, so you move it away, and it keeps heating up, this is when you flip up your mask, look over, and start beating your leg like an insane monkey.

When you said spray the pam, did you mean on the metal? Cuz that seems really nice, my welder throws TONS of slag I need to grind off later, wouldn't the pam just burn off?

[newrider3]

Yeah, you spray the Pam on the metal. It doesn't really burn off, since it's designed for cooking. It does make a good amount of smoke that smells like you're cooking something, kind of covers up the burning flux smell.

[ineed2fly]

I'll give that a shot, I need to weld today, of course my mom is going to kill me for using all her pam.....:toetap05:

[oscaryu1]

What is a good starting out amperage and feed rate?

[Kenny_McCormic]

Depends on the metal, metal thickness, wire, etc you want it to not burn though but get the metal yellow hot or hotter all the way through, look at a few pro welds on various stuff around the house/garage to see what a properly done one looks like.

[ineed2fly]

Also if the wire is pushing the gun back away from the metal, it's too high, there should be no resistance on the gun. And thinner metal is lower amperage, thicker is higher amperage.

[oscaryu1]

Could you give me a amp vs thickness ratio to start with?

[ineed2fly]

It really depends on wire speed as well, and quality of the metal, conduit will burn through on 15 amps, and with the same thickness of square tubing it wont penetrate properly. The welder should come with a diagram showing a weld, and why it's all jacked up, and how to fix it, if not I can post a picture of that page in mine.

[oscaryu1]

I'll be going back to Victoria (Harbor Freight very near) on the 20th.... Hopefully they'll have the welder there...

How do I know when I don't have enough power, and have too much power?

Thanks for everything ineed2fly!

[ineed2fly]

If you have too much power it will burn through the metal (make holes) and if it doesn't have enough it wont penetrate (sink in) it will just sit on the surface.

[oscaryu1]

Ah... so the rod will touch the metal? Press trigger...

Hmm... muy easy...

[crazycart]

Also, when you first start welding,dont go and weld something major,because you need practice to have good,deep penetrating welds,when i first started out i thought i had decent welds but it turned out they werent so strong (dont ask).And take your time,thats a MAJOR factor when welding.

[Kenny_McCormic]

Yea practice with scrap metal and various welds, also be sure to follow the welders duty cycle (over a 10 minute span how long it can run, a welder with a 20% duty cycle can weld for a maximum of 2 minutes and must cool for the next 8).

[oscaryu1]

What is a duty cycle? What if it overheats?

[AutoMX]

if it overheats your welder will most likely be useless, but i've yet to overheat mine (the 90amp wirefeed from HF) and i've welded trailers and all kinds of stuff. basically my workflow (weld a bit, grind and clean up, then cut new pieces, test fit, then finally weld more) seems to undercut the duty cycle just fine so no problems there.

i'm guessing the only people who would run into trouble with duty cycles is people either welding big stuff with a strict time limit, or a project that requires welding long seams like closing up a big air tank or something like that.

[Kenny_McCormic]

Duty cycle is how long it can safely run before it has to cool down. Its based on a 10 minute span, a 15% duty cycle means you can weld 1.5 minutes and then you have to spend 8.5 letting it cool down. Most have overheat protection circuitry (torch goes dead and a light comes on)

[oscaryu1]

Whew... So what types of metal can these weld?

I have a few spare computer cases...

[ineed2fly]

Steel (well), iron (like crap), and I think you can buy aluminum flux wire.....

[oscaryu1]

Ehh... even more idiotic question, but how can you tell the difference?

Any tips on what to and not to weld? (Poisionous fumes, ect?)

[crazycart]

Steel is typically more shiny and higher quality.Iron will be darker and more rough.Its pretty easy to tell the difference.I personally dont have any problem welding iron. Try to stay away from welding hardened things with zinc coating (toxic) and things with paint or plastic.Weld in a ventilated area cus them fumes can really get to you haha.

[ineed2fly]

Yeah, steel and iron are magnetic, and aluminum is not, so if it sticks to a magnet and is in your garage, its probably steel, if it sticks to a magnet and it's a rock shaped thing, it's iron and might have come from space......:roflol: Yeah don't weld anything galvonized inside, do it either outside, or under a vent hood. And if you see this while you are welding :bannana: it's time to pack in. :P If you are going to weld to something painted again either do it outside, or under a vent hood, or get paintstripper, or wirebrush+angle grinder.

[oscaryu1]

Well a closed garage with a house-sized box fan blowing out do much good?

I have a few old drive sprockets... use it? :p

[crazycart]

Open the garage lol. And yea ive welded sprockets before lol

[oscaryu1]

Yeah, I'm just saying I have an old one that I can use? Can you weld... let's say bike frames?

[newrider3]

Are you wanting to build a bike frame, or practice welding on an old one? Generally if you're building a bike frame you'd use thin walled 4130 cr-mo and TIG weld it. You can practice welding on an old mild steel walmart bike frame, but you'll burn through a ton.

[oscaryu1]

Well, thanks for everything guys! ineedtofly, crazycart, and newrider3!

[AutoMX]

anything thats the right metal. if its ferrous (easy test: sticks to magnets) it's most likely weldable. stainless steel doesn't stick to magnets, but its really hard to weld with flux anyway, so no go there. dont bother with aluminum, too hard with flux type welder if at all possible reliably.
most cheap motorcycles or bicycles are steel frames, and most stuff you'll probable run across thats cheap is steel. if its rusty and doesnt weigh a ton, it's fair game.