How big of welder do i need to weld a go kart frame? frame will be one of those tiny pavement ones but with a big engine on the back. my engine is too big to fit on it as of now so im going to lengthen it and strengthen it for the weight of the engine.
How Big Of Welder?
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toofarnorth
New member
You can weld thicker metal with a 110v it just takes a little more prep work. You also have to figure a smaller welder will take up less space in your work area, If you can afford it get a mig the welds come out much cleaner then a flux core wire feed. I don't have any experience with stick welders so I have no opinion one way or the other.
how many amps will plugs into the wall? also will i be able to weld any small racing go kart frame with something that plugs in the wall?
Kaptain Krunch
Pro Junk Collector
A good 110v (wall outlet) 90 amp flux core welder will be able to do anything you need on a go kart, my flux core welder (believe its 90-100 amps max output) will easily weld 3/16 and i've done much thicker with a few passes and some beveled edges. So yes, a small 110 flux core machine will do just about anything you need for a small go kart, all the way up to a medium size kart, once you start getting into buggies its time for a better welder.
I would start with a small 80-90amp welder.
I've got an 88 amp lincoln wire feed and I've built 2 carts that could survive a collision with a train.
Kaptain Krunch
Pro Junk Collector
Its a craftsman (yea i know...), but was made by century which is a branch of lincoln now and makes decent welders. Its a mig, but i run flux core for now. Supposed to be $450 with a cart but got it on sale for $300 or 350 i forget.
ok thanks for all your help, is there any brands that i should steer from? how is the harbor freight welder?
brendonv
New member
I got a 140amp arc welder and i can use it for everything.
why?
IHcubguy
just a member
i use a 130 amp Clark gmaw, w/ a 30% duty cycle using .035 wire flux core, heat setting is maxed and use a lower wire speed setting! like if the range is 1 through 10 use 2-3 very little splatter! if you are "good" you can run your welds uphill to get good penetration! even smaller welders will work fine as long as it's set right!
reasons to not get it is if something breaks you throw it away unless you're talented enough to fix it yourself. they literally sell 2 "parts" for them, the tips and the shields which are wear and tear items anyway. i'd stay away unless you can get it for next to nothing (got mine for $60, havent had any issues in 3 years)
wow thats crazy, i guess ima just try to find a cheap one for 50-100
yea i cant recommend it for $130-150 like they sell regularly with no sale on harbor freight/northern tool/ebay since you never know when/if something might go wrong, but like i said i got mine for the price of 5lb of flux wire and it's a chance i'm willing to take. i didn't have too much choice anyway, it was either that or an old arc stick welder, and i wanted wire feed. no wire feeds around here for under $300 even used, thats what i get for being in the city.
aha lol i hated living in the city, thats one of the reason's i moved. on craigslist i found a small mig welder, i got him down to $75. im waiting on him call me back left him a voicemail. right now im going to hook up my router lol JUST got my cable internet in.
frederic
The Junk Man
If you're going to weld more than a go-kart frame, I'd recommend you comb ebay, craig's list and your local want-ads for a used mig welder. You can get more welder for your dollars that way and there is little bad to say about Lincoln, Miller, Clark and other "professional" brands.
Mig welding is a process where the welding "rod" is actually a wire fed through a gun-like device, adding material as you weld. "Regular" mig requires a shielding gas such as argon, Co2, or "tri-mix" which is a combination of three gases. Flux-core wire welding uses the same machine, wire fed through a gun, but the wire has a flux that when heated by the weld, makes a small cloud around the weld puddle and shields it from the atmosphere. The machines are cheaper, the materials are cheaper because you don't need to fill large bottles with gas, but is a bit messier in the weld area. Expect to do a lot of cleanup with your grinder.
Stick welding is a cheap way to get started with welding, and basically the unit is a giant transformer with two thick wires - one with a ground clamp one with a "wire clamp", which holds the welding rod. Stick welding has a lot of advantages, the primary one being you can weld in any kind of weather, and the material you're welding doesn't have to be completely sanitary. Obviously with all welding processes you should clean what is to be welded but stick welding works fine with rusty bits. Been there, done that.
There's also gas welding, which requires a welding torch and two bottles - one full of oxygen and one full of acetelyne. The two gasses combined (while burning) produces an incredibly hot, reasonably precise flame and you can weld any kind of metal with the same setup. You simply use different welding rods for the different materials. It's another great process that you can use anywhere as it's ineffected by environment and you don't even need electricity. A lot of people who weld "in the field" prefer this method because all you need is the gas, the torch, and a stryker to ignite the torch. You can also purchase different sized torches, tips, cutting heads and so on. I've seen jewelers torches that could fit in the palm of your hand for the really small stuff to the usual 3' long monsters that weld teeth on backhoe buckets, the backhole bucket being the size of a pickup truck and then some.
A decent victor knock-off torch (victor is a name brand that's very good) will run you about $200 and a real victor will run you about double that new. It's a cheap way to get into welding and you're not limited by thickness, material type, etc. But you do have to buy gas often if you weld a lot.
Like everything else in life, it's a bunch of tradeoffs. I prefer fluxcore wire welding because I dislike the hassle of refilling tanks as mine always empty out during late night welding and I can't refill them at 2am. It's also a one-handed process unlike most other styles of welding so with my very shaky hands I can use both hands on the gun and actually have some control. Most people do not have this issue.
The absolute cheapest way to weld is to buy a pair of car batteries and hack off some battery cables from the various junk cars. Put the batteries in series with one cable, and use a second cable between negative and your work/project, and the positive post goes to a third wire that you attach a big springy clamp to. Put your stick-welding wire in that clamp, and have at it. You control the weld puddle by insertion - meaning the faster you jam the welding rod into the puddle, the cooler the weld. The less you shove the rod in, the hotter the arc will be.
This is how *I* learned to weld. It's fun actually. A friend of mine to this day welds using a 120A alternator driven by a vertical 18HP lawnmower engine with three belts between the two. All free stuff he scrounged from who knows where. It works very well to about 3/16" thick materials without any issue.
Mig welding is a process where the welding "rod" is actually a wire fed through a gun-like device, adding material as you weld. "Regular" mig requires a shielding gas such as argon, Co2, or "tri-mix" which is a combination of three gases. Flux-core wire welding uses the same machine, wire fed through a gun, but the wire has a flux that when heated by the weld, makes a small cloud around the weld puddle and shields it from the atmosphere. The machines are cheaper, the materials are cheaper because you don't need to fill large bottles with gas, but is a bit messier in the weld area. Expect to do a lot of cleanup with your grinder.
Stick welding is a cheap way to get started with welding, and basically the unit is a giant transformer with two thick wires - one with a ground clamp one with a "wire clamp", which holds the welding rod. Stick welding has a lot of advantages, the primary one being you can weld in any kind of weather, and the material you're welding doesn't have to be completely sanitary. Obviously with all welding processes you should clean what is to be welded but stick welding works fine with rusty bits. Been there, done that.
There's also gas welding, which requires a welding torch and two bottles - one full of oxygen and one full of acetelyne. The two gasses combined (while burning) produces an incredibly hot, reasonably precise flame and you can weld any kind of metal with the same setup. You simply use different welding rods for the different materials. It's another great process that you can use anywhere as it's ineffected by environment and you don't even need electricity. A lot of people who weld "in the field" prefer this method because all you need is the gas, the torch, and a stryker to ignite the torch. You can also purchase different sized torches, tips, cutting heads and so on. I've seen jewelers torches that could fit in the palm of your hand for the really small stuff to the usual 3' long monsters that weld teeth on backhoe buckets, the backhole bucket being the size of a pickup truck and then some.
A decent victor knock-off torch (victor is a name brand that's very good) will run you about $200 and a real victor will run you about double that new. It's a cheap way to get into welding and you're not limited by thickness, material type, etc. But you do have to buy gas often if you weld a lot.
Like everything else in life, it's a bunch of tradeoffs. I prefer fluxcore wire welding because I dislike the hassle of refilling tanks as mine always empty out during late night welding and I can't refill them at 2am. It's also a one-handed process unlike most other styles of welding so with my very shaky hands I can use both hands on the gun and actually have some control. Most people do not have this issue.
The absolute cheapest way to weld is to buy a pair of car batteries and hack off some battery cables from the various junk cars. Put the batteries in series with one cable, and use a second cable between negative and your work/project, and the positive post goes to a third wire that you attach a big springy clamp to. Put your stick-welding wire in that clamp, and have at it. You control the weld puddle by insertion - meaning the faster you jam the welding rod into the puddle, the cooler the weld. The less you shove the rod in, the hotter the arc will be.
This is how *I* learned to weld. It's fun actually. A friend of mine to this day welds using a 120A alternator driven by a vertical 18HP lawnmower engine with three belts between the two. All free stuff he scrounged from who knows where. It works very well to about 3/16" thick materials without any issue.
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