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914World.com _ 914World Garage _ Time for a new welder

Posted by: Kerrys914 Feb 6 2005, 03:23 PM

The one thing I wanted to get done today was to weld in my patch panel for the engine shelf..I spent 2-3 hrs f'n around with the dam welder...The wire feed sucks to start with and now it's dead..

IT was a hand-me-down mig. I swear I just about tossed that dam thing across the garage

I am going to just get a new one and trash this piece o'crap welder.

Cheers and enjoy the game

Posted by: xsboost90 Feb 6 2005, 03:35 PM

i was thinking that the other day when mine broke the damn plastic braket that holds tension on the wire. Income tax return = miller 135 !!!!

Posted by: scott thacher Feb 6 2005, 03:42 PM

kerry, dont throw it away i will come get it, i will even give you a few hours of work if you need it. pleeeeeeaaaaaaaaasssssssssseeeeeeeee

Posted by: Jeroen Feb 6 2005, 03:45 PM

dude, I feel your pain
my old welder, that was given to me (for free) was a piece of crap as well
I don't have too many welding skills and the crappy welding machine sure didn't help much...
frustrating as hell...
got sick 'n tired of it and bought myself a decent welder last weekend
just amazing the difference it makes!

got a 155 amp welder with 7 setting for the power supply
nice!

user posted image

Posted by: 9146986 Feb 6 2005, 10:34 PM

Get the Miller, for sure. I just got a brand new 175, and it's great!

Posted by: trekkor Feb 6 2005, 10:40 PM

I got the best MIG Home Depot sells. Good one

I use bi-mix and straight C02.

KT

Posted by: Travis Neff Feb 7 2005, 10:17 AM

I'll second the Miller 175 unit!

Posted by: Mueller Feb 7 2005, 10:39 AM

that sucks......hopefully Scott can get some use out of it....

I did some oxy-acet. gas welding over the weekend...1st time it 13 years...talk about a few ugly welds until I got the feel back luckly the welds are hidden on the bottom of the workbench.....

i really want a TIG welder, but it'll have to wait a while unitl the budget allows for it

Posted by: 914GT Feb 7 2005, 10:42 AM

One thing to watch out for if you're using 110V versions of these MIG welders - they will run like crap on an extension cord and typical #12 house wire back to the circuit breaker panel. What happens is, as soon as you draw an arc (especially at the higher amp settings) the line voltage at the welder drops due to I*R loss in the wiring. Then the feed motor stalls and the wire stops feeding. Then the arc goes out and the voltage comes back up repeating the process all over again. These welders need to be plugged in to an outlet close to the breaker panel with a short run of #12, better yet with a dedicated circuit. If using an extension cord get one with #10 or heavier wire. Most the home depot cords are #14 and aren't heavy enough. The 220V welders are more forgiving on the voltage drop problem. My point is to make sure you have good power at the welder, as it might not be a fault with the welder.

Posted by: Series9 Feb 7 2005, 11:29 AM

Lincoln Squarewave TIG Pro 175. Welds everything.

Get a 220V unit, they're much better.

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Posted by: ! Feb 7 2005, 01:55 PM

I have a Miller 135 with gas and use 110 volt but I run it thru a heavy duty wires in my new garage....My compressor is 220 so we did the heavier than normal gauge for that as well.

Posted by: Kerrys914 Feb 7 2005, 02:56 PM

I think I will still go with a 110 welder. I have seen some that have a 35-120amp range. Seems like that would work well for hobby welding.

Seems like the wire would get jamed in my old welder. The feed works fine it just would stop feeding. The drive system wants to push but the wire says NO
Most of teh tom ethe wire would just ball up at the exit of the feed/hose.

The gun and hose assembly is just over a year old

Scott e-mail me
Kerrys914@yahoo.com

Posted by: Andy Feb 7 2005, 03:13 PM

Though it's probably been beaten into the ground, but even on 110V flux core is a bad idea for welding on a 914 - I have a little 110V Lincoln HD and on it's lowest setting it welded about as well as a drill on the 914...

If anybody's interested, and I know lengevity won't be there but...

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/Displayitem.taf?itemnumber=91811

A guy in my 4x4 group bought one and says it's actually very servicable. Mmmm, TIG... I'll have a stronger opinion about it when mine gets here.

Posted by: 914forme Feb 7 2005, 04:15 PM

Anybody use any of the http://www.daytonamig.com/tig.htm stuff??

I am thinking about their tig unit 220V since my Mig bit the dust, make alium welding easier. I have also thought about getting a . http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/Displayitem.taf?itemnumber=45690 Of course I have a torch I never use and a stick welder I don't use either. Mig was much nicer, and has its place, but tig is so much better for weld control, and I would have to build a chassis rotisserie.

Posted by: Kerrys914 Feb 7 2005, 05:44 PM

I always thought TIG and Arc were for thicker metal and MIG would ge great for sheetmetal.

I prefer to use the flux wire and not have to fuss with the bottle.

Thoughts

Posted by: TimT Feb 7 2005, 05:47 PM

With TIG you can weld a beer can back together, providing you have the skills.

Get the bottle, with flux core you have to clean all the slag.

Posted by: 914forme Feb 7 2005, 06:56 PM

tig can weld anything that will conduct and melt, metals that is, never tried brass, use a torch for that.

If you stick with a MIG and get the bottle with a steady hand it will look great. Flux core is good only to slap a couple items togther heavy steel. But you can do it. going from a stick to a Mig makes you think you can weld anything, but going from a mig to a tig will make you thiink you died and gone to Nirvana.

Stick = big pieces of metal
Mig = slightly smaller to sheet metal 22 ga stuff
Gas = all the above
tig = paper thin to what can you toss at me within reason. And yes I can weld that pipe to Nuclear Certification level. But then I don't have that talent to do that, so I will stilck with Mig or Tig and sheetmetal repair.

Luckly I live one town over from Troy, Ohio so my Licoln is over in Troy as of tonight getting fixed by a guy that works for Hobart. And then I will have it back, I really need to pickup ectra parts for it and hope it stays togther it has servered me well, 3 914s, a couple boats, tractors, vans and just make this or that. 5 years it finally blew, not bad considering the amount of welding I do, it was by far my most used power tool.

Oh it is a 110V model but I run it off a 220 circuit 50 amps, and split the leags to make it 110, never had it bog down once. but I don't even think of running it off an extension cord.

Posted by: xsboost90 Feb 7 2005, 07:05 PM

ive done some research to come to the conclusion that i want the 135 miller. I would definitly like the 175, but the garage i work in wont back it up. Plus if i take it with me places to work on something, good luck finding 220v plugs. I do have a dedicated line at the garage though for sure. Using the argon is MUCH nicer than the flux core, ive never liked that stuff, and if your doing finish welding like on a body panel, most likely you will warp it pretty good.

Posted by: Series9 Feb 7 2005, 07:05 PM

Here's what I did with my TIG today. I made a rain catch/drain for the header panel to replace the original air box.

It's aluminum:

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Posted by: Series9 Feb 7 2005, 07:06 PM

Another:

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