Hey all, my neighbor gave me a used arc welder.... i plugged it in and i get power, the wire feeds out okay. the only problem is, when i try to weld something, i dont get spark.... (forgive me for being a little stupid here). there is the ground cable, but it doesnt have the clamp, would that be my problem?

Also there is a guage and a hookup for some type of bottle... what would this be for?

any help or direction you can give me would be great.

 

the hookup for the bottle is for some sort of gas, not sure what kind tho. The ground HAS to be attatched to the part you're trying to weld, get a battery clamp from and old set of jumper cables.

 

that is what i thought.... will try this weekend.

thanks for shinning some light on my dark path to destruction.

 

no problem.

 

Get yourself a book on welding at the local home store or supply house.

 

Wow, yer lucky! I wish I had a neighbor like that. You might also be able to learn about your welder by getting online and looking up the manufacturer. Most of the welder manufacturer sites have free downloadable user/maintenance manuals. As for learning how to weld, you might be able to check out some welding books at your local library. I live in a small town and they still had 3 different welding books available for me to read. The latest edition was printed in 2002. Now that's pretty current for a public library! Good luck and have fun with yer new toy!

 

Sweet, you just picked up a MIG welder. You need to go to a welding supply house and get a 'work clamp', 150 amp rated would be fine, and will cost about 15 bucks.

The gas hookup is for C25 welding mix.(75% Argon, 25% Carbon Dioxide) That is the sheilding gas you would use for steel. Cheap enough to buy, although there will probably be a bottle rental, but it won't be much.

Instead of searching the library, I would hit an auto parts store that carries the Haynes Techbook line and get the welding manual,(Part number 10445 (2110). It'll give you a basic introduction to welding to get you started.

When you go to the welding supply house, bring that machine in with you and ask them if they have the time to give it a quick look over. They'll check the contact tip, the shielding nozzle and liner, and give you the right size wire for the tip(very important). The contact tip and shielding nozzle are consumables, so get a couple spares of each(cheap), and keep them in your toolbox. A worn contact tip will REALLY ruin your welding job, and this usually shows up on a weekend.

They can probably fire it up and check the operation,(unless they're lowlife's and just want to sell you another machine. In that case, take your equipment and go elsewhere) and make sure all is ok.

Write down the make and model number and post them here, and I can tell you if there's anything else you need to know.

Also, use a shade 10 or 11 full face shield for that. DO NOT use goggles only, read an instruction manual before you get too crazy with that welder, because you can hurt yourself.

 

If you dont mind me jumping in,

What is the difference between solid and flux core wire?

Someone told me that with one of them you do not need the gas.
Is this true or is someone yanking me?

BTW, everyone needs a neighbor like that!

 

With fluxcore wire you do not need sheilding gas but the weld is usually contains a bit more splatter, especially if your a rookie like me. The shielding gas works very well inside enclosed shops but with any breeze at all (like outside) you'll have a tough time with the gas. The fluxcore wire is a bit more forgiving in the breeze. I prefer gas shielding for the appearance and less clean up but the fluxcore has its place as well.

 

If your welding and having shielding problems (due to wind etc)you can always use flux-core AND shielding gas at the same time. I also wish I had a nieghbor who would give me a welder Nice guy!

 

If you guys are having a problem with wind, block it off. Use a 4X8 sheet of plywood and turn up the gas flow, problem solved. If it's real windy, then you have to reload the machine with flux core wire. Personally, I'd rather wait for the wind to die down, flux core wire will ruin an otherwise nice job.

 

Thanks for clearing that up. At work we always used a gas mix for shielding, but I was looking to buy a small welder and someone told me gas was not needed so I was wondering.

I probably go with the gas. Guess I will just have to save a little more for the bottle.

 

Sounds like a good deal, I bought a little lincoln 135plus wire is easy, the flux cored stuff is good general purpose stuff and as was said good when its breezy but the gas is cleaner, also according to our welders if you use CO2 mix you get better penetration than with flux core. I don't actually know that much about welding but I've repaired a number of welders, thats why I'm currently shopping for an old stick welder, I'm going to get one to mess around with, build a rectifier, pulser and arc stabilizer. Arc stabilizers are kinda cool they superimpose a low current high voltage over the low voltage high current of the welder. You can build one with a neon transformer(about 10 or 12 kv) and a few other parts, when you use one it will start to arc when you get close to the work witout touching it, then when the plasma is established the low voltage high current will flow.
I've seen guys use them and start the arc through rust and paint and other stuff you are supposed to clean off. They work almost exactly like those plasma globes they sell in novelty shops. Now I want a plasma cutter.

 

Actually, that is opposite of every book and reference that I have seen comparing Flux Core wire to gas wire electrodes. The Flux core is messier but gives better penetration. The last two books I read on this even had color pictures of welded metal cut into slices to show the difference in penetration between the two types of electrodes. The Flux core had an impressive deeper penetration weld than the solide wire.

 

From what our welders say the mix is important nearly pure argon mix without CO2 for aluminum alloys, and if you use the same mix on steel it looks purty but has no penetration. And CO2 mix made for steel will allow a higher current and deeper penetration with a cleaner weld. A question I have also is, they have an aluminim kit for the welder I have but the welders tell me you really need AC to do aluminum. You could get AC by just bypassing the rectifier, of course none of them know if this will work right now I'm curious. I also know where I can lay my hands on some hockey puck SCRs and thyristors cheap, I wonder, I bet I could cook up something, if nothing else an interesing way to kill computers and start fires. I'm going to find out what I can about the gas from the guys over where I used to work, some of them used to work for Bechtel doing stainless and aluminum and stuff, one of them also told me they have a couple of broken welders and I might be able to get one of the smaller stick welders in trade if I fix the big ones, when I worked there I used to fix some of the welders and stuff, it kept me from having to work on hydralics at 140 degrees, you know its hot in there when you walk outside on a summer day in Phoenix to cool off.