well now i didn't know flux worked well with dirty / rusty metal .. maybe i grab a 2lb spool .. just in case something nasty comes along .. would 'regular' 75A 25co2 be okay with use flux wire as a dual sheild .. or will it not work so good ?

i do want go learn stick welding .. idk but for whatever reason i just never been around a jobsite or had to learn how to use the stuff .. so i don't know nothing about it .. i know they weld pipelines and skyscrapers with it .. and it burns through what i suppose are at least surface rusted pipes .. so it's gotta be good stuff ..

i pretty much only deal with body panels .. frames .. motor mounts .. these types of things .. and whatever else i might happen to brake .. i must say .. a good welder is really handy .. in my opinion a good mig welder and a good air compressor are just a requirement .. they're just so handy to have .. as far as body shop work is concerned .. clean welds are important to a customer .. and from what flux only boxes i have used they wouldn't cut it .. but i guess if you run it in a real welder and preferably with some gas it sounds alright .. does flux core wire with gas still splatter alot ? or is it tempered down ..

note .. be carefull around window glass if you use a splattery welder .. splatter will burn glass .. dude with the sizzler burned a windshild lol .. but i think he used HF wire and left wire out and everyting .. and was just super bad about his tools so it was probably not the machine probably the user .. but just sayin' watch the glass ..

i use .030 wire on body panels and thick stuff alike .. but you can't just zip it in there too fast on sheet metal .. i pop a starter bead for one second .. wait .. then build another to it .. then go on ahead .. give it something to build on to join up with not just press the button and blaze with thin stuff ..

thick stuff .. i crank it up and imagine making 'triangles' making sure it's real hot and pushing or pulling the puddle to get good penetration ..

i do want go get a spool gun to try my hand at aluminium .. but i never really have any aluminum to weld .. so it would just be a learning thing .. guess that's why i don't have one yet no real need .. but i would like to get one or some rod for aluminum and try it .. i'll also grab a stick welding box when i can .. no big hurry also .. i think a good strong mig does everything i need but it's good to expand on what you can do and know .. thanks for the input so far guys

+++ also .. look .. we picked up some passengers at the lake

 

Flux isn't good for thin metal like body pannels. 0.30 is good down to maybe 14 gauge but you have to weld in small sections or it burns through. 0.30 is the biggest I run on a 120v, they said 0.35 but the welds end up being much better with 0.30 even on thicker stuff, you just run the wire speed slower to get it hotter.

 

for body work i spot weld, then stitch back and forth to prevent excessive heat buildup which then helps control warping.

 

yep ^^ like tom said .. on thin metal i hit several tacks all around and alternate between them so as not to warp the panels ..

and when possible it's best to cut spot welds out because they line right up ....

just a little blurb about my air compressor .. because hey why not .. it's an important tool also .. and i have a minute ..

so let me say what one i prefer .. maybe you decide to get a compressor and would like a good one then maybe this would help .. not that others brands aren't great .. but i do have a thing with brands i like .. i like a ford truck .. i like a miller welder .. and i like an emglo air compressor (now jenny / dewalt / others brands painted onto the side)

my emglo wheelbarrow is about 50 years old (i think .. i used to be able to read the sticker better but it fadded now and the serial if i recall was a 1960 model) and was made in jamestown pa ..

they began manufacturing these in the 50's and they are still produced today .. whenever i walk past a fancy $1,500 'dewalt' at the store .. and it looks exactly like my old emglo i crack a wry smile ..

mine is a ku style single stage pump mated to a 'true' 2hp motor .. that pushes the limit of 110v wiring .. it can be run 220 also .. and i could just change over the wiring no problem .. but .. it came with some very hefty nice long wire (i think 8-3 if i remember) but .. anyways the wiring is stout so no current drop so i just run it 110 ..

it's a tough old hog and has been run hard nearly every day of it's 50ish year life as far as i can tell .. the old owner said it was also his primary compressor .. although he had 3 for sale ..

just an aside the dude i bought her from had all his 'old tools' for sale .. he won a huge craftsman tool giveaway .. they gave him a new diesel truck .. with a built in generator and air compressor .. and all new craftsman everything tools .. i think one of everything they make .. he had a ton of new tools and he was showing me all this cool stuff .. but anyways .. so that's why he was selling it ..

i got it for 200 and it was rough .. but a great deal if you ask me .. it runs everytime i ask it to .. never skips a beat .. i did rust out a tank .. and looked to cut off the mounting base but that sucker is welded thick metal all around ..

don't let the small size fool ya this thing weighs like 200 lbs .. it's not easy to move even with the wheelbarrow feature .. .

so anyways rather then cut if off i just bypass the tanks and go straight to an auxiliary tank .. i rusted through one other spare tank .. and now i'm on #3 .. still working great ..

best of all the parts are still in production .. still made in USA .. inexpensive .. and easy to get ..

the company is now jenny air corp. and they have a network of dealers everywhere .. i picked up brand new valves springs and head gasket for something like $40 dollars locally .. said made in USA on all parts ..

a breif history from what i've gathered .. not 100% sure off all points but a general overview of the companies involed ..

jenny has been usa company since 1870ish so they been around awhile ..

emglo had been made since the 50's and alot of the parts they used in manufacturing had been sourced by jenny and increasingly so until 2003 when they got bought out by black and decker corp ..

black and decker started to shut the plant and move the equipment to mexico .. they got so far as hiring foreign laborers so that the jamestown plant workers could train them ..

but at the last minute jenny bought the emglo product line and canceled the move .. they opened a plant 30 minutes away and re-hired many of the same workers (albeit at reduced pay) but still they saved the plant ..

i do think some of the tanks were made in mexico and had quality problems .. maybe the tanks still are idk .. but i think the compressors and parts and everything never left .. though it was a close call ..

anyway .. now they are made by jenny for / emglo / jenny / dewalt / others under various names ..

these are good compressors i like that all the parts for a 196* compressor are interchangeable with a 201* compressor .. and they still work well .. i only ever had one problem with mine a valve wore out and got jammed sideways in the head ..

it sounded horrible but i ran it several days anyway and it still worked at half power .. i ordered the parts and took it apart at the next available chance and it was back to 100%

mine lives outside .. i had built a roof covering .. the legs fell out this last winter an i haven't got around to fixing it yet .. but i will one of these days .. it works great pumpin' air even in the rain ..

other brands are good and there are probably better emglos' .. 2 stage ect .. then mine .. but i like mine .. so if your ever in the market for a compressor think about maybe this one .. an old emglo or a jenny or even a dewalt if it's made by these folks .. good stuff

 

i use a 5 hp, 15.5 CFM@ 90 PSI 80 gallon ingersol rand compressor i picked up new from lowes for $300 around 12 years ago out in the home shop after my grandfathers old compressor finally stopped making over 45 lbs air.

 

I have a campbell hausfeld i paid like $400 for 8 years ago or so. It does 11.8scfm at 90psi. I cut the legs off, cut the compressor mount off and mounted it sideways in my covered trailer with a 10kw generator. I have a 86 gal gas tank and electric pump mounted up front. It allows me to "plug in" to a 50 amp out and power my compressor when parked next to my garage and feed the garage with air, or disconnect, "plug in" to the generator and have a mobile compressor and mobile 50amp outlet, well slighly less. It also allows me to have a back up generator for the house/garage with about 3 days of run time. The generator has no problem kicking on the 3hp 220v motor or running my 220amp TIG or 200 AMP stick welder. It's nice to have onbaord air too for mobile plasma cutting.

 

the nice thing about the 250 bobcat is that it is also a 10KW genset. i have onboard air in the 02 diesel, but have yet to use it for the plasma cutter.
i try not to bring that out of the garage, the less people that know i have it the better off i am.

 

^^^ that is cool ..

Totally likin' the wheeled mega tool platform. ..

On my list of to do someday 's is to build an enclosed vehicle with a generator / air / with plasma / torches / fuel / gas / duplicate tools

Like you've made there .. something i can part next to the shop and plug in fully integrated. .. nice unit there ..

I was gonna cut the cover off my compressor with the torch .. but it dawned on me that i would never be able to move it .. the wheel is good for scootin' it around .. but whenever i get to making a mega cool truck to put it all in i'll cut the tanks to make it a smaller profile. .. and can do different mounting configurations on the tank too ..

 

I skimmed, but i have some input. I worked for tweaker and brats lawn care for a brief stint (tough to land a good job with no DL). Anyway, they wanted some stuff built. I told em buy a welder, can be cheap, just not the $100 HF junker, i was thinking the tried and true lincoln buzzbox, while not much better, is dependable. Ill give you a guess which one they came back with. Long story short, after miles, if not leagues of wire ran through that little turd, i was actually kinda impressed with it. I did not build anything "structural" with it no, but i could lay down a half decent bead with it. Everything from bed extensions, fertilizer carts, patches on mower decks. I never had a problem with the weld strength. In fact, we loaded so much grass in the 550 one time that it tore the 1x1x1/8" square tubing, yet the welds held. Im all for bashing poor equipment, but bashing because you dont know how to correctly use it is a wholly separate issue. Is it the best tool? No, but it is a tool, and it did its job, and for the price and the use we got out of it, possibly the best welder they could have ever bought. They were still using it when i left. All that said, i have FREE SHIPPING — Hobart Handler 140 Flux-Core/MIG Welder — 115V, 140 Amp, Model# 500559 | MIG Flux Core Welders| Northern Tool + Equipment
not the biggest or the best, but i rarely if ever weld even 1/4" (bumpers are going to be 3/16", and im 99% of the time welding sheetmetal), need to run on 110v power, and portability is pretty important. Not interested in how it would be 2x as good if it were blue.

 

When did this thread get so interesting, I skimmed a couple post now I need to remember to come back and read it before it gets too long.

Devin

 

Either way you're limiting yourself with a junk HF welder. You can lay a half decent bead with it? Ok, you could have had a good weld. I'm not a pro but I can lay a bead and fill gaps with the best of them, I've tested my welds up to 3000 psi, no leaks.

It would also be hypocritical of me to complain about cheap autolite glowplugs and have no qualms supporting HF, they share the same business model.

 

A few comments on the different types of wire:


-Hardwire, solid wire (typically ER70-S6) is one of the most common types of wire both in the industry and in home shops. It is very versatile and in the hands of someone who knows what they are doing can be used to effectively weld most materials. That being said it is also a very easy wire / process to put a bad weld in with, and even worse "good" looking welds that are not sound are far too easy to come by. If you have a smaller machine stick with smaller diameters and 75/25 gas, or even 100% CO2 although it will be somewhat messier. Bigger machines with larger diameter wire and gas mixes richer in argon can produce excellent welds on thicker materials, generally in a spray transfer mode, however there are wires better suited to this if heavy production is the goal.


-Gas shielded flux core, or dual shield wires: Traditionally used for production welding on heavier steel, and well suited to out of position welding assuming the right type of wire is selected. Many wires are optimized for 100% C02 although wires that can use both 100% as well as Argon CO2 mixes are becoming much more common. These wires operate in a globular / spray transfer and leave a heavy, although easily chipped, coat of slag. You will want a larger power source and heavier equipment for these wires and they are not well suited to thin materials. These wires a really overkill for anything the average person does at home, produce a tremendous amount of smoke and they are gradually taking a backseat in industry to Metal core wires.


-Metal Core: A cored wire that welds much like a solid wire, with no slag covering. Used with very high argon mixes in the spray transfer mode, this wire is for production welding on heavy steel in position. Out of position welding is achievable with pulse machines, but in my opinion, not as effective as flux core.


Self shielded flux core: Most people know this as the stuff that comes with the little 110v welder and is commonly thought to be a low grade wire. There are in fact many different grades of self shielded wire, the two most common being T11 and T8. Both types operate without shielding gas. T11 is typically thought of as a lower grade wire. While it welds and cleans up easier, (much like a 6010 rod) it's mechanical properties are not that of most other wires and processes. Having said that, if used correctly it is more than enough for most applications. T8 is a much higher grade wire, quite often seismically rated and rapidly replacing stick welding in field erection, pile driving and even some pipe welding applications. It is challenging to weld with, messy, very smoky and quite expensive. I would not really bother with any type of self shielded wire unless you have to be welding outside.




I am welder/fabricator by trade, so I got a little carried away. That being said, this barely scratches the surface! At the end of the day the most important factor is always the person operating the welding machine!

 

I was trying to be modest; translation, i had no problem whatsoever welding with it on "thin" metal, which is apparently not flux-cores strength. Would the miller at our shop have done a better, cleaner, easier, faster job of it? Im absolutely 110% sure, but last i checked, our miller cost slightly more than $90. IMO there is nothing wrong with the little HF welder- for the price. Anyone buying a $100 welder isnt going to be doing "serious" work with it, and they should know that. Honestly, i could probably do everything i do with it, but i wanted a better machine. Specifically gas sheilded because as i mentioned above most of what i do is light gauge metal IE, i need to modify the floorpan in the fairlane, stitch in a few patch panels, stick in the subframe connectors, build a trans x-member, install the inset spring hangers, skid plate for my fuel filters, build my bumpers, and maybe even slap together a slip tank.

Bottom line is, its a poor craftsman that blames his tools.

 

Wasn't trying to insult your capabilities, I was dealing hypothetically as well. Simply stating that you're leaving some, to a lot, on the table with cheap equipment.

 

the harbor freight of 25 years ago is not the same as the harbor freight of today.

25 years ago they sold cheap chinese knock off junk.
these days 99% of the name brand tools you buy are made on the same assembly line in chine as the harbor freight stuff is made on, and just gets the name of the company that eventually will sell it.

my harbor freight plasma cutter uses lincoln replacements parts.

i have not used a harbor freight mig, but know a few people that do have them and they are happy with them.