i posted this in my cheap dana 60 fronts in illinois? thread in offroad and 4x4, but that's a b/s thread, so nobody really checks it.

"ok, back to some semi truck related talk. if any one has a suggestion, school me. i don't know much about welding, but i am looking into getting a cheap econobox welder for learning and making small projects. i'm looking to make a medium duty front bumper and a chase truck style utility/flatbed with a steel frame and expanded metal floor. i have a little welding experience both stick and mig, but that was years ago in h/s shop class. i have a few friends with welders, but the one i can have access to is owned by a guy who can't weld, so he can't help me, i'd rather try by myself than fail with help. any suggestions as to a decent quality cheaply priced welder that would suit my needs, would be greatly appreciated."

i have a one car garage, but my truck won't fit in it, i read that flux core welders work best for outdoors, but make crappy looking welds. i'm not really concerned about appearence cause you can always grind stuff smooth. i'm kinda leaning towards these, cause it saves me from buying gas tanks as well. i don't have any 220 outlets and i'm a renter so i don't know if my land lord would let me put one in.

 

https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/3...ig-welder.html Have a read here. Should have posted on that page also.

 

honestly i would go with a good 220v stick arc welder. they give the strongest welds and the cleanest solution. also if you use stick while welding you need to have a welding hammer and a wire brush and a water hose handy.

 

also if you have an electric stove or electric dryer you have 220v jacks in your house. heck i have 2 one for my dryer and one for my ac system

 

thanks lazy, i'll read that, but i like to post were i feel comfortable with talking to people. i was having problems with other forums not "getting my sense of humor" and got some infractions. so i stick to this and the offroad one. there's build threads in there all the time but no one has posted a reply to me.

 

affraid not darth, my dryer is standard 3 prong 110. gas stove, so i'm sol

 

damn well i wouldnt waste my money putting a 220v jack in a rented house because it isnt my house lol but you could get a good 110v mig welder that does pretty good i mean the welds wont be great and the thing will overheat alot on the highest setting (which is what i use for building bumpers) but it will get the job done.

 

what about 110 stick welders? not enough power for decent penatration? and has anyone bought any chicago electric welders from harbour freight? tried finding online reviews, but got nothing but mixed results

 

it should get decent penetration and honestly the chicago electric welders are pretty good welders despite what some people said online (most of them dont know how to weld anyway.) but you may have to pause more often to let the unit cool

 

So go to your buddies house with the welder and learn on your own, there is nothing to it, if your not doing anything structural,or of that sort, sometimes if it doesn't look good, it's not good so be careful, you don't need a chipping hammer, you can just use a chisel or what ever, practice on some flat stock for a few, practice writing your name on some stock, Just keep the stick at the edge of the puddle and pull away staying at the edge of the puddle. you can try craig's list or Ebay and buy a nice mig welder, but if you can't weld, save your money. Good luck

 

i took welding classes at the local pipefitters union and they had me in the beginning running lines on flat stock and i will tell you what dskrab said is true just keep it at the edge of the puddle and keep moving make sure you dont cut too deep but make sure you are getting a good bead if you have any questions about welding while you are learning just drop me a line man

 

i can some what weld, i made a new coil bucket out of some angle iron for a pos car i had about a year ago. i just want to get one for me,at my house were i'm more comfortable and don't feel the need to rush, or get out of anybody's way. i come from a family of welders, but my grandpa is to old now, my sister(yeah my sister is a welder) moved to texas, and my dad's last home welder died in a flood and he never replaced it. he's a maintenance man at del monte foods and has access to a welding shop at work, so he figured he'd save the money as he doesn't need a welder too often at home. i am alright with waiting for cool downs for the duty cycle's and have seen some stuff on adding auxilery cooling fans to smaller welders to aid in longer cycles. just wanting some options, so keep it coming guys

 

I've got a 90 or 100 model Chicago Electric flux welder... I'm entirely self-taught, and my welds... well... they range from "grind it off and try again" to "hey, that's way better than I expected!"

I am getting better, the welding class in my high school was only taught every other semester, and the semester I had room for it, it was full or not offered, I forget which. That, and I was College Prep, so I didn't spend as much time in the shops as I'd like... ironic considering I never went to college, and spend most of my time away from the farm doing building construction and auto repair. Oops.

In any case, the thing about all the Chicago Electric welders I've seen is that the torch is always hot, so you have to be careful. I use an auto-dark helmet, so I don't have any bad experiences from the surprise, but figured the warning would be nice.

A bigger 110 unit with fans can do what you aim for. Flux welding is great for me because I do a lot of welding of dirty, rusty things where I can't always get a wire brush at them effectively, and it's always windy here.

 

yeah those were the high points of the flux for me, chances are i'll be welding in the driveway, not the garage, so wind is gonna be an issue

 

I have one of the small 110v Lincoln Mig Pak 10 welders that does flux core too, and that's all I have tried with it yet and I'm getting petty good at it. Built a small landscape trailer with it last summer, it seems to have plenty of penetrating power on box steel and C channel and the welds come out really clean with just a little flux spatter once you get the hang of it. The thing to look for in a budget welder is if the polarity of the feed wire can be reversed, flux core needs the opposite polarity of MIG so you won't get the best results if you use flux core wire in a MIG only welder.