Hey guys. Being retired now almost 3 months and having extra time on my hands. Have the work shop looking great projects getting caught up on and the rest of my life to fill. Im taking up welding as a hobby. My whole work life I have been involved with welding as we built locomotives and with my design work I have spec-ed 1000 of welded projects and have spent 1000 of hours standing next to someone that knew what they were doing producing beautiful welds. I understand most of the technical side to it. I just havent done it. Last time I welded anything was 40 years ago when I was an apprentice machinist and I needed something welded and the boss pointed to a thing the size of a fridge that was a dirty red color and said go for it. It was an ancient stick welder with knobs the size of paint bucket lids and big knife switches with wood handles. I found a helmet and saw you had to time flipping the helmet down with striking a arc was a skill in its own. I wasted most of a can of weld rod, got a good sunburn on what wasnt covered and with the help of a couple of old timers managed to get my parts stuck together good enough as ugly as it was. Decided welding wasnt for me.
I have been looking for a cheap MIG used welder on line and the other day a dairy farmer about 40 miles away in a blizzard had one for sale. Ad said only used a couple times. He didnt mention it had set in a dairy barn for 5 years. I drove off into the blizzard just as it was getting dark to take a look. I got there (another long story involving asking Amish directions and ending up in a feed mill asking more direction) it was really dirty with everything you find in a barn. He had it wired up to 240 thru a 50 homemade cord made from a 120V cheap green Christmas light extension cord wired back into the panel. I said isnt this 240V and he said oh the guys know dont plug anything into this. It had a tank for gas 25/75 mix and regulators that he told me he was out of gas I would have to get filled. He had two pieces of .25 thick rusty steel and he told me the welds wont look too good without gas and solid .035 wire but he wanted to show me it would work. I was more scared one he didnt have a weld hood on and two he was going to catch the barn on fire as he was doing this in straw and with 25 cows standing there. Low and behold it worked and made a fair looking weld that was pretty strong from what I could tell. I wasnt expecting the gas hook up and I know the regulator was maybe 100 bucks.
I asked why he was selling it and he said it is useless on the farm not enough power and his ex girlfriend bought it for him and it reminded him of her.
I told him I would take it after that drive I wasnt going home empty handed. He said it would be 50 bucks and I told him he could keep the extension cord. It is a Harbor Freight 110 amp dual mig #94164 with gas.
http://www.manualsdir.com/manuals/97950/harbor-freight-tools-94164.html
I got it home took the cover off cleaned it all up blew it out real good inside. I had some #10 gage very flexible 3 conductor wire and I replaced the short #14 feed with a nice 25 long feed with a proper 3 prong welder plug that fits my outlet in the garage to make it a little mobile. I plan on upgrading the ground wire also with a better clamp and larger wire. Its pretty heavy with the tank on Im guessing 70-80 pounds and with my new wire at least 100 pounds so I will be putting it on a cart I have and will be able to work in the main garage or the drive way. I bought this helmet over twice what I paid for the welder lol.
https://www.harborfreight.com/weldi...safe-auto-darkening-welding-helmet-63749.html
I bought a roll of .035 flux core wire and a couple nozzles and 10 pack of tips and a chipping hammer. Now Im into it for 250 bucks and only struck enough of an arc to see that it works.
First question is do we have a sister forum that is more about welding I should be checking out?
Most of the skills I have learned in life have been self taught or at least no formal training. Learning from others as I go. If I get the bug and this cheap welder doesnt cut it Im sure I will end up buying a name brand with stronger duty cycles etc. I dont see me needing to do much really heavy gage stuff or long runs where I wont be able to stop and start to let it cool down. Im not planning any commercial jobs. Just want to fix the lawn mower or build a mini bike. Always wanted one of them when I was a kid. Never too late.
So question two any tips?
:thbup::down:
I have been looking for a cheap MIG used welder on line and the other day a dairy farmer about 40 miles away in a blizzard had one for sale. Ad said only used a couple times. He didnt mention it had set in a dairy barn for 5 years. I drove off into the blizzard just as it was getting dark to take a look. I got there (another long story involving asking Amish directions and ending up in a feed mill asking more direction) it was really dirty with everything you find in a barn. He had it wired up to 240 thru a 50 homemade cord made from a 120V cheap green Christmas light extension cord wired back into the panel. I said isnt this 240V and he said oh the guys know dont plug anything into this. It had a tank for gas 25/75 mix and regulators that he told me he was out of gas I would have to get filled. He had two pieces of .25 thick rusty steel and he told me the welds wont look too good without gas and solid .035 wire but he wanted to show me it would work. I was more scared one he didnt have a weld hood on and two he was going to catch the barn on fire as he was doing this in straw and with 25 cows standing there. Low and behold it worked and made a fair looking weld that was pretty strong from what I could tell. I wasnt expecting the gas hook up and I know the regulator was maybe 100 bucks.
I asked why he was selling it and he said it is useless on the farm not enough power and his ex girlfriend bought it for him and it reminded him of her.
I told him I would take it after that drive I wasnt going home empty handed. He said it would be 50 bucks and I told him he could keep the extension cord. It is a Harbor Freight 110 amp dual mig #94164 with gas.
http://www.manualsdir.com/manuals/97950/harbor-freight-tools-94164.html
I got it home took the cover off cleaned it all up blew it out real good inside. I had some #10 gage very flexible 3 conductor wire and I replaced the short #14 feed with a nice 25 long feed with a proper 3 prong welder plug that fits my outlet in the garage to make it a little mobile. I plan on upgrading the ground wire also with a better clamp and larger wire. Its pretty heavy with the tank on Im guessing 70-80 pounds and with my new wire at least 100 pounds so I will be putting it on a cart I have and will be able to work in the main garage or the drive way. I bought this helmet over twice what I paid for the welder lol.
https://www.harborfreight.com/weldi...safe-auto-darkening-welding-helmet-63749.html
I bought a roll of .035 flux core wire and a couple nozzles and 10 pack of tips and a chipping hammer. Now Im into it for 250 bucks and only struck enough of an arc to see that it works.
First question is do we have a sister forum that is more about welding I should be checking out?
Most of the skills I have learned in life have been self taught or at least no formal training. Learning from others as I go. If I get the bug and this cheap welder doesnt cut it Im sure I will end up buying a name brand with stronger duty cycles etc. I dont see me needing to do much really heavy gage stuff or long runs where I wont be able to stop and start to let it cool down. Im not planning any commercial jobs. Just want to fix the lawn mower or build a mini bike. Always wanted one of them when I was a kid. Never too late.
So question two any tips?
:thbup::down: