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Mon Jan 15, 2007 1:18 pm

frame rails at torsion tubes are rotted on my 66 bus...suggestions..?

Sat Jan 20, 2007 9:27 am

Bought this yesterday, awesome machine :shock:

http://www.mylincolnelectric.com/Catalog/equipmentdatasheet.asp?p=42420

Mon May 28, 2007 6:46 pm

stancey53 wrote: The Chicago Welders, all of them, SUCK! Harbor Freight sells a lot of Chicago Electric stuff. Its funny, I don't recall there being a Chicago in China but apparently there is as this is where these welders are made.

I bought a 220v one from Harbor Freight last fall and it didn't work. Flat out didn't work straight from the box. I called HF and they sent me a new one. Took it out of the box and, you guessed it, it didn't work. I talked to a tech support person from HF who said that it was likley a bad circuit board in each welder. They offered to send me a new board to install myself. Needless to say, I got my money back and bought a Hobart.

Good to know! I will avoid Harbor Freight like its got the plague.

Tue May 29, 2007 12:06 pm

I ended up with a free welder = but I am still interested in the following post:

(I accedently posted twice so I edited this one to avoid redundancy)

Tue May 29, 2007 12:12 pm

I posted elsewhere but have been doing a great deal of research on welders. It turns out that Craftsman brand welders are relabled Clarke brand welders. I contacted the Clarke people directly and they say thats the case. More feedback on the 130en and the 180 would be good, because they are so cheap compared to the others. Have been seen currently on eBay for a lot less than the Lincolns, Millers, Hobarts etc.. They are for sale at - Orschelns - the "Farm" store near here. They said they haven't had complaints. Can anyone with Clarke experience bring us up to date (see post dates)

Tue Jun 19, 2007 8:55 pm

I finally got mine.

I was looking at Hobarts at Northern Tool for $300-400. I also found some Hobarts that were reconditioned from "ToolKing" for about $250. I was planning on buying the fluxcore/mig.. then upgrading to gas when I could afford it.

But then I found a heck of a deal!

120V, 155AMP Century Welder (now Lincoln). With a full size tank, regulator, wire, cart, autodark helmet with replacement screens, replacement tips, and a cheapo jacket I can use for welding.

All for $400.

Only used a few times and was tested on some 1/4" plate and drew a really good bead.

Fri Jun 29, 2007 8:06 am

hi, i'm planning to buy a welding machine 110 or 120 volts for my proje ct car, should i buy a dual gas or no gas unit? or no gas unit will be fine? by the waywhat would be the amps? thanks :lol:

Fri Jun 29, 2007 11:43 am

Buy a MIG where Gas is an option.. but not needed.

I would always go with gas.

The tanks aren't that bad you can rent them.

Fri Jun 29, 2007 1:28 pm

AJ Quick wrote: Buy a MIG where Gas is an option.. but not needed.

I would always go with gas.

The tanks aren't that bad you can rent them.

thanks for the advice man :lol:

Fri Jun 29, 2007 2:06 pm

I finally got a Hobart Handler 140 - it seems good althought I have only been welding on scrap. It seemed around here that was the best deal that could be purchased in a REAL STORE. It came with a cart, and I bought a helmet seperate. All total about $475.00 and I stole the tank off of my old one.

Anyone in Iowa looking for a very small "Blackhawk" MIG can PM me to get it at quite the deal. (gas/no gas)

Tue Jul 17, 2007 9:18 am

Can anyone give me a rundown on how to weld in floor pans. This would not be on my Karmann Ghia, however my 79 Toyota 4x4 pick up. So I guess I would cut the rusted metal out, and cut the new piece of metal larger than the hole and overlap the new metal over the old solid metal? Should I weld from the inside of the truck or from the underside? Do I do spot welds or a long bead? I guess for a floor pan it does not matte how it looks. I am using a Millermatic 135.

Thanks,
Zack

Tue Jul 17, 2007 9:38 am

I was wondering if CO2 was the way to go or an Argon/CO2 mix? My buddy uses the mix called Stargone and says its the stuff? Right now I have CO2 - what would be the difference?

Tue Jul 17, 2007 9:40 am

You should cut it out. Then get a flange tool to flange the existing floor.. and then plug weld the new floor piece.

Tue Jul 17, 2007 3:22 pm

AJ Quick wrote: You should cut it out. Then get a flange tool to flange the existing floor.. and then plug weld the new floor piece.

Sorry for being dumb, but what is a plug weld? And what do the plug weld pliers do?

Thanks,
Zack

Tue Oct 02, 2007 9:55 am

marklaken wrote: while on the topic of helpful tools - a plugweld plier is very nice to have - especially for inexperienced welders (like myself) - harbor freight sell them for $10 and eastwood has them for $20

a link:
http://www.eastwoodco.com/jump.jsp?itemID=10856&itemType=PRODUCT

my plug welds are much cleaner and stronger because of this little tool

That looks like an awesome tool.

I didn't believe that if you backed a hole in mild steel with a copper "spoon" that it would prevent your weld from burning through, until I did it myself. It really works!

Has anyone tried the magnetic copper butt-weld backers that Eastwood sells?

http://www.eastwoodco.com/jump.jsp?itemID=21231&itemType=PRODUCT

Thu Oct 25, 2007 8:11 pm

What are you guys paying for tank rentals and re-fills?

Fri Oct 26, 2007 11:00 pm

I'll need to do some floor pan work and a couple nickel sized holes on my 82 vanagon, I've welded plenty of 1/8" and thicker stuff with my 110 Lincoln running .030 flux core wire, which seem slike way overkill for the thin sheet metal of my van. What size wire is prefered? With gas I assume.

Flange tool, looks like a cool toy, so you make a recess for your patch to drop into then punch holes in your patch which you then fill with the welder?

Mon Oct 29, 2007 12:55 am

It's cheaper for a home user in the long run to buy the tank. When you refill you usually just exchange your tank for a full one. I don't know the prices off the top of my head, but I'm pretty sure it ends up cheaper than renting.

There's a point that's been confusing me a bit though. MIG=Metal Inert Gas, so if you're using flux-core wire with no gas, you're not really using MIG. You're basically stick welding with an automatic feed are you not?

I'd like to vouch for TIG though. It's really nice. Really easy to learn, (except when your welds are suddenly really bad and you can't figure out why until you realize your gas isin't on) and you can weld pretty much anything. Aluminum, Magnesium, Titainum, Stainless, Copper. It's really cool.

Thu Nov 01, 2007 6:14 am

Yeah, but you can get that gas-not-on yellowing on your welds with a MIG aswell.

BTW, just upgraded from a small stick to this one:

Fri Nov 02, 2007 8:57 am

I did a rent to own from CK on a Miller Matic 300. Work nicely.