Any Welders in the house?

avengethis

So I am going to basically teach myself how to weld.  I am going to be starting on my trailer smoker here soon and want to do it myself to have the satisfaction of me building it, make the necessary changes I need to as I go and save on cost.  I will probably build the trailer from scratch and will be using a 500gal propane tank as the main cook chamber on the smoker, something like a 125gal for a charcoal grill on the back side.  I am looking into buying a welder and am liking something like the Lincoln Electric Power Mig 180c.  Seems like it should be able to handle the material as I believe the thickest I will be using on the project will be 3/8" steel for the firebox.

What I want to get a feel for is, does anybody have experience with this welder or something similar they can point me to.  I am leaning towards flux core welding to avoid having the shielding gas in my home garage where I will be building this.  From what i know the flux core may not be as nice of looking welds as a gas however it is cable of welding thicker material without the 2nd pass.  

peter4jc

You could go with a stick welder too.

I never welded for a living, but worked where there were dozens of 'em.  So I'd ask them for tips, and weld up my government jobs during my lunches.  Stick welding is a bit more difficult, but way more fun once you get the hang of it.

avengethis

Yeah there is a greater learning curve with stick but it would provide a lot more flexibility in what I could do with it.  I was leaning towards mig/flux core for the ease of learning to get this project going.

kswildcat

I like stick welding more. I find it easier also. Teaching yourself you may find yourself ruining a lot of tips and wasting a lot of wire and gas  (don't ask me how I know ). I'll take 1 knob to fiddle with over 2 anyday.

kswildcat

K.n.o.b is sensored?  Wow

Wylaff

Knobgobbler is not though

kswildcat

Arc welders are more dependable also, pretty much last forever. I'm far from a pro, I like to take scraps of same material working with to get my heat right before I start burning rods.

Amos_Umwhat

Long ago and far away I was a welder for a living for about 6 years.  I loved doing it, but I also noticed there were really no old welders.  Too many noxious fumes.

Stick with MIG, at least at first.  You shouldn't need the flux-core, "inner-shield" is what we used to call it, if it's still the same, unless you're welding really thick stuff.  Like more that 1/2 inch metal. Also, the flux core produces more noxious gasses than the MIG tank will.  Stick (arc) welding takes time and practice.  I like it better, but, time and practice.

When my Son built his Mustang he called and asked me to teach him to weld, over the phone.  My advice to him was MIG, get a bunch of scrap metal of different thicknesses from some local iron working shop, machine shop etc., then practice different settings.  Once you've gotten those practice welds looking good, you should be ready.

Remember to tack (tiny weld) your whole piece together before you start welding in earnest, both because you may need to start over, and because the cooling weld pulls the metal and will distort what you're trying to do.  Also, if you weld galvanized metal it will release iso-cyanide gasses and precipitate.  Nasty stuff, poisoned my sinuses. 

Good luck.

avengethis

No galvanized here.  Just plain old steel that will then be powder coated or hi-temp painted.

Amos_Umwhat

kswildcat said:

I like stick welding more. I find it easier also. Teaching yourself you may find yourself ruining a lot of tips and wasting a lot of wire and gas  (don't ask me how I know ). I'll take 1 **** to fiddle with over 2 anyday.

This is also a good point, be sure to get the nozzle gel if you go with MIG, you'll have to clear the nozzle from time to time, we used to just tap it on the side of the jig every few minutes.

Should you decide on arc welding, the easiest rod to master is the 7014.  Technically it's an "all-position" rod, but you're best off not trying verticals or overhead with it until you're pretty good, and by then you'd be able to use other rods that will do those jobs better.

The numbers tell you about the rod and the flux on it.  The first 2 (or sometimes 3) numbers indicate the metal strength.  70 means 70,000lbs per sq in tensile strength.  the 1 means all position, a 2 means flat only.  The 4, in this case means it's a "Jet rod", you can lay in at the proper angle and simply feed it into your work without having to learn movement patterns, back and forth etc. that you might use with, say, a 6011 (penetrating) rod. 

Typically, if I were doing your project, on all the thicker pieces I would tack everything with a 6011, maybe do a deep pass with it, then cover with a 7014.  Areas prone to vibration I'd use a 7018, which is, overall, my favorite.  Takes practice, though.

kswildcat

Good point on the gasses. I prefer to weld outside and often still wear a paint mask, looks goofy but hate the smell of arc and mig.

kswildcat

With friends teaching me autobody always have these around .not sure how effective it is on the gasses but sure helps with the smell. So I'm thinking it helps some. 

0patience

As a heavy equipment mechanic, welding is probably 50% of my job.
Totally agree with @Amos_Umwhat

Most of my welding is Mig or 7018 stick. 75% of everything I weld is done with wirefeed.
I prefer gas shielded using 75/25 argon/co2 gas. I only use innershield/flux core when I am out in the field, but even then will grab the 7018 rod most the time.

If you plan on painting or poweder coating, the gas shielded wirefeed will save tons of prep work.

avengethis

Well the unit I am looking at lets me either go gas or flux so that I do have the option.  Maybe I will just need to go the gas route.

avengethis

This is my basic idea of what I will be doing.  However I will have a warming box/vertical smoker on top of the firebox and a few other nice features.  Anybody want to come help?  I will provide beer, food, and cigars.

http://www.custompits.com/mini-beast-pro

kswildcat

You will be able to throw some shindigs with a rig like that.

0patience

Do yourself a favor and go with at least 150amp. If you are gonna want to build those, you'll want to run .035 wire and while 145 amp will run it, it may trip the duty cycle switch after a bit of solid welding.