A Story of Indecision and Frivolous Spending

mattcogdell said:
HA! You think that till you wake the entire neighborhood up cutting those off and grinding things down. You are about to create some of the loudest noise there is in a shop. She will then be mad as hell with two kids that cannot sleep cause they want to know what dad is doing in the garage.
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I’m no stranger to the grinder, neither are my neighbors, this I assure you. I’ve used that HF one I have more times than I can count, sometimes for hours at a time.

I always do it at an appropriate time when no one is in bed. The welding is what I would save for later at night.
 
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cliffish said:
Blaine, I understand the logic you are saying, I know there will be uses for me in the future, for example...I am into keeping and breeding tropical fish, I intend to have minimum of 30 - 50 tanks of various sizes, stands (racks) will have to be made to hold them. If I have to drop a few hundred now to get some practice, no biggie. I have wasted far more on far less in the past.
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Good reasons to own one then. Pay attention to design and material strength. Most overbuild the crap out of it driving up weight and expense. I was reading about column strength and ran across a reply saying to use 2x4 x .250 tube for the legs under a 100 gallon aquarium. I looked it up and one of those legs would handle something like 40,000 lbs as a column. The most he needed was 1 x 1 x .060 wall to hold up that weight.
 
Chris said:
So let me pose another question then:

If someone was learning to weld, but wanted a good MIG welder that would that would last them beyond just the "learning" phase, what would you want to look for?

For instance, I know that there's probably certain features one would want, and other features you wouldn't want (or need).

Apologizes in advance if I missed any of this that may have already been pointed out.

So far I've gathered that I want something that is 220V, correct?

I wouldn't mind spending up to $1000. Maybe a little more if necessary. I'd look at it as an investment.
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I don’t know anything about welding or welders, but I know Dave did some research before buying his Hobart ironman 230. He is happy with his Hobart and suggests you compare it with the miller that Blaine posted up. New, the Hobart is still over the 1;000 you were aiming for, but you might find a deal. He said that Hobart brand is built by Miller or something and felt it was quite comparable to the miller. His two cents.
02C7CD0B-9E85-4D3A-A79F-705D7EF95A2C.jpeg
 
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Chris said:
So here's a question. When making some of these cuts with the grinder, it seems like some of them might be pretty tricky to make with the guard on the grinder.

Maybe I'm just overthinking it, but what do you guys do when you get in a tight situation where the grinder might simply be too big to fit in a small area?
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Yes to all the suggestions about the various ways to cut in a tight area.

If, and I’m not recommending it, you do remove the guard please use a full coverage face shield.
I’ve seen a shattered cut off wheel take a nasty,
( multiple stitches) gouge out of a coworkers cheek.

If you don’t find I good recommendation for die grinder cut off wheels let me know. I’ll try to get you the part number for the Norton wheels we used with good success at work. Right on hand I only have the internal company part code that we used to order them from the tool crib.
Also, as @mrblaine said, a decent die grinder uses a metric s%#t ton of air.
 
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jgaz said:
Yes to all the suggestions about the various ways to cut in a tight area.

If, and I’m not recommending it, you do remove the guard please use a full coverage face shield.
I’ve seen a shattered cut off wheel take a nasty,
( multiple stitches) gouge out of a coworkers cheek.

If you don’t find I good recommendation for die grinder cut off wheels let me know. I’ll try to get you the part number for the Norton wheels we used with good success at work. Right on hand I only have the internal company part code that we used to order them from the tool crib.
Also, as @mrblaine said, a decent die grinder uses a metric s%#t ton of air.
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I ended up buying a 10-pack of the 3M Cubitron II dics that Blaine mentioned, as well as the Pearl Greenback flap discs. We'll see how that goes, but based on what I've read about them, the reviews seem overwhelmingly positive.

A full face shield is something I need, thanks for reminding me of this. I've only got eye protection at the moment!
 
Kathy said:
I don’t know anything about welding or welders, but I know Dave did some research before buying his Hobart ironman 230. He is happy with his Hobart and suggests you compare it with the miller that Blaine posted up. New, the Hobart is still over the 1;000 you were aiming for, but you might find a deal. He said that Hobart brand is built by Miller or something and felt it was quite comparable to the miller. His two cents.
View attachment 66668
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The Hobart Ironman is similar to mine. One thing to be aware of is that the amp settings are fixed click positions rather than variable. There isn't the ability to fine tune the heat as well as a Miller can.
 
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jgaz said:
Yes to all the suggestions about the various ways to cut in a tight area.

If, and I’m not recommending it, you do remove the guard please use a full coverage face shield.
I’ve seen a shattered cut off wheel take a nasty,
( multiple stitches) gouge out of a coworkers cheek.

If you don’t find I good recommendation for die grinder cut off wheels let me know. I’ll try to get you the part number for the Norton wheels we used with good success at work. Right on hand I only have the internal company part code that we used to order them from the tool crib.
Also, as @mrblaine said, a decent die grinder uses a metric s%#t ton of air.
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I'd be interested in that so I can compare them to the Jimmy Shine Death wheels. Until I found those, I had tried every 3" and 4" die grinder cut off disc I could find and they all sucked.
 
How do we feel about a lithium ion die grinder such as this?
https://www.homedepot.com/p/DEWALT-...Speed-Die-Grinder-Tool-Only-DCG426B/303010265

Not powerful enough?

I bought a ton of these 20 Volt DeWalt cordless tools and I am damn impressed with how well they work. I used the nail gun for instance to frame the bedroom I built, and that thing had no problem driving nails all day long. The circulating saw is equally as impressive. All-in-all, I have about 10 batteries and multiple chargers for these things.

Just not sure if a cordless die grinder would be as good as pneumatic one.

jgaz said:
If you don’t find I good recommendation for die grinder cut off wheels let me know. I’ll try to get you the part number for the Norton wheels we used with good success at work. Right on hand I only have the internal company part code that we used to order them from the tool crib.
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I'd still be curious to know which ones you use. I'm always happy to try out something new, especially if it helps get the job done smoother.
 
bobthetj03 said:
No way could a battery powered die grinder keep up with anything but the smallest cutting chores.
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I suspected that.

But... go try one of those DeWalt battery powered nail guns. I was blown away by how good of a job mine does. It even has a depth setting so you can set how far you want it to drive the nails in. It will do about 650 nails on a charge.

Of course that's just a nail gun, not a die grinder.
 
I had the Dewalt angle grinder. It's great when you don't have an outlet. Be prepared to go through a 4ah battery every 15 minutes (faster than you can charge them). It also doesn't spin as fast.
 
Chris said:
But... go try one of those DeWalt battery powered nail guns. I was blown away by how good of a job mine does. It even has a depth setting so you can set how far you want it to drive the nails in. It will do about 650 nails on a charge.
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Battery tools work good for intermittent use tools, for continuous use tools they don't cut it.
 
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Not to mention, look how awkward that die grinder is! How would you even hold that thing to cut anything? Don't get me wrong, battery powered tools have their place, and work great, but that die grinder? Not!
 
While we're on the subject, is the die grinder easier to get into small places? Is that the big difference between it and a grinder?
 
Tighter spaces, higher RPM range, and different attachments, ie. cutoff wheels, roloc discs, carbide burrs, etc.
 
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I haven't seen any welding hood suggestions yet. I've only use a couple of hoods in my life so take this suggestion with a grain of salt...

The Speedglas 06-0100-30iSW has worked great for me. The lenses are replaceable, the angle of view is good, and the view is clear. Yes, it is expensive but I didn't want to mess around buying 2 helmets when I could buy 1 and be happy with it. Maybe somebody who has used several can chime in with a budget alternative as I wouldn't necessarily suggest it if you're not planning on doing more than the towers (at least for right now).

It took me a while to get used to looking through a welding helmet. Now I can put the hood down, and get into a tight spot without taking it off. I keep the hood set at about a 10 shade. Putting a few work lights close to where you're welding can also help.
 
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toximus said:
I haven't seen any welding hood suggestions yet. I've only use a couple of hoods in my life so take this suggestion with a grain of salt...

The Speedglas 06-0100-30iSW has worked great for me. The lenses are replaceable, the angle of view is good, and the view is clear. Yes, it is expensive but I didn't want to mess around buying 2 helmets when I could buy 1 and be happy with it. Maybe somebody who has used several can chime in with a budget alternative as I wouldn't necessarily suggest it if you're not planning on doing more than the towers (at least for right now).

It took me a while to get used to looking through a welding helmet. Now I can put the hood down, and get into a tight spot without taking it off. I keep the hood set at about a 10 shade. Putting a few work lights close to where you're welding can also help.
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That one is expensive!
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B015QLZPCU/?tag=wranglerorg-20

Still, my thought is that if it's protecting my eyes and my face, I can't put a price on that, honestly.

Funny that they can vary so much in price. You see something cheap as hell like this one with all it's rave reviews:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00BWAEYV8/?tag=wranglerorg-20

And then of course you see the $400 3M, Miller, etc.
 
Chris said:
While we're on the subject, is the die grinder easier to get into small places? Is that the big difference between it and a grinder?
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There is a difference between an electric angle grinder and a pneumatic angle grinder to be aware of. A small pneumatic angle grinder is awesome for rolacs and wire brushes.

An electric die grinder (ie. oversized Dremel) is great for wire brushes and burrs.
 
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