Welding: What type of wire?

[someguysjeep]

to be fair......... when you purchase 1 of the big 2 ( miller/lincoln) your also buying the ability to fix it. my HF does what i need but i'll never be able to get parts if it goes down. hell HF don't even sell tips that fit it.

and nobody needs a 250 to do work on the jeep, get into the 175-210 (220V) range in most any welder and your good for most mods you'll wanna do.

i wanted a small 110V too so i picked up an eastwood 135 and i really like it for body work and thin material projects.

 

[freedom_in_4low]

Yeah. A buddy just got a yeswelder for under $500 - it would have likely been more than sufficient for me. I get caught up sometimes in future proofing too much.

How's he liking it? I recently learned about these and it piqued my interest as ill probably be stepping up to a real welder in the next year.

 

[JMT]

How's he liking it? I recently learned about these and it piqued my interest as ill probably be stepping up to a real welder in the next year.

I bought the same Yes Welder yesterday for sub $500. I know next to nothing about welding, but I'll report back as I start using it. I don't have 240V in the garage, and I was planning to work off 120V, but with all these posts I'm thinking of running it into my laundry room which is adjacent to the garage. I'm sure the wife will that!

 

[mrblaine]

man i know some of yall love these "matics" but we have a few at the shop and i don't care for them.
they overcompensate for the inexperienced user. the settings for materials are often overboard. to high a voltage slingin to much wire
people are forced (< change this to enticed) to adapt to the welder, instead of learning how to control the welder.

it's your tool......... your not it's tool.

It is all the same. If the "matic" part were as discrete as folks believe, it wouldn't be a dial with a range, it would be a dial with positive stops. Given that the range for something like 1/4" has a fair bit of leeway, you can easily fine tune it and should. All goes back to learning how to weld by looking at a weld and figuring out what is wrong so you can adjust.

 

[mrblaine]

How's he liking it? I recently learned about these and it piqued my interest as ill probably be stepping up to a real welder in the next year.

My helper has spent enough avoiding buying a real welder by buying several of the cheap versions that he could now buy a very well upgraded Miller or similar, which as it happens, is exactly what he did. Now he understands what he should have done to start with and frequently explains how dumb that method of doing things really is.

 

[mrblaine]

I'm thinking of running it into my laundry room which is adjacent to the garage. I'm sure the wife will that!

Better way is to pull the cover on the dryer outlet, figure out which side the stud is on, go into the garage and do a cut in box on the other side of the stud, run the wires from the dryer outlet into the welding outlet box, wire in the plug, and everyone is happy.

 

[JMT]

Better way is to pull the cover on the dryer outlet, figure out which side the stud is on, go into the garage and do a cut in box on the other side of the stud, run the wires from the dryer outlet into the welding outlet box, wire in the plug, and everyone is happy.

With a setup like that would I be limited to running only the dryer or only the welder at one time?

 

[Jerry Bransford]

With a setup like that would I be limited to running only the dryer or only the welder at one time?

That depends on how you do it. Personally, I disconnected and removed my dryer's 220v outlet (my dryer is gas and runs on 110v) and connected my welder's 220v garage outlet to its wiring. If you connect the two outlets in parallel you can use both the dryer and welder but not simultaneously.

 

[JMT]

Anyone running their welder on 110V and using .030 solid wire to do stuff up to 3/16"? I'm sure .035 would be better, just don't know if 120V is enough. I'm a blank slate here. My question may not even make sense.

@someguysjeep. You'll know the answer. You're smart at this welding stuff.

 

[JMT]

That depends on how you do it. Personally, I disconnected and removed my dryer's 220v outlet (my dryer is gas and runs on 110v) and connected my welder's 220v garage outlet to its wiring. If you connect the two outlets in parallel you can use both the dryer and welder but not simultaneously.

Ok, that's what I thought. Running parallel I'd be limited to either the dryer or the welder. Not a big deal. We'd use the dryer a lot more than the welder. The good news is my stud finder is telling me that the 240V outlet is on the garage side of the stud nearest to the garage. It's no more than 20" from 240V to the inside of my garage wall.

 

[Jerry Bransford]

Ok, that's what I thought. Running parallel I'd be limited to either the dryer or the welder. Not a big deal. We'd use the dryer a lot more than the welder. The good news is my stud finder is telling me that the 240V outlet is on the garage side of the stud nearest to the garage. It's no more than 20" from 240V to the inside of my garage wall.

Mine was close too but not quite that close. It took the longest drill bit I could find plus a drill bit extension to reach. Not to mention a chant or two to my altar and umpteen measurements to get the hole drilled from the garage so it ended up adjacent to the dryer outlet. I got very lucky that day is all I can say.

 

[mrblaine]

With a setup like that would I be limited to running only the dryer or only the welder at one time?

Generally, yes if the dryer runs on 220.

 

[someguysjeep]

Anyone running their welder on 110V and using .030 solid wire to do stuff up to 3/16"? I'm sure .035 would be better, just don't know if 120V is enough. I'm a blank slate here. My question may not even make sense.

@someguysjeep. You'll know the answer. You're smart at this welding stuff.

you can get away with up to 3/16" thick material with self shielded wire on some 110V machines. but i'd limit solid wire to 1/8" material or less.

the voltage is just not enough for deep penetration with solid wire, sure it glue thicker shit together but don't trust your butt to it.
shielded is like a mini stick.

 

[freedom_in_4low]

I bought the same Yes Welder yesterday for sub $500. I know next to nothing about welding, but I'll report back as I start using it. I don't have 240V in the garage, and I was planning to work off 120V, but with all these posts I'm thinking of running it into my laundry room which is adjacent to the garage. I'm sure the wife will that!

Better way is to pull the cover on the dryer outlet, figure out which side the stud is on, go into the garage and do a cut in box on the other side of the stud, run the wires from the dryer outlet into the welding outlet box, wire in the plug, and everyone is happy.

I basically did that to get a 20A circuit in the garage at my last house for my HF 125A FCAW, because they had a 20A circuit in the laundry room but not the garage.

Current house has a 20A but it's a rental while we are building. I'm putting 230V in the garage and when we move in is when I'll be looking to upgrade. I'm gonna spend that time practicing with the HF.

 

[JMT]

I'm gonna spend that time practicing

That's all I need to think about right now. Practice, practice, practice

 

[someguysjeep]

I basically did that to get a 20A circuit in the garage at my last house for my HF 125A FCAW, because they had a 20A circuit in the laundry room but not the garage.

Current house has a 20A but it's a rental while we are building. I'm putting 230V in the garage and when we move in is when I'll be looking to upgrade. I'm gonna spend that time practicing with the HF.

i tapped the A/C line and have to share time with it ..........but this is ohio so that's for only about a month or so.

 

[mrblaine]

That's all I need to think about right now. Practice, practice, practice

An irreversible lifetime's worth of bad habits will be developed in the first few months of practicing.

Post up your first efforts and get some help before you can't.

 

[JMT]

An irreversible lifetime's worth of bad habits will be developed in the first few months of practicing.

Post up your first efforts and get some help before you can't.

Deal.

 

[mrblaine]

Deal.

Here is the single best piece of advice you will ever get. You are only allowed 1/16" of electrode movement to manipulate the puddle any direction other than straight pull. Start flat doing fillet welds, tip angle is 45 and 45. 45 split between the two pieces and 45 degree angle in the weld direction.

You are not TIG aluminum welding, don't try to make your welds look like it. Read that sentence at least 20 times and memorize it.

 

[JMT]

Here is the single best piece of advice you will ever get. You are only allowed 1/16" of electrode movement to manipulate the puddle any direction other than straight pull. Start flat doing fillet welds, tip angle is 45 and 45. 45 split between the two pieces and 45 degree angle in the weld direction.

You are not TIG aluminum welding, don't try to make your welds look like it. Read that sentence at least 20 times and memorize it.

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