Topic: To weld or not to weld? that is the question!

[Garage_guy_chris]

I have spent the last 10 or so years screwing around welding. i started off with a crappy 110v stick welder which was a pain but did make metal stick together. then i moved to a crappy 220v chicago electric flux mig welder. That worked decent but i could never get a good looking weld out of it, accompanied by a ton of spatter and the fumes were pretty bad. That little POS burned out in the middle of a home made dune buggy. At this point i had a slight clue what i was doing and lucked out finding a real machine in the form of a Miller 210. Along with this i invested in a tank and set it up to run gas. this was about 6 years ago since then i havent looked back that machine has paid for itself 10 times over building trailers and small repair work, and fixing my busted #$%* and building bikes.

The lincoln 180 is a good little machine long as your mindful of the duty cycle. they will do flux or upgrade to full gas overall a great little machine. although i would reccomend just starting with full gas

[lucky]

I have to disagree. That every frame part carries stress.. Ie helmet hooks,horn mounts, the steering damper mounts under the neck on some for dampers never offered by the factory..and there is more..
 One could safely say though that most of it deals with a lot of stresses..

OK...ok...MOST of it EXCEPT the helmet hook, but that helmet hook does have to hold the helmet. So then it is all of it is under stress.LOL..lol  Cheeeeessssshhhh!!!!

[70CB750]

If you can, buy self darkening helmet, don't waste money on a normal one.  The comfort level is something completely different.

Here is a bit of wisdom I read somewhere  - welding means to lead a puddle of melted metal - it helped me a lot to understand the concept of good weld.

[goofy3392]

If you can't afford a decent auto darkening helmet don't buy a cheap Chinese one.

When i first started production welding a few years ago i bought a cheap Chinese knock off for $30. After my first week of welding i got welder flash in my eyes so bad i couldn't open them in the daylight.  It had something to do with the reaction time in the helmet not darkening fast enough. Lesson learned i bought a miller elite after that and that is one tough helmet. Except for when i got it, it was DOA. But ever since i got my re placement back it has been a good helmet.

miller makes a hobby series helmet i do belIeve, i would probably go with that to start out with. Or just a solid glass non auto dimming since they're on the cheaper side.

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[Djfob]

Funny you mention that, I was just looking at some chinese auto darkening lids on eBay. Lid won't be seeing to much use and the reviews I've found online is it works fine for an occasional hobbyist. $40 free shipping, I guess you do get what you pay for but specs seem in line with brand name lids

ANSI an CE certied
1/25000 reaction time
9-13 shades

[Djfob]

Here is a bit of wisdom I read somewhere  - welding means to lead a puddle of melted metal - it helped me a lot to understand the concept of good weld.

This totally makes sense. I remember being this young kid thinking he's the s*#t. When I tried to build a downpipe for my turbo it looked like I blew snot on top of it. 10 years ago and haven't touched a welder since.

[Djfob]

The lincoln 180 is a good little machine long as your mindful of the duty cycle. they will do flux or upgrade to full gas overall a great little machine. although i would reccomend just starting with full gas

Really want to run gas but not sure I can justify the cost since it will not see much use at all. Gas bottles in Calgary are 3-400 filled, can't find any used bottles either. Really want to just do it once and right but cuts into bike parts fund.

[754]

I got a buddy in Calgary that welds and works on some bike stuff at his house..pm if you needthe number..

[Djfob]

I got a buddy in Calgary that welds and works on some bike stuff at his house..pm if you needthe number..

I needed someone mobile that could come to me

[goofy3392]

Funny you mention that, I was just looking at some chinese auto darkening lids on eBay. Lid won't be seeing to much use and the reviews I've found online is it works fine for an occasional hobbyist. $40 free shipping, I guess you do get what you pay for but specs seem in line with brand name lids

ANSI an CE certied
1/25000 reaction time
9-13 shades

I guess that helmet would work for the little amount you use it. Mine lasted about a week of heavy welding before that reaction time went way down to the point that it would flash my eyes when i started welding.  We don't mig weld either, we use accu-pulse so thats probably why it didn't last.

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[lucky]

I have spent the last 10 or so years screwing around welding. i started off with a crappy 110v stick welder which was a pain but did make metal stick together. then i moved to a crappy 220v chicago electric flux mig welder. That worked decent but i could never get a good looking weld out of it, accompanied by a ton of spatter and the fumes were pretty bad. That little POS burned out in the middle of a home made dune buggy. At this point i had a slight clue what i was doing and lucked out finding a real machine in the form of a Miller 210. Along with this i invested in a tank and set it up to run gas. this was about 6 years ago since then i havent looked back that machine has paid for itself 10 times over building trailers and small repair work, and fixing my busted #$%* and building bikes.

The lincoln 180 is a good little machine long as your mindful of the duty cycle. they will do flux or upgrade to full gas overall a great little machine. although i would reccomend just starting with full gas

That is refered to in the welding world as GMAW (with shielding gas).

[70CB750]

I got my shield from Northern tools and equipment, it is a night and day difference not to deal with the shield while welidng.

[Djfob]

I got my shield from Northern tools and equipment, it is a night and day difference not to deal with the shield while welidng.

Couldn't resist and ordered one of these. Dont want to deal with flipping the helmet up and down while trying to line up welds. Specs seem pretty good especially for the price.


http://www.amazon.com/Welding-Helmet-Flames-Skull-Auto-Darkening/dp/B005ST4T82