The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Paint and Body Shop Welding ?s answered

To all you wannabe & hot shot welders, you can have all of your welding questions answered by a professional. I have 21/2 years of welding school behind me and experience from big rigs to restoration work. I continually try to learn new processes & techniques, one of the best places I've found is www.millerwelds.com/occasional/ go to the Ask Andy section. He will be happy to answer any question you have. Keep those sparks flying!

Cool. I have a little Lincoln hobby / farm 110v wire feed welder. I'm having a lot of fun with it, and am ready to tackle patching the holes in my fenders. My ? is: Should I get the gas kit? Or go ahead the try it with the flux coated wire.
Thanks

GET THE GAS KIT!!! Do not try to do body patches with flux wire!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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You can put some great holes in your sheet metal with flux core wire which you can then practice patching after you get the shielding gas for your MIG. I agree with previous post: Flux core is not for sheet metal.

I AGREE COMPLETELY WITH THE GUYS--BY THE WAY, I REALLY LIKE MILLER WELDING PRODUCTS, NOT THAT THERE'S ANYTHING WRONG WITH LINCOLN. MILLER WELDERS HAVE A REPUTATION FOR QUALITY.

While the price of those small mig/wirefeed welders is enticing, buy the largest (highest amp output) wire feeder your budget will allow. The small machines are fun when you first get them however, when you get into the middle of a large project you will quickly find their limitations and you can forget about doing any quality frame/fabrication work. True mig (using unshielded wire with a shielding gas) will give a higher quality weld, less spatter, better penetration and the ability to weld the thinnest of metals. Also, FYI you can weld cast iron with standard mig wire. I've welded quarter size holes in exhaust manifolds with great success. Just lay wire back and forth over the hole until you are able build up a solid weld then grind down smooth inside and out.

OK eal424x4, I have a question. I have an old DC welder driven by an electric motor (10hp/3phase). Its output is supposed to be around 265 amps max and about 65 amps minimum. IIRC it is a Westinghouse. Since I do not have 3 phase electricity, I will be running the welder with a 4 cylinder Wisconsin engine.

I have wondered about getting a wire feeder that will handle shielding gas and using this welder as the power supply. Do you suppose this idea would work? I realize to weld thin sheet metal even 65 amps will burn holes, so to further reduce the output could I run the engine slower than 1725 (speed of the electric motor) or modify the brush carrier to allow the brushes to move farther toward the low side.

If this idea is not practical (I am beginning to have my own doubts) I have been looking pretty hard at a HTP 240 Mig welder. Have you heard anything good/bad/otherwise about HTP welding equipment?

Racecarl, I don't have the technical background to answer your question in detail though, I am more than happy to give you my opinion (Ask Andy at www.millerwelds.com can give you the technical details).

While your idea would probably work as a stick machine and possibly with a wire feeder you would lack the proper load/rpm controls to maintain a constant engine speed/amp output necessary for quality welds. I am speculating the machine you plan to use is an older machine with lots of hours on it and even with the Wisconson purring like a kitten the welding generator would not provide the smooth and stable power necessary when mig welding, especially on thin metals. A true multi-purpose machine requires ac/dc and constant current/constant voltage output. If you have your heart set on an engine driven setup, take the plunge and buy a machine designed for multi-process welding.

As for the HTP I can't say that I have heard of them. My opinion again, stick with a name brand machine. Also, the duty cycle, (welding output at full amps for 10 minutes) is probably more important than the machines highest rated output, compare very carefully. I've owned Lincoln and Miller and have been very happy with both, but I have to say I'm a little partial to Miller. A name brand welder will have a higher resale value and parts and service will be more readily available. I bought a small, Lincoln mig welder to take to Central America last year, when we unpacked it we found a part had broken in transit and we were able to find a local Lincoln dealer for repair. Don't let initial price rule your decision. Save your tinkering and puttering time for your Stovebolt! Hope I've helped.

Just a word of "CAUTION" The Miller site has some downloads for Info. They use a program called Gator with them. Gator has a spy ware in them. So in other words,if you ever used a credit card on the internet it is not secure if Gator has been used on your computer