Did I get a good deal on this welder?

[66ZZ4]

Bought this welder off of craigs list last nite. It came with a big cylinder of gas and an 80# spool of wire. It works great. Paid $450 for it. Now I just need to learn how to weld.

[LT1 Burb]

Looks like a great deal but you should get the specs on the wire and find out what it is for, maybe for 1/4" plate. Lincoln is a good name so no way you went wrong. You can't buy crap for 450 these days.

[Oklahoma]

It looks a lot like the one i used in shop class in highschool, and it was great welder, I think you got a good deal.

[61_FL_Apache]

the wire and gas is almost worth $450. Sweet deal... Buy book or two on basic welding, a bunch of scrap steel and go to town. MIG is the easiest one to learn on. Get the basics down and perfect it from there.

[Mike Bradbury]

That is a good welder, solid and has stood the test of time. It is not the new inverter technology so as you see not only is it large but it uses a lot more electricity to run. The wire looks like .045 E70S, not great for thin stuff but works well on frames and Xmembers. What kind of gas came with it? Straight CO2 or mixed gas 75/25 Ar/CO2, there are many other mixed combinations but for a beginner those two will work great.
Looks like you are going to need a big plug in your garage. Draws 50/45 amps depending on what power you have, probably 220 or 240 for your house depending on when it was built.

[Captainfab]

Yep that's a good deal. If you post some more info, such as wire size and gas type, some of us here can give you a little guidance.

So I take it you haven't welded before?

[66ZZ4]

The wire on the welder is .035 and the gas is 75/25 mix. Got my outlet wired up today and had my brother come over and show me how to use the welder. I was surprised how easy it was to lay a bead. The guy I bought the welder from told me he owned the tank. Now I have my doubts. There's a sticker on it that say's owned by praxair. I'm sure I'll have trouble when I try to get it filled.

[Allensracing]

very nice welder, I have a friend with one just like it.

[61_FL_Apache]

Typical welder supply companies sell you the tank. You may only be able to exchange it with Praxair. Check around with other welders you may know.

[TopFuel1966]

You oughta be arrested for stealing!!

[Captainfab]

The .035 wire is a good all around wire size. You can weld a pretty wide range of material thicknesses. If you plan on doing body sheetmetal, I would suggest switching to .023/.025 wire. Of course to do so, you will have to change the liner in the whip as well as the drive rolls and contact tips. But is is worth it for sheetmetal IMO.

[Mike Bradbury]

I am a welding instructor at a local college and there are several aspects of the GMAW process that knowing them will help you tremendously. Gas Metal Arc Welding is easy to learn but also easy to screw up. Defects like cold lap and undercut can seriously weaken the welds performance and are easy to miss if you are not paying attention to the process.

MIG welding with 75/25 gas is primarily going to be short circuit transfer, which means as the wire is feeding is actually coming into contact with the base metal and completing the circuit. Once it touches the base metal the electricity can then flow through the wire, but the wire cannot conduct the amount of current that is being supplied and it quickly reaches its melting point and melts off causing an arc. This is referred to as the electricity pinching off the end of the wire, this happens many times a second and produces a sizzling bacon sound when the machine is set correctly. If the wire is stubbing into the base metal the it might be that your wire feed is too high or there is something that is preventing the wire to make good contact. With this in mind you can see that where the arc occurs is where the heat is, this is why it is very important with anything other than thin sheet metal, manipulation is required to achieve a sound weld.

If you merely drag the gun along without "stitching" the joint then there is a high probability that one side or the other did not get as much penetration as the other resulting in a weakened weld. Some like the small circle technique while others prefer the "c" shaped progression, still others use the zig-zag method. Some joints weld better with different manipulations but ultimately it is going to what you are most comfortable with.

Setting the machine is very important to get good penetration, a machine set too low may give an OK looking bead but zero penetration. Learn to set the machine by listening to how it sounds and feels while you are welding, you will get the hang of it after a bit of practice. If the weld has a lot of spatter then try turning the volts down by a 1/2 volt at a time until it clears up, or clean your material better. If you are getting undercut, slow down and let the puddle fill in completely or turn up the wire feed a bit to get more wire in the weld. Over lap (looks like a beer belly) change your gun angle or speed up. Cold lap will be very evident when you stop welding and you lift your hood the weld will still be red hot but the base metal right next to it will not be. The edges (toes) of the weld should flow right into the base metal with out big ridges or deep undercuts.

The term stick out refers to the amount of wire that sticks out beyond the contact tip. This distance is very important because each wire has a specific distance that it performs best at. Most solid wires are going to be near 1/2 inch stick out. If you get closer the current increases, and further the current decreases. This swing is about 50 amps from 1/4 to 3/4 stick out, this is a big deal if you are trying to get good penetration and your stick out is too far. Also the further you get away the less gas shielding you will have.

There are many other aspect of the theory, but this shod get you moving in the right direction.
Mike

[66ZZ4]

Thanks alot Mike for all the information. I really appreciate it.

[Mike Bradbury]

After you weld some practice welds take some pics and we can help you improve.

[treveiger]

Type in how to weld on youtube or google... My father tried to teach me for a while but i just couldnt get it so i did some searching online and now im not too bad

[mr48chev]

I was hunting around for info on it as I wasn't familiar with it and found this that you may want to have and save. http://content.lincolnelectric.com/p...parts/P139.pdf

[PanelDeland]

www.millerwelds.com is also a good resource for info.

[Rooster's 67]

Lincoln sells there welding books for their cost, also check out www.weldingtipsandtricks.com there is tons of welding info out there on the web. looks that you bought a machine capable of a wide range of material thicknesses. not get under that hood weldur!

[66ZZ4]

Thanks, Rooster, that is a great web site.