Welder advice

[outskirtscustoms]

A while back I made the mistake of letting someone borrow my welder and they burned it up. I am looking at another one that is a 90 amp wire fed MIG. My question is this, will 90 amp be good enough for welding bike frames and such? Main use will be building custom chopper bikes, tandems, and modifying existing frames.

 

[bicycleguy]

If I remember correctly you roughly want 1 amp for every .001 of material your welding. 1/8" = .125 so you'd want about 125 amps to weld 1/8" thick material. I think a 90 amp would get the job done.

 

[FatBoy]

Ive used a 90 amp wire feed for all my builds and its works fine! Ive even welded 1/4 plate with no problems at all.. 8) :mrgreen:

 

[outskirtscustoms]

Awesome, Thanks can't wait to get started.

 

[bicycleguy]

If your going to use flux core you can also weld a bit thicker material than if you use sheilding gas at the same amperage.

 

[outskirtscustoms]

Well I finally broke down and bought a brand new welder. The Chicago Electric 90 amp Flux core wire welder from Harbor Freight Tools. Cool black color too. (Note to self: PINSTRIPE LATER) Also picked up a few sets of welding goggles and a pair of decent welding gloves just for safety. It came with a hand held face mask but I don't want to be holding it while I'm trying to weld. Got the welder on sale $109.99!!! Then like $7 for the goggles and $5 for the gloves. And of coarse "Uncle Sam" had to get his cut so by the time it was said and done it came out to a little over $125. Well worth it to me.

 

[FatBoy]

Well I finally broke down and bought a brand new welder. The Chicago Electric 90 amp Flux core wire welder from Harbor Freight Tools. Cool black color too. (Note to self: PINSTRIPE LATER) Also picked up a few sets of welding goggles and a pair of decent welding gloves just for safety. It came with a hand held face mask but I don't want to be holding it while I'm trying to weld. Got the welder on sale $109.99!!! Then like $7 for the goggles and $5 for the gloves. And of coarse "Uncle Sam" had to get his cut so by the time it was said and done it came out to a little over $125. Well worth it to me.

I have the older version the blue one but Ive ran at least 25 spools of wire through it and it has worked great ! Once in a while if you run it on high heat the thermo switch protects itself but it resets in a few minutes and keeps on welding! The best hundred ive ever spent! 8) :mrgreen:

 

[ratcycle]

I hope u know that those googles are not going to work for mig welding, they are designed for oxy-fuel welding due the lighter shade. U will want to buy an auto darking helmet that doesn't require batteries.

 

[outskirtscustoms]

I hope u know that those googles are not going to work for mig welding, they are designed for oxy-fuel welding due the lighter shade. U will want to buy an auto darking helmet that doesn't require batteries.

Actually I did not know that. Thanks for the tip. They didn't say a thing at Harbor Freight. :x

 

[FatBoy]

I hope u know that those googles are not going to work for mig welding, they are designed for oxy-fuel welding due the lighter shade. U will want to buy an auto darking helmet that doesn't require batteries.

Actually I did not know that. Thanks for the tip. They didn't say a thing at Harbor Freight. :x

Harbor freight has a auto darkening helmet for about 40 bucks!! Maybe you could exchange your goggles.8) :mrgreen:

 

[ratcycle]

Of course they didn't, they wanted to make a quick buck. Ur welcome. Don't want someone to lose there sight.

 

[outskirtscustoms]

Are you sure? I looked through both the goggles and the hand held helmet that came with the welder looking into a light bulb. They look about the same. They say "Shade #10 on the package.

 

[Harvie]

you try a cheap helmet and you are going to meet the sandman..... :mrgreen: .001 per amp for aluminum probably more for starts...

 

[outskirtscustoms]

I looked on Harbor Freight's website and sure enough they say for oxy ace use only. Funny thing is it does not say squat on the package, nothing on the in-store display, and I distinctly remember asking one of the employees if they would work for what I was doing and they said they would work fine. I'm going to call the manager tomorrow and ask him if he wants the Better Business Bureau to know about this. This is an outrage that their employees are so under trained and the packaging is not properly marked. Especially on something that is easily overlooked and so important. Needless to say I am NOT a happy camper and the manager will know I do not take this lightly.

 

[Harvie]

I looked on Harbor Freight's website and sure enough they say for oxy ace use only. Funny thing is it does not say squat on the package, nothing on the in-store display, and I distinctly remember asking one of the employees if they would work for what I was doing and they said they would work fine. I'm going to call the manager tomorrow and ask him if he wants the Better Business Bureau to know about this. This is an outrage that their employees are so under trained and the packaging is not properly marked. Especially on something that is easily overlooked and so important. Needless to say I am NOT a happy camper and the manager will know I do not take this lightly.

solution: don't go to HF and talk to the 7.50HR clerks for Welder info try Miller, Hobart, Lincoln, ya know the welder manufacturer people..... :roll:

 

[outskirtscustoms]

I looked on Harbor Freight's website and sure enough they say for oxy ace use only. Funny thing is it does not say squat on the package, nothing on the in-store display, and I distinctly remember asking one of the employees if they would work for what I was doing and they said they would work fine. I'm going to call the manager tomorrow and ask him if he wants the Better Business Bureau to know about this. This is an outrage that their employees are so under trained and the packaging is not properly marked. Especially on something that is easily overlooked and so important. Needless to say I am NOT a happy camper and the manager will know I do not take this lightly.

solution: don't go to HF and talk to the 7.50HR clerks for Welder info try Miller, Hobart, Lincoln, ya know the welder manufacturer people..... :roll:

Good point but I'm trying to stay within my budget. (BROKE) Now that I have my welder I'll probably go next door to the welding department of Rural king where they know what they are doing to ask for advice.

 

[outskirtscustoms]

Well I finally got around to taking my "new" welder out of the box and took it over to my neighbor's garage and he gave me a few pointers on welding. Did a few passes, my first ones were spattered and didn't even hold, 15 minutes later I was laying down nice beads with good penetration. Not beautiful yet but they are good enough to hold and are not looking like chewing gum. Nice even consistent bead but not like stacked dimes. Just need a little more practice. Tomorrow I'll take my camera over with me and get some pictures.

 

[flatflip]

The "stacked dimes" will be from welding about 1/8" at a time. Pull trigger, get a little flow, stop. Don't move, don't raise your hood. Just remain still for a good second and weld again. Repeat! In many cases this will be stronger than a steady even bead. Especially with thin metal. Not only will you be controlling the heat by letting it cool for a second, every other second; you can or may create a pit or undercut with every second of arc. The next arc (a second later) fills this pit or undercut and is a very strong method. I think it is appealing but I was asked by an engineer to "stay on the trigger" once.

Of course a lot of times the stacked dimes we see is a result of TIG welding, not MIG.

Have Fun and Good Luck!