Arc welder???

[bullitproofranger]

I just had a question, I am really looking forward to fabricating a lot of stuff for my ranger, I have never welded a day in my life, but I want to get a stick type arc welder, but I wondered if the welds would be strong enough to be used in a roll cage, heavy duty front bumper, ect. basically stuff that can repeatedly take a good beating.

 

[BlackBII]

Will the welds be strong enough?

Well, it depends on how much practice you get, since you have never welded before.

Just make sure you get good penetration, and they'll be fine. (That's what she said)

 

[rangertoy]

i am a welder/fabricator by trade and if you have never welded before I would recommend getting yourself a wire welder its a lot easier to learn and is a little more forgiving than a stick rod welder, especially on thin steel, just my 2 cents

 

[Rinny650]

The one thing that I see stick welders of giving an advantage is that if you can atleast keep the rod burning you are bound to get penetration. I have seen mig welds that were cold and just set on top the metal.

 

[Shran]

The main thing is you want one that runs on 220. I have a 110 arc welder and it sucks balls...you can weld maybe 1/8" steel, and you have to go VERY slow. My 110 wire feed will weld up to 3/16 reliably. Arc welders are cheaper to buy and cheaper to use, but it takes a lot of practice to get good beads laid down.

 

[Frank The Tank]

I would look around your community colleges.... I'm being serious.

Take a welding class, and have all your projects be stuff for your truck.
Then you can decide what type of welder you like, and get yourself some credit hours, experience in a good environment with proper machinery and training. And you get points for making your truck look B/A.

Obviously you aren't wanting to start your project tomorrow, or you would have learned how to weld on your brand new welder last week.

Frank

 

[lepp1892]

I learned how to weld on an arc welder.. I am still not a professional at it by any means. I think a class would be good but is not necessary. I taught myself how to weld but I am still learning. I didn't really do any practice on anything and i just jumped right in to a project.

I thing that Arc welders are a lot more forgiving then a wire feed. You can get welds that you know are burned in but may look like crap which really would help out a beginner. I had some welds like that but have held up for the past couple years. They aren't ideal for getting in small spaces either but it can be done... Definitely try to get one that is 220 tho.

One thing is to make sure you practice on thicker steel or you will most likely end up burning through thin steel.

Since you are a beginner I would look for a used one somewhere because eventually you will probably want to get a MIG. I know I do.

 

[Iron Ranger]

If you start with stick, you are forced to learn how to get the travel angle, speed, and technique down, the basics in welding.

In college, the instructor had us do stick for 6 months straight(all positions) before doing wire. Stick welding helped us learn the ways that are applied to wire feed. It made it easier to figure out the various techniques to use.

I always prefer stick over wire on anything over 3/16" material, because that's what I learned with(wire is too easy).

or.........................

If you use flux-core wire in a 110 welder, it will still burn very nicely up to
1/4" material, and it has all the characteristics of stick(chipped flux, smoke, fluidity, etc.), in fact, the old timers called it "the stick that never runs out"


I would practice on that first before buying a stick welder, then you only have to learn how to start the arc.

 

[martin]

whichever you decide, buy yourself an auto mask. It will be one thing less to worry about. I usually use my stick welder for the thicker stuff and anything less than one eighth I use wire feed.

 

[99RangerKrazy]

whichever you decide, buy yourself an auto mask. It will be one thing less to worry about. I usually use my stick welder for the thicker stuff and anything less than one eighth I use wire feed.

+1 on the auto-darkening mask. I finally bought one at Harbor Freight for $40...the best $40 I've ever spent. It's a huge difference from a regular mask.

 

[Shran]

Oh yeah, I will give the auto darkening mask a +1 as well. The quality of my work went through the roof when I started using one.

Two more things, stick welders are completely worthless for any type of body work unless you're working on old iron from the 40's, so keep that in mind. They will warp the crap out of the new pop cans and burn holes really fast...ask me how I found that out.

The last thing I would recommend for a stick welder is one that does DC. They are more spendy but worth it. AC welding works but is harder to learn.

 

[Destroyer000]

stick welding is great for heavy steel.. 1/4 an what not.. or if you want to weld some thing with out forfeiting an arm an a leg. you can pick up a box of 6013 or 7018 rod for like 12 bucks vs a tank of mig gas for 70 an a spool of wire for 30.. each process has its own advantages.. for bumpers id use stick i mig welded my first one an it came out alright but the next one id do is getting done with stick.. going to be cheaper in the long run... mig welding is great for body work and tacing pieces.. i learned on a flip mask an i became certified in stick qualified in mig an tig an i still prefer a jackson flip helmet over an auto helmet.

 

[bullitproofranger]

Thanks for the info, I do plan on getting educated in some way about welding, Im only sixteen so I would hope welding would be a good thing for me to learn, I do have an uncle who is a welder/machinist by trade so I think he might teach me something.

 

[JohnnyU]

For bumpers, sliders, flatbeds, axles, and other misc types of welding like that, the conventional stick welder would be fine. I think you'd have a hell of a time (and would have to be VERY skilled to safely weld up a rollcage using that welder. For those types of tasks, I like using my MIG (or TIG) if I had one....

Speaking of, this is the old Lincoln buzzbox that I have:

While its only an AC unit, I only use it when welding material > 0.375"

 

[Muddycowboy]

+1 johnnyo