Never say never! Who knows you could be the next big thing in yard art welding or neighborhood scrap yard guy
You might want to consider insulating bushing or some other method to protect those wires.. BTW I bought 5 lbs. of Forney 7018 3/32" welding rods and they arrived today.. Great price and reviews but I haven't tried these yet.. I also bought some depressed center 4.5" cutting discs and they worked great after I added a spacer to the Ryobi angle grinder.. The disc is only .045" thick and the nut wouldn't secure the disc.. I bored out a 5/8" ID flat washer to 7/8" using a Uni-bit and ground 1/16" off the OD with the bench grinder and now they tighten up correctly! Find they cut well and the price is good too.. The flap discs came in but I haven't tried them yet but look decent..
So far the best wire I have run is Forney in flux wire. I have used the electrodes a few times but not enough to compare them to anything else I don’t care for arc welding if it can be avoided If it’s anything like the wire it will be great... I have come to the conclusion Forney is a hidden gem in today’s market. Really good stuff. Black hawk is good stuff! Never had a problem with their discs. I am seriously considering emt conduit for the wiring I want all the wires to be individually replaceable so that would be a perfect fit. What where you thinking in terms of insulation Ray?
Thanks to amateur cutter I now have to used but good shocks for the trailer. I’m excited to get it all buttoned up this weekend. Should be very close to finished aside from paint by Sunday night!
Amazon has many choices for grommets.. I would consider PVC conduit so it doesn't rust plus wires are easy to pull and easy to glue up too.. https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_1?url=search-alias=tools&field-keywords=rubber+grommets
Love the grommets! I think I will order some tonight! I was gonna use OSI caulk that stuff is like glue when it dries but gromets will be way easier to remove later on! Problem with pvc is I’ll destroy it in short order
For what we've paid over the last 3 decades to get repairs welded we could have paid a little machine off many times over. *If* I could learn to use mig, maybe I could learn the big one (I don't know the name of that kind)--WWW has two huge tanks and a torch thing at his work that is free to borrow. I can sweat copper joints, is the wire a huge learning curve? Btw raybonz , Forney Industries was one of most liked (loved) customers, we did office supplies, commercial furniture, and sourced other items for them. (they had a full commercial printing set up for product inserts ect.), it was old school and all the people there truly cared about eachother and welcomed us into that work family. They shut down a few years back, maybe they sold the name? If so glad to know it's still a quality product! I recall a pic wearing a welding helmet, was it for the solar eclipse? Is that the right one? I googled it
Wire isn’t hard to learn in my opinion just practice with scrap for a while and you get it fast! Understanding heat and structural integrity is the hard part but even that is pretty simple once you get it. Most welders have a cheat sheet with them on the inside of the door for settings based on type and thickness of metal. Here’s the truth as I have learned two of the best welders I have ever met where women I have yet to meet a female welder that can’t do what the guys do and frankly do it better. It’s probably something to do with the way we are wired... Women are more thoughtful and that translated into welding for sure. You would have no problem learning! A cheap machine pays for itself. When you can do it in a few minutes and don’t need to pay gas, time or labor to a shop and back that’s money saved. Forney has absolutely amazing service I have called a few times with stupid questions that I know they are shaking their heads and going really? My last question was I lost the parts list and need tips do you have the tweeco tip # I felt stupid when I found the number stamped on the tip I had.... They are ALWAYS super friendly and never treat customers like idiots.
I am no expert but I am reasonably sure that a wire welder aka MIG is the easiest to learn.. I chose an inverter stick because it is hard to learn and the welders are much simpler as they are only a power source.. There is no wire feed mechanism to wear out with stick welders plus they are cheaper.. Another plus is you can buy sticks cheaper especially for a small specialty job.. MIG handles thin metal MUCH better than stick.. I came close to buying a stick\TIG unit as they aren't too expensive if you buy an inverter type.. Inverter welders are very light and portable and this welder runs on 120 or 240 and it comes with the plug.. I really suck at it but I will learn..
I’ve always found electrodes are best for outside welding and dirty metal. It burns right through the crud and rust. It’s probably the better one to learn for equipment and farm use if you where to only learn one. Fills big holes and much stronger deeper welds. I can do 1/2” with two passes on 035 with my mig but I can do that one pass with a good arc welded...
You know the crazy thing you can arc weld with a car battery! My dad does that. I’m really considering surprising him with an arc welder..
I have to weld outdoors so this also makes sense for me.. This welder weighs around 15 lbs.. Amazing how much power it delivers for such a light unit.. Makes no noise except when the cooling fan cycles which isn't often at the low currents I have been running.. Very impressive welder for $126.00!
Yup I can understand that.. 2 in series and you have ~26VDC just about perfect for welding but you can't do it for long.. Bet your dad would love an inverter welder..
