welders

[Marc Swanson]

> Yes, they work.  I bought an ultra-cheapie from Walmart, cannot even be
> converted to gas (uses coated wire) and the wire is always "live" (gotta
> fix that!), built my exhaust system with it and it still works.
>
> Marc got a slightly better one from Harbor Freight (I think), uses gas
> (more than he likes!) an has had a lot of fun with it.

yup, spent $200 on it on sale
(http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/taf/Displayitem.taf?itemnumber=36691 )
looks like it goes for $280 normally.  Money well spent.

I have found it fairly hard to use the Gas at anything near a reasonable
rate.  I know I'm not supposed to go through a cylinder after 1/2 hour or so
of continuous welding.. especially when each fill up costs $25!  Tried
fiddling with the regulator but it is tough to get it just right.  Because
of that I usually try to use the flux cored wire when possible but when I'm
welding stainless I use gas.  If you are trying to make beautiful welds and
you have experience buy a more expensive TIG welder.  Otherwise you can use
the cheap mig welders to "tack" things in place and bring it to a pro for
finishing.  That's probably what I'll be doing when I put together my 3" SS
exhaust for my 4ktq..

> Obviously you are limited as to heat available and duty cycle, but they
> are nice toys to have around.

yeah, if you are doing large jobs you'll have to twiddle your thumbs for a
while untill the duty cycle drops to the set level.

Later

-Marc-


/* +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
+Marc Swanson                          +
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+http://marcswanson.ne.mediaone.net    +
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+87 4kcstq                             +
+88 90q                                +
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+87 5ktq   donor (Parting out)         +
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