115v 20 amp welder question?

[GregWeld]

Originally Posted by jcal87

Yeah i think thats what i am going to go with do you have yours hooked up to a bottle? and what size wire do you use?

Use gas with your MIG... it's a mix argon and co2... the flux cored wires are for farm truck use.

Thin sheet metal - .023 wire works real well. If you're stitch welding (a series of small tacks) snip your stick out at an angle (one snip at like a 45) to form a fine point EACH weld. This will help a "newbie" get a clean weld. Doing this makes the wire need less voltage to start the weld... and will help you with burn thru. Once you get better you can get by without this step. Get yourself a pair of "welpers" = it's a plier that is good for MIG welding use. They're tapered square nose - to clean out the hood slag - and have cutters built in.

Also -- CLEAN bare metal - both sides of the weld area... will making welding easier and the quality of the welding much better. Make a good GROUND for the ground clamp! Skip this and you'll have issues. Good "fit up" is critical to good welding. Take your time and make your pieces fit! Just the right gap makes a good weld and makes things EASY - start getting sloppy and you have to be a much better welder to close em up and make a good weld too...

[XLexusTech]

Originally Posted by jcal87

Yeah i think thats what i am going to go with do you have yours hooked up to a bottle? and what size wire do you use?

Yes I use a bottle. .035 wire and I think I picked up some .023 as well for the sheet metal.
I use "steel mix" argon/ o2 I believe.
Note if you buy this welder new and are going to use a bottle (I highly recommend it) make sure to swap polarity. It comes shipped ready for Flux core.

[jcal87]

Originally Posted by XLexusTech

Yes I use a bottle. .035 wire and I think I picked up some .023 as well for the sheet metal.
I use "steel mix" argon/ o2 I believe.
Note if you buy this welder new and are going to use a bottle (I highly recommend it) make sure to swap polarity. It comes shipped ready for Flux core.

Yeah im going to get a bottle i just bought the handler 140 for only 420 bux i got a pretty good deal hopefully this thing does the trick!

[jcal87]

Originally Posted by GregWeld

Use gas with your MIG... it's a mix argon and co2... the flux cored wires are for farm truck use.

Thin sheet metal - .023 wire works real well. If you're stitch welding (a series of small tacks) snip your stick out at an angle (one snip at like a 45) to form a fine point EACH weld. This will help a "newbie" get a clean weld. Doing this makes the wire need less voltage to start the weld... and will help you with burn thru. Once you get better you can get by without this step. Get yourself a pair of "welpers" = it's a plier that is good for MIG welding use. They're tapered square nose - to clean out the hood slag - and have cutters built in.

Also -- CLEAN bare metal - both sides of the weld area... will making welding easier and the quality of the welding much better. Make a good GROUND for the ground clamp! Skip this and you'll have issues. Good "fit up" is critical to good welding. Take your time and make your pieces fit! Just the right gap makes a good weld and makes things EASY - start getting sloppy and you have to be a much better welder to close em up and make a good weld too...

Hey thanx for the tips greg! I actually took a few years of of welding clases in high school so im pretty good with it but it has all been structural welding no auto body or anyhting this thin.What is the normal diameter for auto body I have seen everyhting from .24 to .35 but i leaning more towards .30 is that a good choice?

[ItDoRun]

The smaller the better as it will require less heat to burn. I used a .025 wire on my car.

[GregWeld]

Welcome!

Okay - so there's more to it than just wire size -- it also depends on what wheel (feed wheels) your welder has....

The Hobart Handler 140 comes with the following:

Dual groove drive rolls make it easy to switch between .023/.025 in. (0.6 mm) and .030 - .035 in. (0.8 - 0.9 mm) wire

You also have CONTACT TIP size... and the machine should come with a couple of tips to mate up to the drive rolls...

[GregWeld]

Watch out for the Handler 125 -- that requires a MIG Conversion kit (to run gas)... so I'd stick with the 140 at a minimum...

[GregWeld]

You might also want to check out the local pawn shops - lots of people out of work and hawking their "stuff"... so you might get a "better" used welder all set up - for the same money you'd buy one new. They're all used right after you squeeze the trigger! Just thinking....