What type of welder?

By Lawrence (*****)

Date 01-31-2008 18:41

I think that piece of equipment is below the level necessary to produce a quality stainless weld with either solid wire or FCAW.

It *might* work if you were a very expert welder and your fitup was perfect and all the planets and stars were in allignment, and it might not.

Certainly not a good choice if you are looking at production of stainless exhaust equipment.

By jwright650 (*****)

Date 01-31-2008 18:46

With no gas regulator or gas solenoid...using the solid wire is completely out of the question. You would be stuck with using only very small diameter self-shielded fluxcored wires.

By soflo-veedubvr6 Date 01-31-2008 18:50

am i looking for something with higher power? or just overall better quality?

By Lawrence (*****)

Date 01-31-2008 19:11

Yes and Yes

Are you planning on fixing one set of pipes or going into business?

By soflo-veedubvr6 Date 01-31-2008 20:38

im actually going to be opening up a garage, so it'll be for business purposes.... but i wasnt thinking about getting something to be used for that until i was ready to start the venture... right now its more for personal uses, so nothing too expensive. Plannin on purchasing a nice classic car to rebuild within a few weeks so i figure a welder would come in handy. (signed up for automotive courses but dont start until august)

By jwright650 (*****)

Date 01-31-2008 21:07

Well a welder for biniz purposes...I'd recommend the best machine that you could afford(tools are a tax deduction, so keep your receipts).

Another wise member on this forum once said when asked..." how much his welder cost"

...he replied, "this welder don't cost money, it makes money" -food for thought

By blackdoggy (*)

Date 01-31-2008 21:23

Don't even consider touching any of those Chinese built imitation welders unless you plan on hurting your self or you can throw away money. The best bet is to get a Lincoln or Miller mig welder from Indiana oxygen which is listed there on ebay or any other reputable company. Your not going to get any decent welds out of a machine with out shielding gas let alone trying to get one with a imitation welder.

By jwright650 (*****)

Date 01-31-2008 22:05

"Your not going to get any decent welds out of a machine with out shielding gas..."

Well, that depends....some fluxcored wire is designed to run without shielding gas. They use this type of wire when erecting buildings, because it can tolerate a slight breeze. It generates it's own shielding gas as it is being consumed, just like a stick electrode.

Here are a couple of welds that were with a self-shielding fluxcored wire...and the welder was a cheaper end 110v, 135amp wire machine....

By welderdude (**)

Date 01-31-2008 22:25

but do they have self-shielded stainless steel wire?

By Lawrence (*****)

Date 01-31-2008 23:16

Yep but not on a roll small enough for a 110 and not a diameter thin enough for a 110

By welderdude (**)

Date 02-01-2008 02:55

most of those cheapy welding machines you see that are under $200 are self-shielded only. a good gas-shielded machine STARTS around $500 or so, and that's for a not-so-powerful one.

By JescoPressure (**)

Date 02-02-2008 03:57

what part are you trying to build? Headers? Most well built exhaust systems are flared so you can dissassemble them. the most welding you see on a good system will be the brackets to mount it other than that its mostly flared , come to think about it the only welding is the flange to bolt to the header/ manifold and the tip. I would be more worried about the price of a mandrel bender and a flaring machine. alot of prebuilt stainless systems are 400 series which aint great to weld. Have you considered tig? Its very nice for stainless and with a flex head you could get into some really tight spots