Not logged inAmerican Welding Society Forum
Forum AWS Website Help Search Login
Up Topic Welding Industry / General Welding Discussion / LOOKING AT LINCOLN WELDERS
- - By scsa Date 05-05-2004 01:39
I am interested in purchasing a wire feed welder. Probably the Lincoln brand. My questions are as follows. First thing is that this welder will be used for light duty work. Occasionaly tractors and trailer frames. The thickest material would be 1/4 inch. Some auto body work also. Maybe some tube bumpers and other stuff. Is it better to get the mig setup or can I get by with the flux cored wire? I want to stick to 110 volt welder being that I don't really want to run a 220 out to my garage. Being the difference in flux cored and gas shielded wire will my welds look horrible or not. I do have experience in running a 220 thunderbolt stick welder. That's what I practice with. I am kicking my options around as much as possible. Also what is the difference in 1/8 to 1/4 welders other than the thickness it can weld. When they say you can weld 1/4 on the box is it true or just hear say? Please help me concerning this issue. I appreciate very much
Parent - - By cutter220 (*) Date 05-05-2004 11:47
tractor trailer frames?? 1/4 inch?? hahahahahahaha
Parent - By jwright650 (*****) Date 05-05-2004 14:04
something funny? Sorry, I must have missed it.
John Wright
Parent - - By jwright650 (*****) Date 05-05-2004 13:59
I would think a 110v welder like the Hobart Handler 135 would fit your needs. I mention that welder as I have one and it does all as advertised. Lincoln-red, Miller-blue, and other colors will probably do a fine job too. 110v welders work OK on a breaker w/ wiring/ & w/ an outlet heavy enough to handle the little machine on it's highest output. I use self -shielded fluxcore wire (E71T-8 or E71T-GS) in mine without a hiccup. I have the gas regulator w/ bottle and never ran any solid wire through it, although I will, at some point, as needs arise. My father-in-law and myself have built many homemade trailers using nothing more than that welder and a buzz box with 7018's. You can handle thicker materials than the 1/4" that you are limiting yourself to, by simply running more passes. It adds more time to your project to run more passes but it can be done. You are limited to a 3/16 fillet, at best, in one pass. I know you mentioned you didn't like the fluxcore wire, but it will handle dirtier materials than the solid mig wire. What I mean by dirtier is that it will burn through mill scale and rust to a certain degree where as the solid mig wire (ER70S-3 or ER70S-6) is fussier about how clean your material needs to be.
A few thoughts for you to consider,
John Wright
Parent - - By bzzzzzzzzzz (**) Date 05-05-2004 20:49
If everything is pefect or nearly so, then a 110 mig could do such welding. The real world is full of cold lap though.
Parent - By jwright650 (*****) Date 05-06-2004 10:32
Good morning Bz to the tenth,
I agree, I've seen it too. What that is, is someone getting too gready and trying to do more in one pass than the little machine is designed for. Stay within it's limitations and you should be fine.
John Wright
Parent - - By scsa Date 05-05-2004 21:58
I want to thank you and bzzzzzzzz for taking the time to answer my questions. I am curious to know how high of an amperage I would need for a circuit breaker for one of the 130 amp welders? You would probably suggest a dedicated line for it too? If my thought is correct when they say 1/4 on the box it means 1/4 welded in one pass not multiples. I hope to pick one out soon and start welding. I am excited to get a wire feed welder that way I don't have to use the stick welder for what ever I want to weld. I hope to make a sturdy work bench so I don't have to use the laminate work table that i have now. Oh yeah thanks for the reply to cutter220. Apparently he doesn't read well. I said I am practicing welding. I learn things everyday maybe he doesn"t. His loss.
Parent - - By jwright650 (*****) Date 05-06-2004 10:26
scsa,
Any of us who think we know all there is to know about this field is only fooling themselves. Trust me, the more you learn, the more you realize there is a lot more to learn. Buy yourself a welder and have some fun. There are lots of people with various backgrounds in welding that monitor this forum and are eager to help in any way they can.
Have a question? ask.
John Wright
Parent - - By scsa Date 05-07-2004 01:42
If I wanted to weld 1/4 thick steel what would amperage would I need to do this thickness and can I get away with 110 volt welder?
Parent - By cutter220 (*) Date 05-07-2004 01:59
oh!!! tractors (&) trailers?

well In my opinion you would be spending way too much for a 110 volt welder and you wouldn't be getting the bang for your buck.You would need a 230 volt mig to weld 1/4 because most of the 175's run off 230 volt and to weld 1/4 inch you would have to be running it at the max all the time to get a proper weld and you would also most likely have to use a deep penetrating flux cored wire.If you want to go with mig and weld most material it would have to be a mm251 or mm210 and that's around a 1000 bucks+.You could get by with your projects with a buzzbox stick machine for around 250 bucks or get an ac/dc maybe for a hundred more and you would be able to weld just about anything but you would need 230 volt capacity.Even most tractor frame or 3 point work cannot get by with a 110 welder but you might be able to build a fairly small trailer but just don't plan on pulling it on the highway.
Parent - By billvanderhoof (****) Date 05-07-2004 04:13
You indicated a preference for lincoln so I looked up their 135 model. (Download the specs as a PDF file, both Miller and Lincoln have them.) Draws 20 amps at rated output. Says it will mig up to 3/16 or flux core up to 5/16, that would be in one pass by an experienced hand. It would be kind of silly for a manufacturer to spec a machine by stating a multi pass weld since as long as you have the power to adequately melt the surface of the base metal you can add a pass. Thus you could probably weld a 2 inch grove weld with that machine by running hundreds of 1/8 inch stringers. Of course by the time you finished you might have a beard longer than mine but you could. If your service to the garage is only 15 amps you might still be OK if you keep the machine on lower settings. A dedicated circuit is preferred but if you can insure that nothing else is turned on on the circuit you can get by.

I also looked up Miller Thunderbolt (now 225 but I assume that is the descendant of your machine) nice machine but although it will run on 120 volts it will draw over 90 amps at rated output. Unless your garage is way away from your house I would recommend you run that 220 line. Its not all that hard or that expensive if you do it yourself. If you are not confident with electricity perhaps you can make a deal with an electrician to do the digging and wire laying and have him/her just come in to do the hook up. It's worth it for the better performance you will get from your stick machine.

Your stick machine (I assume yours), if hooked to an adequate primary circuit, is adequate for any heavy work you will ever see.

My opinion is that the appearance of welds is much more a function of the hand that makes them than the process.

Have fun, practice a lot.

Bill
Up Topic Welding Industry / General Welding Discussion / LOOKING AT LINCOLN WELDERS

Powered by mwForum 2.29.2 © 1999-2013 Markus Wichitill