MX-3.com

I'm pullin' one of these right now:

*welds everything in sight*

Those are nice to have, make sure you get bottle setup. your welds will look much cleaner and will be stronger + you will enjoy welding, instead of getting splatter all over including yourself.

mitmaks wrote:Those are nice to have, make sure you get bottle setup. your welds will look much cleaner and will be stronger + you will enjoy welding, instead of getting splatter all over including yourself.

It's on my shopping list now.

Welding is on my list of things to learn for the summer, as I have a welder but have no idea how to use it! I could weld my arm to something!

I got it for free, so I'm not just buyin things for the sake of buying them, haha.

Nice purchase!

I did some welding in high school and loved it. I've always dreamed of having one of my own for body work and custom modifications.

It just went on sale at crappy tire and I had to jump on it. $549 + taxes. Which sounds like a lot, but I was going to get bodywork done this spring, which would have cost at lesat $2500-$3k. Hopefully I can offset some of that by doing the time consuming parts (ie. rust removal) myself.

I've been wanting a welder for a while...I've always wanted to weld. There's a bunch of stuff I'd like to play with and make for the truck. The only problem with getting gas is that you need license to get them filled....

Nice!
When I read your title, I was afraid you were talking about an STD.

If I ever got something like that, I would be mnore likely to lop off someone's limb or two...or probably one of mine by accident...

mitmaks wrote:Those are nice to have, make sure you get bottle setup. your welds will look much cleaner and will be stronger + you will enjoy welding, instead of getting splatter all over including yourself.

I'm with him, mine is pretty darn similar, but I don't have a bottle setup and the splatter burns a lot! I have a ton of holy clothes from my summer body work stint!

That uses the flux core or whatever wire right? How much better is a bottle setup?

Mad Cow wrote:That uses the flux core or whatever wire right? How much better is a bottle setup?

It can do both. I haven't tried either yet, but as I understand it, flux core splatters and the welds aren't as good. Shielding gas avoids the need for flux and so is cleaner, and produces better welds.

Actually, I'm big into paintball.. do any experienced welders know if I can use my paintball CO2 tank as a shielding gas source?

nightfire wrote:

Mad Cow wrote:That uses the flux core or whatever wire right? How much better is a bottle setup?

It can do both. I haven't tried either yet, but as I understand it, flux core splatters and the welds aren't as good. Shielding gas avoids the need for flux and so is cleaner, and produces better welds.

Actually, I'm big into paintball.. do any experienced welders know if I can use my paintball CO2 tank as a shielding gas source?

Nope you need a mix of co2 and argon. Bottles are pretty cheap. Check craigslist in your area. I tried flux core a few times and hated it. I use gas and .023 wire for most small projects and .030 for heavy wall stuff.

Plus with shielded welding you deposit 92-98 percent of the wire, so you get more out of your wire. Flux can be welded just as strong, just isn't as clean.

cjthor wrote:

nightfire wrote:

Mad Cow wrote:That uses the flux core or whatever wire right? How much better is a bottle setup?

It can do both. I haven't tried either yet, but as I understand it, flux core splatters and the welds aren't as good. Shielding gas avoids the need for flux and so is cleaner, and produces better welds.

Actually, I'm big into paintball.. do any experienced welders know if I can use my paintball CO2 tank as a shielding gas source?

Nope you need a mix of co2 and argon. Bottles are pretty cheap. Check craigslist in your area. I tried flux core a few times and hated it. I use gas and .023 wire for most small projects and .030 for heavy wall stuff.

I heard you can go 100% CO2 or a CO2/Argon mix, with CO2 being a hotter weld that's more likely to burn through the material yet provide better penetration.

Don't you need a welding license to get welding gas?