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Sticky
02-23-2000 20:19:26
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Re: MIG Welders in reply to George, 02-23-2000 13:48:54
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George! Do you want to spend several thousand dollars?? Save money, try this. Lincoln makes a lunch box size 110v mig welder that works like a charm for common steel alloys. If you look around you can find a brand new one for 330 dollars.
you simply plug it in to a regular household outlet. Its draw is real low making it possible to run several hundred feet of extension cord without overloading your house breakers. I use big shop migs most of the time but I am amazed at the quality output of Millers little box. Some things you need to know -110v migs are made to run on wire with the gas inside. It requires no bottle of argon or c02. The gas is inside the wire. This wire is called inner shield.
But !! Inner shield is very handy( no bottle, no regulator, no hoses ) except it leaves a big splatter mess, unlike co2, clean. I recommend the 110 v mig with a bottle attachment, regulator...
The purchase price will go up maybe 200 dollars but using co2 will allow you to purchase the inexpensive wire size 030/035... without the innershield. If you need to take the mig on a field trip and don't want to pack the bottle of co2 , just leave it, install a 5 pound spool of innershield wire and go. ( save the small spool of innershield wire that comes with the mig new
untill you need it). Gas- co2 will cost less and work just fine, if you need a special weld, alum...then it will be necessary to buy the expensive gas Argon. Argon will leave a even cleaner weld than co2, but why waste money? use co2. miller has a little cart that holds the bottle and the mig, nice combo. More, do not forget to use mig dip as you weld. It's like blue jelly, dip just the tip in it and weld, after a short time dip again, keep it slightly wet all the time but not soggy or packed full, light dip. You were asking questions about wire speed. If the wire speed is to fast you can feel the stinger being pushed back away from the weld, too slow and it will stick, All migs stick to the tip sooner or later.
I use a flat file and a regular screwdriver also needlenose pliers to clean out the nozzle and clean the tip. sometimes it gets stuck so bad that you must unscrew the nozzle and then unscrew the tip, advance the wire by keying up the mig until the tip is out of the holder. then you can work on it, try to get the wire out of the tip, usually it won't repair and the only fix is to replace the tip, so buy a couple of extra tips and prepare to keep it clean. Other times the tip works fine and the mig dip keeps the tip and nozzle from sticking to the wire but a giant wad of splatter collects in the nozzle and needs to be cleaned out, keep the tip clean often is the easy way, clean the tip before it welds itself closed. Be careful with the wire feed lead, not to bend it too much and it will serve you longer. Give it a little break every now and then and it will last longer 2. Good Luck, Sticky
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