What do you use for a welder?

aquaforce · Apr 12, 2015

m32825 said:
-- Carl

LOL
I noticed the stake cover for a leg pad, did that come with it? lol

CJN8 · Apr 12, 2015

Miller 212 autoset, love it.

RCW · Apr 12, 2015

m32825 said:
I had no welding experience at all when I picked this up for $500 a couple years ago. It had a flat, needed a battery, and would run for a little if you jumped it and dumped gasoline down the throat of the carb while cranking. Works fine now, I love the roar it makes when started, very manly.

I use it mostly to create things that I can practice grinding on, though my latest project had two... okay, one and a half... decent first-pass welds!

-- Carl

I'll go $600 for it - no more - and you pay the shipping.

Grouse Feathers · May 13, 2015

I used my welder 20 years ago to weld the lights on a trailer. The lights are still on the trailer, but my welding wasn't very pretty. The welder sat there for the next 19 years until I bought a tractor and saw Daren's box blade project. I don't see a box blade in my future, but it would be nice to weld when you have a tractor. I started welding, talking to a couple of local welders, and reading welding threads. My welding was slowly improving and I decided to upgrade by welder from the Lincoln 230c (smaller than a tombstone with variable transformer not the taps like the tombstone). Found a used Craftsman AC/DC 230/140 for $150. I can't believe the difference. I know a good welder can lay a nice bead with an AC welder, but even I can look good with DC.

Calman93611 · May 13, 2015

My son asked me to help him build a bumper for his truck. We used a Miller Syncrowave 180, Lincoln 130 mig, Hobart 210 mig, and Thermo Dynamics Cutmaster 52 Plasma to make this bumper. We used 1"x3" flat stock for the main support attached to the truck frame. Shackle holders are also 1"x3". Skin is 3/16". Took longer to make because we had to fabricate around the winch. All in all not a bad project, design as we go. Plasma made it very easy to make all the cuts.

Daren Todd · May 14, 2015

Grouse feathers, nice find on the welder

I haven't had a chance to use my new one yet

pulled the cover off my subpanel in the garage to see what I needed for a breaker and realized that the panel was missing a main breaker and no way to disconnect power to it

Power to it is piggy backed off the main breaker in the main panel. gotta have an electrician come out and either wire in a main breaker or swap the panel

And possibly redo the wiring going to both panels from the meter

Tooljunkie · May 14, 2015

Thats a nice bumper!
Been wanting to build a couple for some friends.

Having a panel in garage is half the battle. Finding the breaker on main panel will shut it off. Dont need a main breaker in there, but it would be nice.
My workshop is 150 feet from panel,circuit is way too light toeverything i need to.
Burial cable is pricey, but one day will need upgrading.
Something that crossed my mind, is im short on ground rods near panels, wouldnt hurt to check if you have one tied to your panel.

Daren Todd · May 14, 2015

Tooljunkie said:
Thats a nice bumper!
Been wanting to build a couple for some friends.

Having a panel in garage is half the battle. Finding the breaker on main panel will shut it off. Dont need a main breaker in there, but it would be nice.
My workshop is 150 feet from panel,circuit is way too light toeverything i need to.
Burial cable is pricey, but one day will need upgrading.
Something that crossed my mind, is im short on ground rods near panels, wouldnt hurt to check if you have one tied to your panel.

No breaker for the sub panel in the main panel. Pulled the cover. They tied into the hot side of the main breaker for the sub panel

there are six 220 breakers in the main. 3 for the heat pump (ac, heat strips,and air handler), one each for the hot water heater, dryer, and stove.

Grouse Feathers · May 14, 2015

Daren Todd said:
No breaker for the sub panel in the main panel. Pulled the cover. They tied into the hot side of the main breaker for the sub panel there are six 220 breakers in the main. 3 for the heat pump (ac, heat strips,and air handler), one each for the hot water heater, dryer, and stove.

Daren
You may have a problem. When the electrician comes in to put a breaker in the sub panel he will probably need to bring in up to code. Unless the electrician adds the breaker with the wiring hot the electric utility will be involved and will require conformance to code and maybe an inspection. Not sure about Canada, Tooljunkie, but most states will not allow a separate ground rod for a sub panel. Code calls for a four wire feed, two hot wires, neutral wire, and ground wire; separate ground rods allow ground loops. So Daren you may want to check your feed to see if it is three or four wires. It may also depend on how close they follow the code in your area, but I like to follow code on my wiring.

Daren Todd · May 14, 2015

Grouse Feathers said:
Daren
You may have a problem. When the electrician comes in to put a breaker in the sub panel he will probably need to bring in up to code. Unless the electrician adds the breaker with the wiring hot the electric utility will be involved and will require conformance to code and maybe an inspection. Not sure about Canada, Tooljunkie, but most states will not allow a separate ground rod for a sub panel. Code calls for a four wire feed, two hot wires, neutral wire, and ground wire; separate ground rods allow ground loops. So Daren you may want to check your feed to see if it is three or four wires. It may also depend on how close they follow the code in your area, but I like to follow code on my wiring.

That's what I figured too about bringing it up to code. Been trying to get a hold of one of my kids friends whose a licensed electician and have him come out first and give me an idea of what direction we need to go. There are three wires running into the sub panel. Less then a foot seperating the main from the sub. And it's less then a foot from the meter.

So rewiring and bringing to code shouldn't be to bad. It's gonna depend on what size service is coming to the house. If it's only rated for a 200 amp, then we'll have to update from the pole to the meter as well. But that's just a matter of them hooking up new wire on the one end of the pipe and pulling it through. And having the panel and meter inspected. Course now you have to have a master shut off by the meter too

Good news is panels and breakers aren't that expensive. It's the labor that get's you

RCW · May 14, 2015

Oh shit, Daren - hope it works out OK.

You had the greatest set-up in my book, but its amazing what people will do to cut corners!!!

You never find that stuff until you really dig into it.

At least its a short run!!

Mine would be 70 ft. plus of 8/4 (I think) at almost $4/foot last I looked.

Plenty of room in the main panel - just too damn far a run!!

Daren Todd · May 14, 2015

Rcw, your so right about cutting corners

the old lady we bought the house from had a son who was a "handy man. But he wasn't very handy

He's banned from having a buisiness license in arkansas. i had four bare splices on the electrical in the attic

found the first one when i got shocked. Ended up covering every square inch of attic space checking and fixing splices. So the wires piggy backed for the sub panel doesn't surprise me at all.

I would prefer to have it up to code myself and safe

I forgot my neighbor's son is an electrician. I'll have to see if he can come over for a consultation

Once I find out what we need to do, I'll be able to find out what it will cost

Tooljunkie · May 14, 2015

Wow-takes some kind of person to hot-wire into a main breaker.
Hope it works out with your neighbour.
Is good to have an electrician thats willing to help.if he is willing that is.
I had a linesman come over and patch an underground line. Did awesome job.
Here on the farm a few things get overlooked, previous owner did a few things below the radar so to speak.
8 power panels on the property, three of which are outdoors.not exposed to weather though.

Grouse Feathers · May 15, 2015

Hot wiring isn't bad it just takes the same kind of focus as some tractor operations. Not wiring to code is bad. With some of the questionable wiring in your house, have the electrician check the polarity on your receptacles. Some handymen

get there wires crossed or maybe just don't know which side to put the black or white wires. The polarity check takes about 2 seconds per receptacle, plug the tester in and see which light comes on.

Daren Todd · May 15, 2015

I've already checked outlets. That's easy. A simple outlet tester with the three led lights will tell if theres a ground issue, reversed polarity, open circuit, ect.....

Only ones he touched were the back sunroom, along with the light switches there. They've been disconnected, removed or rewired depending on the location.

I had to redo all the lights in the house including adding boxes behind them. Change wire locations on three way switches, since the wrong location and the switch would lose power, or the ceiling fan wouldn't work

just gotta get the panels straightened out now. Which I've already had an electrician seperate rooms and such already. Hadn't paid much attention to the sub panel. I had shut the breakers down in since it just ran a portable ac unit and some outside outlets that weren't being used on the back sunroom.

bigjerr · May 15, 2015

Calman93611 said:
My son asked me to help him build a bumper for his truck. We used a Miller Syncrowave 180, Lincoln 130 mig, Hobart 210 mig, and Thermo Dynamics Cutmaster 52 Plasma to make this bumper. We used 1"x3" flat stock for the main support attached to the truck frame. Shackle holders are also 1"x3". Skin is 3/16". Took longer to make because we had to fabricate around the winch. All in all not a bad project, design as we go. Plasma made it very easy to make all the cuts.

hey that's some NICE work ,nice bumper....Jerr

Calman93611 · May 15, 2015

bigjerr said:
hey that's some NICE work ,nice bumper....Jerr

Thanks Jerr, it was a fun project, good bonding project for father/son. The best part is that we had so much equipment that we never got in each others way or had to wait for the other to get off of a welder, etc. My son wanted to make a Fab4 bumper, we actually think ours is better, heavier etc. final cost including winch was under $700 for front/rear bumper, a savings of over $3,000.

RCW · Jun 15, 2015

Just bought a Lincoln 210 MP.

Inverter multi-process MIG, TIG, stick, 120v or 240v.

Keep your fingers crossed - - New model with good reviews. Many back-ordered.

MadMax31 · Jun 15, 2015

With new 100 amp garage panel, Sold off my Redface and Ranger 250. That helped pay for my B7610. Slowly saving for the Lincoln 210 MP. As you may have guessed, I dont run Miller...

Daren Todd · Jun 15, 2015

RCW said:
Just bought a Lincoln 210 MP.

Inverter multi-process MIG, TIG, stick, 120v or 240v.

Keep your fingers crossed - - New model with good reviews. Many back-ordered.

Congratulations on the new welder

as tj says, pics or it didn't happen!!!

still haven't gotten the electrician over to check out the sub panel in the garage. Been too busy with other stuff

gonna have to pick up some rods and take mine into work one day and try it

What do you use for a welder?

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