How'd it go today?

It’s all but impossible to teach your self without any instruction Justin, too many variables to control at one time. Invest in a quality DC stick machine if you want to seriously learn. It won’t be no time till you have more “friends” than you can count.
 
I just can't see investing in another machine for the amount I use this one. It's on 220 and will do pretty much anything I want to tackle I think?. I'm not doing any heavy work. My goal is to learn enough to be able to do some body work welding with it next year when I'm going to paint this old jalopy of mine myself. This year I plan to do some repairs and ideally would build myself a couple of bumpers (front and rear) with it. Baby steps though. Do you foresee this machine not being up to the task of those things? I'm not dead set against a stick machine. But I'd have to find one second hand for a hell of a deal to justify it I think. I've got a 200 amp service into my shop single phase.
 
I've said it before, mig is great on body panels, but it's about completely useless until you get into 3 phase for anything over 1/4. It's easy sure, but you will NOT be able to do anything out of position, and since you don't actually know what you are doing you will likely have pretty welds that are structurally weak because you will struggle to run hot enough to penetrate well. Mig is faster, but you have to be able to run fast enough to keep the heat up. For 50 bucks you can hunt down an old ac stick single phase 220v and weld anything, for a bit more you can get a dc machine and be able to tig or stick, and weld about everything ever made. With stick you have to go slow enough for the rod to work, which helps you actually penetrate. When you know what you are doing, you will need to get into 3 phase territory to even come close to the speed of certain stick rods, and still will be unable to weld vertically and likely overhead with mig.

Another cool trick when trying to get things unstuck, especially bolts, is heat it up, and dab on regular paraffin wax, breaks things apart like you wouldn't believe, far more than just heat, and wayyyyyyyyyyy more than penetrating oil.
 
I hear what you guys are saying. But you've got to remember I don't plan to become a production welder or anything like that. Just automotive stuff and probably pretty infrequently. I did use this welder to build a chip box and to do some repairs on my old dump trailer which seemed to be very strong, never failed while I owned it anyways. If I could get a stick welder for $50 I would but I see nothing like that in the classifieds in my locale. I'll be surprised if I'm ever going to be welding anything over 1/4" thick myself.

I'm curious that over the years on here I've noticed a real dislike of the migs by the pro welders here like Bob and Kyle. Yet are they not commonly used for a lot of production work?

Been eating up some of those videos you recommended Jim. Good stuff. Thanks.

Paraffin wax. I'll have to remember to try that Kyle.
 
On the contrary, just about all production work is done with mig. I've probably burned a semi load of it in my life, no exaggeration at all. Production work is done inside, on very clean steel, in the flat position. Huge positioners are used to flip the piece do every weld is done in the flat position. So yes, huge tractor frames, semi trailers, etc are all flipped to make the welds. Mig welds are notorious for hiding flaws such as lack of fusion and porosity, and are usually a welders entry into welding for money.

Stick welding is much slower when comparing top of the line, 300 plus amp machines. But it can be done in all positions, hanging upside down in a pipe rack, with the wind howling. It tolerates rust and scale better, and will usually show if you didn't penetrate or have porosity. Certain electrodes give ridiculously clean weld deposits, and can be trusted to weld things that kill people if they break. Stick is by far the most versatile welding process, and combined with a torch set can build or fix about anything. If you are going to be welding to fix things, or welding out of position (anything that's not flat on a table) you need a stick welder. Yes certain flux cored wires can weld out of position, but you need serious heat to do so, and are still way more finicky than stick. Most self shielded wire actually contains aluminum to stabilize the arc, and can't be used for critical welds or multiple pass welds due to dilution of the material. Stick has a reputation of being harder to learn, but it's really not. Rod choice can actually make stick easier than mig.

Edit: here's one kinda close by, and what you are looking for. I bet if you ask around at work someone will know someone selling one cheap. They are only like 300 or so new, and will last a few generations.

https://bellingham.craigslist.org/tls/d/bellingham-lincoln-arc-welder-225-amp/6809646905.html
 
I will keep my eyes/ears open for one. What about the rods. I've heard something about them going bad with storage. Is it possible to keep them good for long periods of time? The bit of welding I did with a stick welder decades ago seemed....hard. My mig seems easier but I believe what you're saying about penetration and all that. I am finding nothing very local. Nothing in the USA is really close enough to classified shop for me. Bellingham is about 5.5hrs one way from me. I will keep an eye out though locally. I'm sure they come up. Asking at work is a good idea too.

Also curious with my little machine do you think a gasless wire would be better for welding/repairing exhaust under a vehicle than gas wire?
 
Eh, muffler work is all about the same, but flux core is way worse than normal hardwire. Dual shield is a special kind of flux core that needs a shielding gas, but it works out of position very well and will do very heavy fast welds with superior metallurgy, but it needs amps. Rods will last a very long time with a little bit of care, and will depend if you have an ac or dc machine which ones you will use. I find an ammo can works superbly, and can even be stored outside.
 
Took the kid to school. Wrecked a split locust. Picked her up and took the kid to Aerial and Circus class. Dinner at the Bayview deli, downtown Olympia, looking out at the Puget Sound and Olympic Mountains. No cooking. No dishes. Both of us were famished. Rolled home and lit the fire.

Had another tree on house job come in. EZPZ.
 
Going today for a massage followed by a chiropractic treatment. All paid for by my work benefits. Gotta keep those plywood producers lumber, errr....limber I mean.

Amazes me how many guys I work with never use their benefits. Like never year after year.
 
One less split locust trunk from yesterday's one less locust on house, and one less fir on a house.

Bid half an oak down from the snow for a sugar momma with a younger BBC. The neighbor has a massive, ganoderma-infected maple, lucking with an open dropzone under the tree(s). It could be 4 monster maples grown into one MegaMaple. Easily 100', which is tall for bigleaf maples. I saw it from far away, over the fence, and it was still huge. Might bid its removal...been on the 5 year plan for 3 years, I hear. Super snow storms speed up timelines.
 
Smashed the top of my ankle/foot yesterday. Chipper was on a slight decline when I dropped the table a little too fast. Pretty good bruising/swelling. At least there was snow there still on the ground to use to ice it down. Better today, about usable.

Trimmed 2 Siberians at the first job, then took one out and trimmed back a cottonwood from some power lines. Filled the chip truck & had to keep chipping into the bucket truck.
 
Bodean said:
I saw Merle at an awesome structure pruning class run by Ed Gilman and Brian Kempf and Mark Chisholm...

Saw a lot of people actually.
Click to expand...

Would have liked to talk more Deva.

My wife was there and my ground person and her fiancee. It was great to have my wife's modest interest in pruning get a huge shot in the arm when she saw pictures from year to year of what can be accomplished with proper applications of good pruning practices.

Looking forward to more partnership in even better results.

Edit : I like the class setting a lot....and......all the info is available free in video and written format from Ed Gilman.
 
Haven’t slept since yesterday afternoon, the weather sucks and I’ve got an 8yo’s Birthday Party at 3pm. Yeah, I’m gonna need to get to the liquor store with a quickness. Should be a real hoot, or something.
 
My bad, he’s ten. Went to an arcade, $20 for everything, per person, except pinball?
No one died, I’ll chalk that up to a successful day. I have low standards.
 
And then, things went sideways! Halfway through dinner I get a phone call, “Hey Andy, got some problems with my Bobcat and I really need to have it running for tomorrow when the snow moves in!” Mind you, my GAS meter is past empty at this point, but this guy hardly calls, and when he does it’s normally a pretty interesting story, so I play along... “oh yeah, what you got going on?” To which I get a very long, very deep “SIGH” and we’re off to the races!
“Well, it was overheating so I opened the back door, and I found this belt lying besides the battery box, I’m not sure where it goes?”
It’s at this point I’ve already decided I’m not making a service call tonight, no matter how much he’s willing to pay, but I can tell from his tone, there’s more to this story, so I’ll play along some more.
“Yeah, the thin belt, that runs your alternator and cooling fan.” I already know he’s not telling me everything so I continue, “Sounds like the alternator or blower gear drive might have locked up and caused it to throw the belt. I can’t repair either, or get parts to fix it tonight anyways.”
Then, the truth shall set you free....
“Well, might there be other things that cause that, like maybe if it went on it’s side?”
I’m hook, line and sinker, ready to swallow the damn bobber at this point! “Well, if it went on it’s side, I’m sure there’s a host of other problems that would need addressed and I can’t imagine how one could even set one on it’s side to start with?” Yeah, I opened the door.
So the story goes he and his SIL where going over the river, through the woods and across the creek to get firewood. One trip across the creek didn’t sit well and rather than backing straight out, like one normally would, he tried to spin it around and there was a 1 1/2’ drop off, ledge, on the bank, which he’d hooked the right side of the machines wheels on and all he could do was hold on for the slow motion tilt-a-whirl ride! Nice, and ever so gently, it laid over on its side. I guess it took him, and a lot of help, three hours to get it upright and out of the creek.
I advised him it probably wasn’t a good idea to do anything with it the rest of the weekend and we’d look it over next week to assess the damage.
He called me on the way home, “Hey, I got it all back together and it’s running great!”
I’ve got a little Crown Royal left, and a bottle of what’s supposed to be some super duper Irish Whiskey in the freezer to enjoy tonight, while I don’t sleep, and I guess we’ll sort out the pieces next week?
 
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