I found a new hobart 140 in the trading paper for 300.00 bucks. Of course I ran out and baught it. I will be putting in some floor pans in my car. I plan on using .023 wire and c-25 welding gas. And I plan on buying a autodarkning helmet. What else should I need? What size tank should I buy? Thanks Ben
advice... use the helmet you buy. i mean really use it. always. Tack welding with your eyes shut is not accurate or adequate. get at a minimum some proper welding sleeves and gloves. slag burns suck, but skin cancer sucks worse.
autodarkening helmet is really a luxury item ( i have one and love it ). if you plan to do a lot of welding spend the money to get a nice one (mine has adjustable sensitivity and shade) how much are you going to weld? a lot=big tank, not a lot=small tank
Like everyone says, practice. .023 is good wire for sheet metal. .035 for up to 3/8". I suggest getting a pile of sheet metal scrap. weld pieces together then try to tear them apart with a vise and visegrips. If the metal tears but the weld holds then your getting there. The auto darkening helmet is really nice. I also have a set of torch goggles with welding glass in them for when your under a vehicle in the dirt without room for a helmet. Get a good set of gloves, a pair of magnetic angles, and some good weld clamps. I also have a few pieces of brass scrap with magnets epoxied on as well as some copper pipe that I flattened to use as backing for filling holes in sheet metal.
Common tank sizes for hobbyist use are 40, 80, and 125CF. At least around Boston, they are close to the same cost to fill. A friend has a 20CF tank (real tiny sucker) and pays $25 to fill with C25. I have an 80 and pay $35. I also bought the tank from my local welding store, cost about $125 full of gas. That's equivalent to only two years' leasing fees from them; it was a no-brainer. 80 was the biggest size they sell though; the bigger are leased. I keep some other gasses (O2, N2) in the store's biggest size (250CF) and man are those things a pain to move around. Too big for regular cylinder carts; I keep them chained to the wall. Have to load them into my truck with the engine hoist too. The 80 on my MIG cart is easy to pick up and doesn't make the cart too top-heavy. At ~30CFH (and that's only when the wire is running, which is a small percentage of 'welding time', at least for me!), you'll get a lot of time out of 80'. The short of the matter is, I think that's a fine size to get. The 80' is also the smallest that has provisions for the safety cap on the top of the tank. The 60 (rare, but i had some special proprietary tri-mix come in one), 40, and 20 all just have a naked valve sticking up. I like being able to put the cap on when moving the cylinder around, anytime it's outside of the cart or not chained up. I knocked a little 40' of oxygen over once - luckily nothing happened, but I had to sit down for a while
I might add a fire extingisher, and a resperator if you'll be welding alot in a small garage. If you have a lot of junk around move it,.. somebody to fire watch is always a good idea. protect the glass in your car fom the sparks. Nice tight fitting safety glasses under the hood, a thick cotton hat with a bill at least a welders beanie, top button on your shirt, cotton clothing some good gloves. My hood has a variable shade contol as well as auto-darkening Practice - practice-practice before on some scrap of the same thickness, before you weld on your car. some extra tips for your gun. I would get the bottle thats about hip high seems to be a great compromise. I have a small bottle too but that is just for portable quicky stuff and goes empty too fast, but the small one with a re-fill should get you thru a complete floor pan job with some left over. You didnt mention if you got the flow guage with the machine, if not you will need one of those too.
I have a Hobart 140! I learned with it... Welding a bunch of scrap together... etc... Gotta have the stuff the other have said. You will only weld a few times in Nikes and no gloves to learn... That stuff gets HOT.... Best tip I heard.... Got to Miller or Hobart and others web sites... Look at their projects... Pick a "home" project. I made a welding cart, bike rack and dumb bell weight stand then started on the car... i even fixed a candel holder for a neighbor. Re-sized a back rest for a wheel chair buddy of mine. (coolest thing I ever did) Someones tag line... "If you don't weld good, weld a lot." Good luck!
a welding class at the local night/trade school would bring you great insight and the hands on with a pro over your shoulder is invaluable.
Go to smartflix.com They have a few different welding DVDS you can rent. Lots of good info along with some practice on your part you will be well on your way. Todd
Well yer gonna need a grinder of course, and get a wire wheel for it while you're at it. And EAR PROTECTION is a must......what?????? Also, allways know what's on the OTHER side of what you're welding...you know, flammable stuff. - D. Praved -
I am also just starting out on the welding too . Question , what is a good auto darkening helmet to buy , name and price wise ? I am only welding my own cars and whatever I have to weld . I don't do for a living . I have gloves , arm covers , jacket , welders beanie . What else do I need for protection and safety . I don't like pain !!!!
2 Major things 1. The welding coats you see guys/girls wear are mostly for sunburn, not cause little sparks are going to hit you. 2. 80% of a good weld is metal prep, making sure it is clean, smooth, and proper distance. 1 minor thing. Seriously it helps me to get as close to the weld with my helmet as possible without ruining your helmet.Being able to see the molten pool and flowing it correctly is key.I aslo use my non-important hand to rest the gun on while making you "CCCCCCC" control and patience.Good luck,keep practicing.
Most welders that do it for a living will tell you no auto darkening helmet is any good because you still get flashed, with that in mind you want to find a good quality helmet with the fastest change over time like 1/25000 of a second,something like that.
1 variable shade auto darkening helmet 1 pair good MIG gloves 1 canvas welders jacket 1 pair MIG pliers 1 can of nozzle dip 1 can of anti-splatter 1 fire blanket (Harbor Freight has leather ones cheap) 1 spool of .030 ER70S-6 1 bottle of 75/25 gas 10 MIG tips All you need to throw sparks. <!-- / message -->
Everyone had great tips for what to get for welding. Keep in mind unless you are buying fit panels, you will need to work sheets of metal to size! Depending on how thick you make the panels, you will need something to cut them up. Lighter gauge stuff will cut with tin snips. The red/green/yellow three piece sets are available cheap. Cutting tubing with a hack saw gets old, chop saws are typically around +$100, depends on what you are going to cut and how much. Or you are getting a sawsall with a bunch of metal blades. Then when you bugger up a weld, a grinder can knock it down to size again.
Do you have blue or green eyes? Makes a differience on what shade of protection you need to avoid burning your eyes . Mine are light blue and I MUST use one shade darker than someone with brown eyes.One reason you see so many mexican welders
Well I dont weld for a living any more, but I used to. I Always had a pair of tinted glasses on when my hood was on, or around other guys welding. If my hood came off, (I would change to clears,) that will help a bit with the accidental self-flashes that will happen. Also a good thing to do if you are working around other weldors because you can get flashed from behind with the hood down or if your helping fit something up. I also ran a shade lighter lens in my flip up. When the auto-darks first came out they were pricy and very finicky. Weak batteries and they'd be slow & you got to see the light, same thing if you forgot to turn it on. Personaly I wouldn't be without one now and on the rare occasion i need to be it does not make me happy. They have come down quite a bit and really do clean up your work. Harbor Freight has one than anybody can afford that is solar powered, tint adjustable and very light weight and fast!! THE HEAD BAND SUCKS! (and easyily changed)but for the most part its pretty damn hard to beat for garage welding. Will that hold up to day in day out abuse,?? but mine has been there for me for 3 years in the shop. I dont want to get my old one out. Seeing the puddle is not easy, your eye needs learn to pic up the reflection that molten metal has and it is VERY subtle, Comes with lots of practice and looking at the stuff. The tint adjust helps that too. large window hoods are 3x easyer to see thru. Having clean lenses is the most important thing to be able to see the puddle, They get smoked up, dirty, gummed up and that is the problem. Most hoods have a outer shield or cover lens then the tinted, a flip up has another shield to protect the backside of the tint and another fixed in the hood. That is 4 lenses that need to be clean. They can also put a refection between the lenses and seeing the difference between that, the dirty lense, and molten metal is what makes it hard. Black coffee cleans them better than just about anything, and keeps the reflection down. I always had that handy. Usually got to wipe them every 1/2 hour. clean the outer well every couple hours, the whole set evry day and a new cover lens about twice a week. Then you can see. some older covers are glass and will only last a short time. Grind inside your helmet, weld without an inside shield or cover lens. get bbs stuck on the tinted lens and you wont be able to see very well. If you have your head is in the fumes and smoke your lungs will suffer. If your hood gets your face hot your too close, if your lenses warp you are too close.
Cheap hobbiest protection ... salvation army, look for a suede jacket, cut the back out and make a welders coat for over-head work. Dont wear frayed jeans or clothing, dont have a bic in your pocket, disconect the battery before welding on anything
i think veryone who welds should read this. i weld with no gloves, a coat and a hood, no that good idea,i got burns from cutting and welding all over, honestly i think a good set of boots is more important then gloves, you get those hot little pieces in your shoes and you cant get them out, really sucks Some good advice, practice and umm... use saftey equipemnt, a hood especially.
I use .023 up to 1/8, I'd call it light plate and the limit for 140 amps requiring some good joint prep if it mattered. Learn to use it turned right up on anything. if you can't blow a hole in it it's probably too small for the job.
OOOH My, That is just horrible, Perhaps that is why you cant see, or read, and that must make typing with your toes so much more difficult. And I thought all they grew in Idaho was potatoes
Um, what? I'm not going to argue your idea about eye color, but there are blue eyed Mexicans too...what the hell is your point? I'm sure there are no more Mexican welders than there are white or black or purple welders... When I started welding pipe I used a 12, but over the years progressed down to a 10. I'm sure it's because as I got older my eyes have gotten weaker. I still use my first helmet, it hasn't broken yet, so why replace it?
Not sure why eye color is important but know mine are very light sinsitive was told often it was because they were blue. Hey guys I have worked with mucho mexican welders the ones welding were brown eyed and didnt have a much problem with light issues.
Guys thanks for all of the info it was great. I plan to weld together a cart for my welder before I start on my car. Thanks again. Ben
if you know someone, anyone, who has experience welding - get them to show you THEIR BEST welds using YOUR machine. this will help to make sure your machine is up to the task and will also show you what your machine is capable of. setup is key. i bought my machine used and despite having a tank, the machine had been setup for flux core and the polarity was hosed. simple to fix but hard to spot if you have no idea what you should be looking for. also...just cuz it's not on fire doesn't mean it isn't hot enough to burn the crap out of you...even minutes after welding.
The Jalopy Journal
