wire feeder welder

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golfpin

wire feeder welder

Post by golfpin »

Morning all,
Further to my buzz box problems and my enquiry re Chinese invertor type welders, can any one offer info/experiences with the flux-cored wire feeders, good bad indifferent, sadly Chinese of course. I have had no experience with this equipment what so ever. Have used the CO2 type a little, very easy to use but thinking of the flux-cored route because of the brutal costs inflicted by the Gas Giant Afrox, the rental and demmurrage of the C02 bottles demanded by them is crippling.
To expand a little, and again I hope I am not too far off track but I have been approached by a body here in the village that we live in and to teach welding to the many unskilled indigent people in our area. The reason for my enquiry is based purely on the request for information to try and do the best deal I can to get equipment.
Any info, thoughts, experiences from those who have taught under like circumstances or anywhere else would be greatly appreciated. Also has anyone built a acetylene generator? I know a little about the dangers of acetylene but have used acetylene generator in the past and carbide is readily available here unlike the USA, thoughts on this too would be appreciated.
Cheers Golfpiin.
hammermill
Posts: 2938
Joined: Sun Jun 27, 2010 10:43 pm
Location: pendleton or

Re: wire feeder welder

Post by hammermill »

many of the china welders I see fail in the feed roll/drive area. wheels are plastic as are maost of the supporting parts.
the harbor freight variety shows up in yard sales often in a striped out condition I suspect from trying to push a stuck wire.

the other are is they draw enough current to need good heavey wireing. often times in house branch circuit wireing isn't up to the task at hand.
Carm
Posts: 457
Joined: Fri Jan 18, 2008 5:14 am

Re: wire feeder welder

Post by Carm »

Hoe gaan dit maat?

No experience with the Chinese gear you ask about, sorry. You are near Port Elizabeth, nicht waar? Put on your Civic Duty hat and plead your case with industry there, explain the need for education and equipment required thereof. Surely there must be no longer state of the art gear they could donate or make available on loan in anticipation of trained potential employees. I don't know what mains power you have at your location...no good getting three phase if you don't have that, a lot of industrial MIG gear is.

I had some business contacts in the Highveldt, and I can see if anyone is still in business to help you, but many individuals have emigrated and we've all gotten older.
golfpin

Re: wire feeder welder

Post by golfpin »

To Carm,
Goed dankie swaar,[well thank you buddy] Good thinking and yes in sense have tried part of that route but understandably a lot of bigger industry are hypersensitive to approaches for help given the degree of corruption etc that is the way of life here. Will just push this "cart" as far as I can but at 71 am running out of puff and my wife who is a self supporting priest is not well. Just the facts. Thank you for your input {ondersteuning}and support, all info experience ideas gratefully received.

To contradict myself must concede a point to the aforementioned monster Afrox I contacted them re what the Americans term as cheater lens.s, magnification lens,s for use with arc helmets and a party came back to me, because Port Elizabeth branch of Afrox, did not have a clue as to what I was talking about. Said party came back to me and said has found 2 lens,s and have sent them on to me with a helmet FREE OF CHARGE so, with out being too much of a cynic there is a hope out there. Still amazes me that given there must be perhaps x 10000 of people out here who could benefit from the mag lens, which has been available for at least 30 years, yet here it is unknown! We did the worlds first heart transplant and we don,t know about "cheater " lens,s, I am confused.
Perhaps have to apologise to the moderators again I did not mean this to be a political stand but it is to do with welding.
I wonder if Miller of USA who are represented by Afrox in this country are aware of some thing as basic as this... because if you can,t see you sure can,t weld. Millers website shows cheater lens,s.
Thank you again,
Golfpin
redneckalbertan
Posts: 1274
Joined: Thu Nov 01, 2012 10:39 am
Location: South Central Alberta

Re: wire feeder welder

Post by redneckalbertan »

I am assumeing that the wire feeders that you are talking about are the little 110v units. They aren't worth their weight in dog poop. Their feeding ability is temperamental at best. The one that I used had no ability to change the tension of the drive rolls on the wire. Not responsive, spattery, cold temperamental pieces of garbage. The weld quality out of them is nothing to write home about. If using a small 110volt wire feeder my recomendation is to use the smallest wire possible in them this will help (.023 if you can and have shielding gas), but when you are using gassless wire I think the smallest you can get is .035, maybe .030.

I have used a Lincoln 110volt unit and was pleasantly surprised by the experience. Not something that I have or want, I have a miller 251. But as a small wire welder for hobby and sheet metal/body work they aren't a bad little unit. Night and day difference between the Lincoln and offshore crap.

One other comment I will make is buy good wire. I've run cheep wire in the above mentioned Lincoln and Lincoln brand wire in the same machine and again night and day difference between the two wires.
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ken572
Posts: 2600
Joined: Sun Mar 14, 2010 8:11 pm
Location: Mesa, Arizona. 85201-1517

Re: wire feeder welder

Post by ken572 »

golfpin wrote:Morning all,
Further to my buzz box problems and my enquiry re Chinese invertor type welders, can any one offer info/experiences with the flux-cored wire feeders, good bad indifferent, sadly Chinese of course. I have had no experience with this equipment what so ever. Have used the CO2 type a little, very easy to use but thinking of the flux-cored route because of the brutal costs inflicted by the Gas Giant Afrox, the rental and demmurrage of the C02 bottles demanded by them is crippling.
To expand a little, and again I hope I am not too far off track but I have been approached by a body here in the village that we live in and to teach welding to the many unskilled indigent people in our area. The reason for my enquiry is based purely on the request for information to try and do the best deal I can to get equipment.
Any info, thoughts, experiences from those who have taught under like circumstances or anywhere else would be greatly appreciated. Also has anyone built a acetylene generator? I know a little about the dangers of acetylene but have used acetylene generator in the past and carbide is readily available here unlike the USA, thoughts on this too would be appreciated.
Cheers Golfpiin.
Hello :!: Golfpin :D

These Links to books (FREE) might be of interest to you for
making your own home made, Acetylene, Oxygen, and Co2.

Links:
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Home Made Oxygen Methods VERY INTERESTING.11-07-2014 Update

http://www.chaski.org/homemachinist/vie ... 44&t=99395
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Oxy-Acet-Make-Welding-Cutting-With.(CAUTION)Update 07-14-14

http://www.chaski.org/homemachinist/vie ... 44&t=97010
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Enjoy.. :D

Ken. :)
One must remember.
The best learning experiences come
from working with the older Masters.
Ken.
PeteH
Posts: 1065
Joined: Mon Jun 11, 2007 10:49 pm
Location: Tidewater Virginia, USA

Re: wire feeder welder

Post by PeteH »

I've got one of the Horror Fright "no-gas" wire welders, still in the box, and I'm wondering just how much trouble it will give me once I fire it up.

But like Red said, the wire seems to be key. Reading the reviews online, even on their own site, it appears that their proprietary wire doesn't measure up to say, LincolnWeld's. Oh, and use .030" wire if at all possible -- it will penetrate a lot better than the .035"
Pete in NJ
Russ Hanscom
Posts: 1955
Joined: Wed Mar 15, 2006 11:10 pm
Location: Farmington, NM

Re: wire feeder welder

Post by Russ Hanscom »

Even within Lincoln there is quite a range of 120 V MIG units. The nominal is the 140 model with multiple versions. After working with a few, I bought the 140C which is the commercial version - a bit heavier, better construction, and better ratings. There is almost a 2:1 price range across the 140 series - again - get what you pay for.
User avatar
ken572
Posts: 2600
Joined: Sun Mar 14, 2010 8:11 pm
Location: Mesa, Arizona. 85201-1517

Re: wire feeder welder

Post by ken572 »

hammermill wrote:the other are is they draw enough current to need good heavey wireing. often times in house branch circuit wireing isn't up to the task at hand.
I agree with (hammermill) on this 100%, and not just the Chinese Welders, but also the
USA built Welders as well. If the manual states to use a 50 amp or 60 amp service
and you try to feed your machine with 30 amp or 45 amp you will toast your welder and
most likely, you will not get good welds if any at all, because your circuit breaker/Fuses
will keep blowing. This has always been a problem because people try to save a penny
and it ends up costing them many dollars. Then they try to blame the welding machine.
If you do anything for improvement use the proper size circuit breaker, but go one size
larger with the wire and your machine will thank you many times over. J.M.H.O. :wink:

Ken. :)
One must remember.
The best learning experiences come
from working with the older Masters.
Ken.
golfpin

Re: wire feeder welder

Post by golfpin »

Many thanks for your input gentlemen, seems that the consensus is that the CHi stuff is not good, many of my queries follow through to the post made re the Co2 cheapies and a race car project that I have on the go.
Many Thanks,
Golfpin
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