I am looking at welder's. Bodywork as well as an IFS will be required for my 57. I like the virsatility of a 110 unit but can it handle the frame welding? Thanks in advance for your advice.
snap on makes a 140amp mig or flux core. i am going to borrow it next week to weld cross member for ladder bars. am told by comp.eng you need a minimum of 130 amp to weld frame.its 110 not 220 68c10
I use a Lincon SP135 wire feed. It's a 110 unit,which makes it handy if you have to use it outside of your own garage. It' welds up to 14 gauge using .025 MIG wire and gas (bottle not included), or it can weld up to 1/4" using .035 flux core wire. Ideally, you want to buy the welder that allows you to weld the thickest stock while using gas, as it produces a much cleaner looking weld. The SP135 goes for about $500.
If you have the choice between flux-core and mig, go with the flux-core. Preferably dual shield. It has twice the penetration of mig. Mig is good up to 1/4" thick material, and then it drops out of the race. It doesn't have enough heat to penetrate thick material.
With the smaller portable machines you are correct, but with a larger setup you can run mig big. We run mig in the shop on 1/2" steel all day long. Check the specs of your machine and follow accordingly.
I have a millermatic 130,just swithed to Co2/argon mix and .023 wire,MAN what a differnce in welding sheet metal,didn't know what I was missing!Guess somepeople learn the hard way,that's usually ME!
I'm in welding school right now. We have heavyduty machines from Licoln, and Miller. We even have an ESAB Migmaster 250. It doesn't matter which machine you use, MIG is worthless on material over 1/4" thick. We have to do a bend test to pass MIG. Our test plates are 3/8" thick, cut at 22 degrees, and have a 1/4" root opening with a backing strip, just like any other test plate you would use for stick, dual shield, TIG, whatever. We bend the root pass, and the face pass, and I'll tell you from experience, THEY FAIL 50% OF THE TIME. MIG doesn't have enough of a heat input to properly fuse the metal on something that thick. It doesn't have the penetration for material that thick either. It's awesome for sheet metal, but for frame work, I wouldn't trust it. I would rather go with flux core (dual shield or innershield) for frame work. That's my opinion.
