[AT] Welders

charlie hill charliehill at embarqmail.com
Mon Dec 5 04:31:46 PST 2011


Mike,  I weld a little but not much.  However, for 20 years or more I worked 
as an estimator/project manager in industrial maintenance construction.   If 
I could re-phrase your question I'd say what is
an AC welder for.  Everything we did with a stick welder was DC as far as I 
remember.  We had a whole yard full of 300 amp Miller and Lincoln diesel 
machines.  Maybe someone else can explain the science of it but for most 
structural applications DC is the way to go.  My guess is that it's because 
the arc is constant and stable instead of alternating.

Charlie

-----Original Message----- 
From: Mike M
Sent: Sunday, December 04, 2011 10:23 PM
To: at
Subject: Re: [AT] Welders

Thanks for the information guys, you confirmed my thought to go the arc 
welder route. What does adding the DC option do? I see it jumps the price a 
bit, when does it come in handy?
Thanks,
Mike M


----- Receiving the following content ----- 
From: Alan Nadeau
Receiver: Antique tractor email discussion group
Time: 2011-12-04, 21:16:19
Subject: Re: [AT] Welders


As others have already mentioned, learn to weld with stick and then move on
to MIG if you feel the need.

MIG welders will allow a novice welder to make a lot of bad welds rapidly.


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "john hall" <jtchall at nc.rr.com>
To: "Antique tractor email discussion group" <at at lists.antique-tractor.com>
Sent: Sunday, December 04, 2011 8:28 PM
Subject: Re: [AT] Welders


> Tig makes the cleanest welds, great for the thinnest of materials, but
> also
> good for fairly heavy stuff. You can weld alum, steel, stainless with no
> problem. Skilled users can even do cast iron. Biggest drawback is they are
> slow, not meant to be used outdoors, and considering it takes both hands
> and
> 1 foot to run them, machinery repairs are often difficult unless you are a
> gymnast. More than once have I seen 2 guys run the welder--one runs the
> foot
> pedal while the other does the welding. I would think these machines were
> the main catalyst to developing auto-darkening helments.
>
> Mig Machines can weld anything pretty much. They are fast, very
> production
> oriented. They make a mess with splatter balls. I personally think these
> take the least skill. A friend of mine has a small one that will do a good
> job on sheet metal, don't know if that machine uses a shield gas or not.
>
> Stick probably gives you the widest range of thickness, providing you are
> only welding steel. You can buy a pretty good sized machine for not a lot
> of
> money. No tanks of shield gas to deal with, you can weld outside in the
> wind, and they don't make much splatter. It does take a bit of practice to
> learn though.
>
> John Hall
>
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "Mike M" <meulenms at gmx.com>
> To: "at" <at at lists.antique-tractor.com>
> Sent: Sunday, December 04, 2011 6:39 PM
> Subject: [AT] Welders
>
>
>> Hi all,
>> I'm in the market for a welder and would be interested in getting
>> opinions
>> as to what type to get. It would get used for machinery repair (tractor,
>> brush hog etc). I was looking at some of the MIG welders at TSC the other
>> day, and they looked nice, but were pricey if they are able to weld
>> thicker steel. I've never used a MIG welder, but have used an arc welder
>> in the past. An arc welder seems like a simpler choice, but I would be
>> interested in other opinions.
>> Thanks,
>> Mike M
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