A cycle frame with a Lincoln 135 mig?

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I just bgt a lincoln 135sp mig used. I have the option of adding gas. Bear in mind I have not welded, ever but am confident with my 40 years of history I can pick it up pretty quickly with help from welders I know. Question is this; Can I expect to weld up a chopper frame (1.25", .120 wall tube) using my 135amp mig? Is the spatter to much with flux wire? Any tips on settings that might work best? Also, I was told that I could reverse the polarity by changing the leads around and use it as a tig welder by just buying the tig torch and plugging in at the highest amp setting. Did I misunderstand? The guy runs the steel workers union's local apprentice program.  Any advice on where to buy cheap scrap to practice welding?
Reply:I would not attempt to weld a chopper frame with your welder.  Looking at the door chart it is .120" is out of range for MIG and it requires multiple passes with flux core wire.  Not to mention that a mig weld would look a lot better than a flux core one.  What I would do if fabricate the frame and tack it with your welder and use a larger MIG or a tig to complete it.   It is incorrect that you can reverse the polarity and run your machine as a TIG.  You can however reverse the polarity, add some shielding gas and solid wire and run it as MIG.  As for scrap just check out local surplus yards.  I buy all my metal from him as surplus metal goes for about 25 cents a pound and his new metal is very resonable also
Reply:Hello, i just dont know anything about MIG only how it works, but checking out lincolns site i foudn the SP-135 welding capabilities, and just asking if this chart is wrong or why do you say that it cant do .120 ...heres the chart,...if this chart is wrong can someone show me one chart that its correct? thankss Attached Images
Reply:According to the above chart which should be correct for the sp135, vtecrx is incorrect in his statement that the machine is incapable of handling .120 thick tubing.  It appears that the machine is capable of .135 material even with the smallest mig wire of .025.  I have a weldpak 100 by lincoln that is only a 100amp machine which will not handle .120 with mig but will definitely churn and burn with flux core at the same thickness and remember it is only 100amps max where the sp135 is 135amps.  Yeah, the chart is correct.A few of my toys !LinuxMintManjaroMiller Roughneck 2E Lincoln WeldPak 100HTP MTS 160 Chicago Electric 80amp Inverter   Victor O/A
Reply:Originally Posted by Big-EAny advice on where to buy cheap scrap to practice welding?
Reply:[QUOTE=Big-E]I just bgt a lincoln 135sp mig used. I have the option of adding gas. Bear in mind I have not welded, ever but am confident with my 40 years of history I can pick it up pretty quickly with help from welders I know. Question is this; Can I expect to weld up a chopper frame (1.25", .120 wall tube) using my 135amp mig? Is the spatter to much with flux wire? Any tips on settings that might work best? Also, I was told that I could reverse the polarity by changing the leads around and use it as a tig welder by just buying the tig torch and plugging in at the highest amp setting. Did I misunderstand? The guy runs the steel workers union's local apprentice program.  Any advice on where to buy cheap scrap to practice welding?[/QUOTEBig E  If you have the lincoln sp135t you can not mig .120 but if you have the lincoln sp 135 plus you can. Please refer to the owners manual for your model, you can download the manuals at http://www.weldingmart.com