Stick weld Chome-Moly?

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Hi, I am 17 y.o. in High school and have taken 3 years of Metals/ welding in shop class. I am wondering if you if you can Stick weld Chrome-moly? around 1/16" thick? also, if anyone can guide me into purchasing a relatively cheap Stick welder that will work with 115v (?) power. (I think thats what my house runs on) would i be able to find a stick welder for under $200 that is worth buying? If anyone has a used stick or Mig for sale for under $200 please let me know! Thanks again!
Reply:I would heavily advise against it on material that thin.
Reply:Thanks for reply Supe. I am also concidering this MIG welder with no sheilding gas. http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/cta...emnumber=55250I understand that it is a huge POS, but I most likely will not be able to tell the difference. Will that welder just break right away or be unusable? THanks again!
Reply:chrome moly tubing was originally designed to be gas welded.  If you hang around old airplanes you will find alot of gas welded chrome moly tubing.  This would probably be your most cost effective method.   Gas welding seems to be out of favor now but if you learn gas first the others come relatively easy.  For a write up on it see carrol smiths excellent books "tune to win, engineer to win, nuts bolts and plumbing", etc they are all worth a read.Thermal Arc 185 TigHTP 200 MigCraftsman O/A1942 Bridgeport Mill12 Ton Hyd PressConsew Walking Foot
Reply:let me give you a suggestion: since you only want to spend $200, get a fairly nice gas rig. I bought a new radnor brand rig made by harris for some where in the park of $175. then rent a oxy and acc rig from your LWS. you might be spending somewhere around 300 - 350 for this, but you will be happier then just throwing away your money with the HF POS. you will be able to weld, cut, braze, and heat just about anything. you will developt your skills and after that will be able to use ANY welding process (mig tig stick) without much trouble, and will have a faster learning curve. then when you have more money, buy a nice 800 -1000 welding machine. even though it might not be what you want to hear, your will be happier in the long run.
Reply:1/16" thick material in tee and corner joints would be very difficult to weld with Stick. However any DC output machine can be setup to tig weld. In either case the machine may not be your limiting factor as much as your dexterity and experience with the process.The GMAW/FCAW process would be much better suited to application. Very low power would be required for that type of welding. So most 110V powered machines would work however if you needed to attach other items to the 1/16"  material the power requirements could go up a little.I have used my HF 80 amp welder quite often to join 3/4" EMT conduit that is quite thin. It works fine and has worked well. It may be that I have a "fluke" but I don't know.You need to consider a couple of things .1) An imported machine may have a great variation in quality. Using a reputable importer may help you should there be a problem. Buying a domestic machine will give you much greater backing but at a cost. If you only have XXX dollars and want to weld you may take a chance with an import. I like welding so if I only had $200.00  to spend and needed I would TODAY buy a 140 AMP inverter from Longevity or Everlast or GIant Tech. The HF 200 amp machine is a little costlier with a lower duty cycle.If I had more to spend, I would contact one of the exporters and probably be able to pick up a quite a few at a greatly reduced cost. And have some for spare parts. I weld at home for FUN. I don't depend on the machine for a living. I would only use a larger machine or my SA-200 that is nearly 30 years old. I personally would NEVER use an ESAB only because of my experience with them and getting them repaired.2) There are MANY experts on this forum. In addition there are a great number of people who have probably never used an imported machine and can provide lengthy posts about what is wrong with buying one. Buying an imported machine would be an individual choice but be aware that you will probably receive some grief from someone in the future bacause of your choice. I have an imported machine that literally costs 1/5th of a similar "Big Name" machine. I can honestly say I have NEVER used the domestic machine of similar size BUT I have used machines by Miller, Lincoln, C_K systems, ESAB, Powcon, Hobart, GE, Westinghouse, Airco, Linde and I am sure a few others.Have a nice dayhttp://www.weldingdata.com/
Reply:Originally Posted by wojeepsterchrome moly tubing was originally designed to be gas welded.  If you hang around old airplanes you will find alot of gas welded chrome moly tubing.  This would probably be your most cost effective method.   Gas welding seems to be out of favor now but if you learn gas first the others come relatively easy.  For a write up on it see carrol smiths excellent books "tune to win, engineer to win, nuts bolts and plumbing", etc they are all worth a read.
Reply:go with the oa setup
Reply:ScuderiaBirel,First, congratulations for having an interest in and taking steps to continue to learn about a wonderful life skill - welding.Ref 4130 welding. Depending on your end use, you have to be sure you get the correct 4130 for whatever you are building. I would guess since you are talking about that expensive an alloy,it may be something like a gokart frame, a bicycle frame, or similar. If you are getting ready to order tubing, be ready for a real $$$ shock, it is hideously expensive. If you can talk to anyone at all in your area who has metal design experience, some mechanical engineer person at any kind of company who would take a lunch hour to chat with you about your ideas, try to do it and, ask if mild streel such as 1010, 1018, or 1020 would meet the strength requirements - FOR YOUR PARTICULAR PROJECT. Those alloys aren't so finicky about pre/post heat treatment.If you decide to go 4130, be sure you ask for and get condition "N" which means "Normal". This is the tubing referred to above by the aircraft person. Condition N is what I used to weld up my fuselage back in the '80's and I used OFW or Oxy/Acytlene in my old terms.Gas welding is REALLY FUN to do. I think it is THE most creative form of welding BUT, everyone on this forum will have their own opinion of the most FUN version. ALL welding is fun. As noted above, the end use will determine your material. I rent a big bottle of oxygen and acytlene and I think it was about $40 or so to fill here in the far west. In addition, depending on the project, with the gas rig, you can use some of the nickel silver brazing alloys which is how many of the trick bike frames have been built over the years. Though it looks and acts like low strength brazing, it is actually stronger in many cases than the parent metal. One specific type I have used is Eutectic 16. Expensive BUT, you don't need much and it works really neat.When I was a little younger than you the Go Kart craze was just beginning ('58-'60) and there were literally hundreds of companies manufacturing frames as fast as they could get them out the door. Many (possibly most) were initially cold rolled mild steel. Many of those frames were stick welded because there weren't the number of TIG or MIG units around in those small shops. The minimum tubing wall sizes were in the 14 gauge range. Because of the high vibration many of those old frames broke after hard use or impact but they lasted for a long time till the "big event".Just a thought.Stew
Reply:Aggree with most of the others, If you have only one tool to use, and you are welding 4130 ( or similiar ) in that thickness range, it should be torch welded. Its still very much in favor in the aviation industry, and for good reason. And simply put, you will always need the torch to "stress relieve" any electric welds if the joint soundness matters to you, so if you have to have the torch anyway....why not just weld with it?
Reply:Again to think about it, if one could only have one tool for metalworking,  the torch is the way to go. You can weld numerous metals, repair cast iron, straighten warped material, remove stuck studs, remove siezed races from shafts, gouge, cut very thin or thick steel, heat tint metals, harden, anneal, temper, forge, stick two wires together, solder, blah blah blah.I agree with the other statements regarding a torch.Tho Oxyfuel may not be the most efficient process, it is one of the most versatile.Have a nice dayhttp://www.weldingdata.com/