Have a chuckle on me

admin

A week or so my Eastwood MIG 175's amp control board died while I was welding up some very thin walled (.060") tubing. The settings had been iffy for some time, but I'm the stubborn type and pushed ahead; blowing holes through the metal and just putting down booger welds of pure ugliness. Finally I gave up and sent it (just the welder, nothing else) back to be repaired under warranty. When I talked to the reps they said it would be replaced with a refurbished welder...not what I wanted, and I debated telling them just to give me a refund and use that to get get a Handler 210 package with a spool gun. When I got home I looked up their last email to get the customer service number so I could call and tell them just to give me a refund. However before I got to that e-mail I saw another saying that they had sent a replacement. Closer inspection of the the e-email reviled that they had sent me a brand new one. Well shoot, I ain't going to turn down a new welder!It arrived today and I hauled it to the shop after work to set it up and try it out on the 5-step stair frame frame that I have been working on (about 70% complete). Imagine my surprise when I opened the box and discovered a complete brand new welder with torch, ground cable and clamp along with a spool gun preloaded with a spool of .030 aluminum wire! The folks at customer service had told me to only send back the welder core only and no accessories. OK, happy camper time. Get it all set up, check the gas connections for leaks, put a new spool of 0.23 wire in, turn it on and feed the wire through the torch and about the time I get all of my PPE laid out and get ready to lay a few beads, the other half comes out and tells me supper is ready. Fast forward through supper and I head back out to the shop to play. Clamp up some scrap pieces of the tubing to test the settings out and dial the amps and wire feed speed in. Laid a few beads down while adjusting the settings and although it welded much better than my old one did at low amps it didn't sound quite right; however it was welding the tubing without blowing through so I moved on to the steps. I ran over the old booger welds and it did OK, but not what I was expecting and it didn't sound quite right. Well shoot, I'll just put it up for the evening and try tomorrow. I turned it off wound up the power cord and ground while the torch cooled enough to put up. Oops, forgot to turn off the brand new bottle of gas. Yup you guessed it, I never opened the valve after coming back out to the shop. DANGIT!Now on to the rest of the eveningOK, got everything set back up turned on the gas (this time), adjust the flow, go over to the steps and after a few amp and wire speed adjustmentsSweetness!! Nice crisp sound, smooth stable arc and no blowing holes through the thin metal! To bad I was going over some seriously ugly beads. The new welds looked almost perfect. Unfortunately, the weld are now huge except for the new ones that I laid. After letting it cool off, it was time for the hammer test. BOOM, BOOM, BOOM!No cracks no failed welds...great. Now for the real test. Time to get my big fat butt up on them. While they flexed some in the middle, they held just fine. OK now for some more weight. I grabbed a pair of group 27 deep cycle batteries (about 80lbs each) and headed back up the stair frame. They flexed in the middle a little more but held. OK torture time. Lets bounce on each piece a few times while holding the batteries....no change everything held and afterwards, I couldn't find any evidence of cracks of failed welds. Fanfriggintastic!So I guess I'll grind the welds down to a realistic size tomorrow and test them again before cutting and welding some braces to stabilize everything since its supposed to be to hot to smooth out the fall garden I tilled up yesterday evening. I'm sure there will be more to follow. Last edited by Demented; 2 Weeks Ago at 08:42 PM.
Reply:Most people find it easier to MIG weld 16 ga. and under sheet metal. Auto body shops use mostly MIG. TIG welding sheet metal requires a little more experience, and takes more time.As to not turning on the gas, that's why I almost always use a test piece before I weld most assemblies. Forgetting to turn the gas on, and ruining a finely machined piece of stainless can cost some money. I think we've all forgotten to turn the gas on a couple of times, as well as forgetting to turn it off when done. Glad to hear Eastwood came through for you on the mig welder. Post some pic's of your stairs, and you new welder.RegardsAirco 250 ac/dc Heliwelder Square waveMiller Synchrowave 180 sdMiller Econo Twin HFLincoln 210 MPDayton 225 ac/dcVictor torchesSnap-On YA-212Lotos Cut60D
Reply:Putting nice welds over bad welds isn't really a great practice.  You're just covering things up, not getting proper penetration.  For some things it won't matter, but for stairs....not sure I'd want to go that route.Check out my bench vise website:  http://mivise.comMiller Syncrowave 250DXMillermatic 350P with XR AlumaProMiller Regency 200 with 22A feeder and Spoolmatic 3Hobart Champion EliteEverlast PowerTig 210EXT
Reply:Originally Posted by G-ManBartPutting nice welds over bad welds isn't really a great practice.  You're just covering things up, not getting proper penetration.  For some things it won't matter, but for stairs....not sure I'd want to go that route.