AgentMurdoc

Well I'm looking into getting me a cheap little welder. Well needless to say I am a complete newb to welders, and for all you welder doers out there, help me out and let me know what you think about these welders.

So you knowledgable peoples help me out and answer these questions for me for each welder.

1. Do you think the welds will be able to withstand the heat of an exhaust manifold?
2. What about a Downpipe?
3. An exhaust at least?

And here goes links to the welders.

Welder 1. http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...822058110&rd=1

welder 2. http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...822883073&rd=1

welder 3. http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...822285266&rd=1

So lemme know fellers.

Thanks,
-Murdoc

AgentMurdoc

oh and if you could rate each welder from your top pick to worst that would be great.

Thanks.

Doofnoil

I like the first one because that dude looks like a fucked up version of Kramer therefore it's a better product.

AgentMurdoc

hahaha... true, but can kramer's welder withstand the heat of an exhaust manifold?

I know ya'll have experiences with arc welders, I think jeff's used one before but I don't remeber what kind and what for. Come on peeps, I wanna buy a cheap welder so I could be cool and weld too

quadnie

Ok, first off. If you have a 220v outlet around, that would be nice to push one of those things to the max amps. If you are welding an exhaust manifold together, you will need a nice 100 amps. I really don't see much of a difference in the 3, all in what you want. To me they are within the same class and will perform about the same.

By saying that, I mean you will only be able to do an exhaust manifold. These things don't look efficient enough to be able to handle small jobs like exhaust pipe. You will burn right thru any exhaust work you do. Not to mention the welds are going to look sloppy and I doubt you will get that full *sealing* effect.

ARC welders are great for doing big jobs that don't require precion work, I used many of them when I was welding fences and cattle gaurds. You are going to warp the ---- out of any small thin metals you are working with, like 18ga exhaust pipes. If you really really wanted to make them work on exhaust pipe then you would have to preheat the pipe with a torch (or oven), then only weld a very small section at a time.. let it cool down and proceed again - not worth it.

Save up some more money and buy either a MIG or maybe even a cheap wire feed welder to do the exhaust pipes. You could even mock up and tack your custom manifold and take it to an exhaust shop for finalized welding with a smaller wirefeed welder. IMO the better choice for your lower budget range. The ARC welder does have an overall more general appeal, but not for someone who is basicly doing small things on his car.. like say light body work.

How many exhausts shops do you see that are running ARC welders doing mufflers and ----? None. Most any exhaust shop has a 130-200 amp shielding gas fed MIG. Do it right the first time man, you will only be spending more money on a different welder in the end. I'm actually going to move up and buy a bigger welder, my 100amp MIG is too small for the "farm work" that I need it for, but has worked fine for exhaust systems. My dad's company is going to pay $100 more then what I purchased it for and I'm going to throw down on a nicer model.. possibly a lincoln or I would like to buy myself another Millermatic.

let me know if you have other questions

PS - don't forget about all the additional expenses. Gloves, welding mask (auto-dark is a must), cylinder of shielding gas.. it all adds up.

-ryan

AgentMurdoc

thanks quad. I kinda figured that all three welders were pretty much equal in performance, i just wanted to ask anyways.

Well I saw the hundred dollar price tag and I'm willing to pay that for a welder. I'm basically looking to get a welder for mainly downpipes, and possibly manifolds. And burning a hole through a downpipe isn't gonna be fun.

Boo for these arc welders I guess, but didn't jeff use one for I think turbohf's exhaust? Well jeff can either confirm or deny this.


Well hey quad, you think this welder will work for some custom manifold and exhaust jobs?
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...822245347&rd=1

Think one looks interesting but would the amps be a problem for manifolds and dps?
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...823102234&rd=1

What about this one?
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eB...category=63700

Thanks for your help quad, you da man! Sorry if I keep looking at cheap ----, but that's what I gotta look at cause that's what I could somewhat afford :P

quadnie

Ok.. on to the next set.

Fist off, they say MIG in the title to get your attention, these ARE NOT MIG WELDERS. They are wire feed welders. None of them have gas hookups, they can't even be rigged (well they can, but not supposed to). MIG is Metal Inert Gas welding. It uses a shielding gas to create a 0 oxygen atmosphere around the weld area so oxidation doesn't set in and also makes for cooler welds - cooler welds meaning less warping on thin metals like exhaust pipes.

Yes, a wirecore welder will do the trick for you for a cheap solution.. no, you won't be satisfied in the end and want a mig. I think streetkings got a Campbell Huesfed MIG at wal mart for $250.. you might consider the buy a welder, get the job done and take it back route. You could easily get the project done in 1 weekend if you have your ---- laid out. You will have to rent/buy a cylinder of shielding gas, even 100% co2 would work for a cheap solution.

If you still want to proceed in getting an ebay deal, scratch the lincoln.. that costs too much for what you are getting. The other two or feasable and should end up with a bid around $100. The only thin I would be concerned with is that these things lack efficiency, meaning that they can't select down to a smaller load size for thin ----. If something had a low of 40amps and a high of 80amps, that would benefit you more in the long run, especially for a non shielded welder.

One of these MIGHT work in your situation, I would need some input by someone else to say for sure, I forget all the amps settings on my welder, I'll be back with it over the weekend and I can plug in some flux core wire and go gasless to see how it would work. I'm thinking that 60amps might do the trick for you if you preheat the welding area and don't throw too much heat on something all at once.

Remember, it's not going to be about burning thru with a less powerful machine, it's going to be about warping. If you are running a mig and crank up the voltage, the shielding gas will prevent the warping, but the over amps will burn thru. Basicly you want to get the juice as high as you can without burning thru.

Another solution if you did go with the 60amp (low amp) and maybe go with slightly thicker pipes to compensate for not having an efficient machine.. say 16 gauge minimum. Just a thought to try and get you where you are going.

Do a search for wire feed welders and find the cheapest one, watch the market to see what they have been running for, ebay offers a past auction search for up to one month in the advanced search section so that will give u a good idea of pricing.

I'll help you in picking it out if I can get back to my machine to play around. It would be nice if you could afford a cheap auto-dark lense, it makes life so much easier.. they normally sell for $40 on up (no you can't afford the pimp setup that I have :P).

If a global mod wants to throw this in my forum, it might be easier to keep it on top versus fighting all the traffic in general discussion.

let me know.

-ryan

street_kings

Yeah, i gotta MIG welder at walmart for $250 and stole a bottle of co2 from my parent's resturant. Works pretty well, that wire feed ---- licks ***** though. I didn't make an exhaust manifold, but I did my catback exhaust, straightpipe, downpipe, and welded my neighbors patio set together, and it works pretty well. Gas is the only way to go!

HMT-Admin

yo... why is it that everyone ends a sentence with "yo" nowadays, Is it some fresh fad going around.






yo
:P

sohcrxsi

buy mine

https://www.homemadeturbo.com/forum/...threadid=22883