How to weld turbo flange?
 

Hey guys I'm looking to buy my first welder and get into fabrication. I'm looking at the Hobart handler 140 mig. Reason for the 110v is that I'll be sharing the welder with a friend and neither of us have 220v in our garages. I realize wiring for that is not hard, however the 220v model is also another $200 and it doesn't weld stuff that much thicker than the 110v. I believe the 110 model welds up to 1/4" and the 220 5/16". However I haven't clarified if that's with gas or flux core. Also I know sometimes welders are overrated on the thickness they can comfortably weld. I've been doing some research on what materials to buy to fab with and I will use either 16 or 14 Gage 304 ss tubing. The welder will handle that fine. However when I looked into the ss turbo and exhaust flanges, they are all either 3/8" or 1/2" thick. How can I fab an exhaust with these and this welder or is it not possible? Do I need a tig welder? They are super expensive especially for a hmt-er :-\ any recommendations?

im looking at welders and the 110v hobart handler 140 i was looking at is 1/8" max with gas, 1/4" flux core. so in order to fabricate exhaust parts do i need something with more power? also do i really need to use tig or can i make some good welds with a mig?

---- it seems like I would have to spend some serious loot on a welder that will run on serious power like 400 volt to be able to penetrate into 1/2" flanges. Or can I preheat and bevel the ---- out of the stuff and hope a 110v will be up to the task? Or should I use an oxy-acetalyne rig? I'm kind of understanding the basics of the welding thing but I don't know the level of equipment I will need to fab turbo stuff.

Well I figured it out myself. I'm looking into a mm211 for mig and eventually a miller dynasty 200 or hpt invertig 201 for tig. Those should handle the kind of occasional fab work I want to do beautifully.

If your dead set on ss I would look into a TIG unit. There is a significant learning curve but you can do anything with TIG so thats nice. I have a Everlast PM256 that does it all (plasma, stick, TIG) for around $2k. For thick flanges in cast, ss, whatever, I wouldnt even consider MIG. If your on a super tight budget you may be better off with stick. Not as pretty but penetration wont be a problem and there is a stick electrode available for almost any situation (ss, cast, mild, ect..).

your not welding through the complete 1/2" of flange. your just penetrating the flange a little bit to get a strong weld. once you get your welder, pratice on some scrap metal. welding dis-similiar thickness metals is tricky and there is a technique to doing it without burning a hole through the thinner metal. the welder needs to be setup for the thicker of metals.

i started off with a tig welder and then bought a mig welder just to tack weld. i prefer the tig welder but it is more expensive to use and welding with it is more time consuming but it leaves nicer looking welds.
a mig welder is easy to learn and welding happens faster but it spatters so the welds dont look that good.


also: a tig welder doesnt weld gaps very well. this is where a mig welder shines especially if your just starting to learn to fabricate. i know your tubing will have gaps :)

I have a tig welder only. It was a bit of learning curve, but once you get it, you will never go back, its almost therapeutic to go out and run some nice looking welds. I will say that i would like to pick up a small mig to do tack welds, its hard to get to 'out of position' welds to tack stuff in with the tig like when welding roll cages etc. Also there always comes a time when you need to weld aluminum and stainless.

Oh, and if you have gaps.... your fab work needs some attention first :)

This is what I was wondering as well, I just recently purchased a mig welder, and I have a bad feeling know because I will just be doing mig welding, I cannot afford to purchase a separate tig welding machine at the moment, I think I am not going to e able to make good welds with a mig, or it's not going to work out properly because of the specific machine and the specific type of weld.

a 110 will barely weld 1/4 in and the same with 3/16 in material. i agree w 3258 tig is the way to go. its amazing what you can do with one... in my opinion that is, but do what you want its your cash

I have a miller syncrowave 200. Although it will weld 1/4, the duty cycle must be kept pretty low, but to be honest, i have never needed to weld over 1/8.
On another note, a good mig weld is better than a bad tig weld. What I like about the tig is that as i weld, I fell like know if it is a good weld and has good penetration.
I found out something when i was looking for tig welders, I found that there were tons of tig welders that were a couple years old and brand new as far as use. When i would find them on craigslist, I would call on them and so many times I heard "i was watching biker build off and american chopper and decided I wanted to build one, so I bought a tig welder and thats as far as I got....... so will you buy it for half of new?"