Gonna teach myself how to MIG

Got my Harbor freight flux core welder... waiting on a helmet from Amazon.
Going to weld up some 110 stabilizers this week.

Did a bit of arc.welding 20 years ago but never tried MIG.

We'll see how this goes LOL

GMAW is cleaner, looks nicer, and is easier than FCAW. Use gas.

You’ll be a pro in one day. MIG welding is so easy.

This welder can't use shielding gas, but for $89 I figured it was a good starter machine for trapping stuff.
I've had it for about 5 years and not been able to fire it up (long story)

My dad lives most of the year in South Carolina so I had him pick it up for me as an Xmas present lol.

I am interested to see how things turn out for you. I have never use flux core, but mig with gas is really nice. I don't own a welder now but those flux core prices have me thinking about getting one for small stuff like mower decks and such.

There is a super coupon right now too could likely get a machine under $80 if you wanted

A high school kid welder a hitch carrier for a guy's atv. Other than a little extra splatter the welds looked decent and the none of them have broken yet. He uses the carrier all the time for stuff like fire wood and hauling deer.

I'm thinking rebar t-stakes, stabilizers, setters, base plates, swivels and maybe some custom hardware

I almost bought the same one a few years ago!!! Bought a Lincoln because I was nervous about the quality... I met a guy who was an old pipeline welder who had one like you got sitting in his garage.. he had a few other fancier welders but told me he loved that lil welder and had it for a few years. You will be a pro in no time! It’s amazing how many projects your gunna find and problems you will solve.

The welds they make are OK but there is tons of spatter.

Flux core and MIG are not the same thing.

I'd take that disposable welder back and save up for a better one that will make better welds and be a lot easier to learn on. You'll be able to buy parts for it too.

https://www.farmandfleet.com/products/834286-lincoln-electric-handy-mig-welder.html

I'll expand for the O.P. MIG just means metal inert gas. The process is GMAW (gas metal are welding) and flux core is FCAW. Fcaw can be self shielded or dual shielded.

I’m a Lincoln guy but as far as mig welding it is pretty easy once you learn how to set it, using non shielded gas will make it look white,splatter will be worse, you can use a anti splatter product LPS makes one, if I were you definitely clean the welds in between passes until you get some practice and get used to welding.

Thanks for the tips guys

I have a quality arc welder and have used it for trap modification, repairs and even built my own falling plate rack for a fraction of what it would have cost to buy one

Spatter with flux core is minimal, to the point of barely noticable, once you learn to get it set properly. Just takes a little practice. Flux core will penatrate better than shielded, but the difference will be minimal with such a small welder.

It's fun but don't be welding trailer hitches just yet!

I was looking to buy a Hobart Handler 140 for myself as a retirement gift 7 years ago but I kept putting it off. A couple years ago, I was visiting a friend of mine and he had 3 or 4 mig welders sitting around in his shop but he was using a stick welder. I offered to buy one from him but he refused to sell me one. Instead he gave me one, yep, a Hobart Handler 140 mig. I've used it quite a bit and there is a learning curve if you've never welded with flux core but with a little practice, it's not that hard. I might add that I've done tons of welding with gas shielded migs so I had some idea of what I was doing.

That is the welder I usually recommend to welders just starting out. I tell them to get the gas for it too. Its cheaper in the long run over the more expensive flux core wire and much more enjoyable to weld with. Prettier welds with much less clean up.

~ADC~

Just get used to the machine feeding the wire,instead of you pushing the stick,and youl be just fine.

Well, I've got 20 pieces of 0.25" cold roll rod @ 72" long, a welder and an auto darkening helmet... home from work after 5pm and I'll be welding up my prototype stabilizer that is currently held together with zip ties and electrical tape LOL.
If that goes well, I'll be ripping through several more sized for 110/120's and 150's

May also build a 330 H-stand this week... if all goes well tonight LOL

Post some pics.

I would strongly suggest this.

Well, that was a bit of a fiasco LOL. I won't make excuses, I am not good at this LOL.
Having said that, it appears that my two pieces of steel are joined together and quite unwilling to separate... success? Maybe if I hit it with a cup brush?

That looks like some of my early stick welding.
All it takes is practice.

I would get one that can take gas, so you can run mig. They weld alot better and easier than flux core. I got a cheapo that can take gas, and I use it to weld laminations and small stuff around the shop. When it comes to bigger projects, I either use a friends nice miller mig welder, or my stick welder. Either way, you will like the little rig for welding on traps or odds and ends, but ya, it aient a big project set up. Either way, youll know how to run it in less than a day. There is nothing to running a wire welder

Wire speed is simply too fast. Take a piece of steel and clamp the ground on. Put the tip of the gun near it and press the trigger. Adjust the wire speed with your other hand until you hear a nice, smooth, buzz. If its sputtering, its too fast or too slow.

This won’t get you fine tuned, but it’ll get you close.

Yes,adjust wire speed and make sure you have a good ground.

I would also suggest you hold the tip no more than 1" from whatever you are welding and push away from yourself instead of towards yourself while welding.

I'm going to try again in a few days... stay tuned

Not the worst I’ve seen especially for someone just learning, but you may want to take a grinder and clean it really nice and reweld just in case.

Was planning on hitting it with an angle grinder, but it turns out mine is in storage. I thought for sure there would be one here where I am living right now, but no such luck.

I bought one of their little blue welders quite a few years ago it;s still working fine. I did modify it a few years ago and converted it to a DC out put makes less splatter and a little smoother weld. Either way it works fine for all my trapping stuff and small jobs . On mine I have the wire feed set on around 6 and I hold the tip right around 1/2 inch from the work. Being thats its flux core I took off the gas shield nozzle make it a little easier to see what your doing and getting into tight spaces.
J

Nice thread, Slydogx.

You can run gas with flux core also

Yes, but you need to use "dual shield" wire rather than the normal "self shielding" flux core . At least as it was explained to me, I believe the shielding gas from the tank will interfere with the shielding gas inside the wire. Could probably run a decent bead with it, but I think it compromises the quality and depth of the weld.

I'd have recommended waiting and buying a machine that gas shields also, but with some practice, you'll be able to do want you said it's for.
Doubt you'll get as nice of welds but it'll stick together.

I have to wonder how people commenting here have even used self shielded wire very often, or understand how it works and it's purpose. Doesn't seem like very many.

I have used a lot of it. The only real advantage I ever saw was welding outside in the wind. It may get better penetration, but that is not an issue with the type welding he's looking at doing. Any welder will stick 2 pieces of 1/4 rod together, but there is a big difference in the looks of the weld and enjoyably of actual act of welding.

My Century welder was set up for flux core when I bought it. My welds looked like yours for awhile. Try steading your hand with your other hand 2 fingers on the bench. I noticed you missed the center between the rods several times. steading your hand will help that. I converted to gas and my welds look better now. Now as much splatter. Keep practicing.
just

He has his heat to hot and not enough wire feed, he also needs to practice a bit more before trying to weld two pieces together.
It's just a matter of adjusting either till you get a nice bead, save all of the alphabet writing until you know what your doing, it will only frustrate you. Keep your tip even with the weld bead until your aware of what your watching, which should be, your stick out being consistent, your bead being a consistent width, speed of travel and no spatter, which when the welder is set properly you will have hardly any spatter at all.

That weld will break apart shortly after some stress and weather reaction happen to it !

It's not necessary for a gas shielding on self shielding wire, however Co2 or 75-25 will go a long ways for making better welds with it, it won't hurt the art of welding with self shielding wire either. Once you weld with gas shielding one won't usually go back to without because of how easy it makes welding.

Shielded wires don't have the same buzz sound as do solid wires, they are more of a spray sound due to higher amps.

Shielded wires are much more aggressive as well for penetration, and not really needed for such small projects, unless your expecting a ton of stress applied to the weldment, but can understand the need if you don't have funds for extra gas shielding.

You should also use the smallest diameter wire you can find for small projects, .023 or .030 would make your day a whole lot easier. Small solid wire would be best with shielding then the self shielded if you don't have gas coverage.

Your stick out should be no more than 3/8's of an inch away from your project for proper shielding, with the nozzle even with the contact tip or just a tad over it, if it gets behind it then you lose the shielding process fairly easily when turning to a corner or outside in breeze's. Then things can get really ugly quickly !!

Yes, but you need to change the polarity. Negative with no gas and positive with gas. Dual shield wire. I've used both. I burned dual shield real hot on half inch plate.

You know that would be my luck, so I feel sorry for you for having luck as bad as mine.

Ive used it for some stuff but at the end of the day I use gas shielded and if I’m outside, doing stainless or need penetration which seems to be most of the time I use a welder like this, the picture is from https://weldingweb.com/showthread.php?700307-Idealarc-250.

just tig weld is the only way for trap mods and h stands. No splatter or barely any clean up and a dc tig welder can be bought at a good price. Just my 2 cents worth. There is also a learning curve like anything. I have no welding back round but a lot of youtube videos with a lot of good information and now i can weld almost everything and i just passed the 5g welding test with tig and all self taught just take your time and practice when ever you can.

I use my idealarc for dc tig works really good you just don’t have remote amperage control.

For those following and possibly interested... now is the time, I think there are additional 15% supercoupons available also...

Tonight's festivities...

I think I am going with this design over the first as it would prevent the trap spinning when an animal hits the triggers... or maybe that is a non-issue?

I'll add. The drive wheels are different for gmaw than flux cored wire, so those need to be swapped when you change wire.

So, the welds in the video a
bove did not turn out well and failed on me. I assume that is because the "butt joint" welds probably require some unique method that I don't know, or I'm just too inexperienced. Either way, I came up with a work around that avoids the butt joints altogether in favor of a "seam" weld. I repaired the one from earlier (150 sized) and built this 110 sized stabilizer tonight...

Butt welds in this case can be difficult, but with more experience I think you will be able to get it, the seam weld is probably the best so you can get more practice, just keep welding you’ll get better.

Progress!

I am in welding class right now from 6pm to 10. Monday thru Thursday. We r mig welding with aluminum and steel. I like it.

Lookin better.Getting a lot of splatter,try to turn the heat up a tad.Or else your metal might not be REAL clean before you are starting.

No heat adjustment, just min/Max and wire speed.
I was told that the FCAW is going to spatter a lot, but the stock is definitely not clean. It's full of drawing oil and coolant. I'll try wiping it down and sanding the oxide later and see how it goes

I started out with the HF 170 mig welder and did kinda OK. Bought a Miller and became a pro in a couple of hrs. Night and day between the 2 welders along with cost.