Hi guys,

I returned my Chicago Electric 90amp flux core welder to Barbor Freight today and got a full refund. I decided to just go ahead and buy a Hobart Handler 140, and maybe my friend can teach me how to use the MIG stuff.

Anyways, I was looking on cyberweld.com and I as wondering if I would be ok getting the 5lb CO2 tank since I'm only gonna be MIG welding SS and mild steel. Since I'm a beginner how long do you guys think a 5lb tank should last? I have my revhard DP with the flange and a short tube already made up. I just need to weld up the first bend going under the oilpan, a flexpipe, another short section of 2.5" pipe and the flange. I'll also need to weld up a closed-loop dumptube, and some bungs. I just want to know if a 5lb tank will be enough for all that. I also plan on welding up a full 3" exhaust in the future, so there has to be enough gas for me to do that too.

http://store.cyberweld.com/migaccessories1.html

Also for any of you guys that have ordered welding machines from cyberweld, do they use UPS or do they use some other freight company to ship their stuff?

Thanks

 

you should probably get 75/25 argon mix. i would get a larger bottle. mine is like 3 ft tall and 8" diameter, i totally forget how many cu. ft. that is but i want to say 25-30 or so. it lasts a really long time. youll obviously have to practice so youll need more thank just enough to get by.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by hybridvteceg &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">you should probably get 75/25 argon mix. i would get a larger bottle. mine is like 3 ft tall and 8" diameter, i totally forget how many cu. ft. that is but i want to say 25-30 or so. it lasts a really long time. youll obviously have to practice so youll need more thank just enough to get by. </TD></TR></TABLE>

ok, but I wont be doing any aluminum welding at all, and I probably wont get around to getting a TIG welder for a few years. Is it really necessary to get a 75/25 tank? I might do mostly SS and mild steel welding. Exhaust systems and stuff like that. Maybe if the cost difference for refills isn't that big, I might get the 75/25.

what would be the costs for filling up a 75/25 tank 20 cu/ft vs a 5lb CO2 tank?

 

75/25 is better for steel regardless. and for Al you want 100% Ar.

 

yah, but what's the price difference for refills? I have my finger on the buy button right now and I'm trying to decide between the two.

Also with the 75/25 tank how does the gas hookup to the welder work? is it the same as hooking up the CO2 tank or is it a little more complex?

 

all gas should hook up with a 1/4 npt fitting. sometimes a 1/4" barb. its not more complicated. i would get 75/25. and i dont know refill price. youll have to check your local place. but it is better than co2

 

It's after business hours here now so I would haveto wait until tomorrow. But I wanna order this stuff right away. Any price will do, even if it's not in my local area.

EDIT: one other thing, what is different about the 75/25 tank and the CO2 tank? is there a difference internally? the material it is made of? would I be able to use a 75/25 tank to hold just CO2 if I wanted to?


Modified by BlueShadow at 6:25 PM 4/21/2005

 

i would stick with what it is made for. there are reasons they label them that way.

and i dont even know refill prices.

 

Damn, I hope you didn't already buy something...

whatever bottle you're getting that's 5lbs will likely last you about 20-30 mins of welding. If you have such a small amount of welding that this tiny bottle will work for you, then you surely don't have enough welding to warrant buying a machine at all. Think about it...that's like half a nitrous bottle...about as small as a small propane bottle. Trust me...this will cost you more in the long run, MUCH MORE!!!

Call local gas companies and talk to them. Most times, the bottles have to be bought or leased. I know it sucks, but if you find the right place, it's not all that bad. There's a reason everybody gets these big bottles, and it's because it is the best and cheapest thing to use.

When you buy the bottles, some companies will make you pay for inspections on the bottle every so often, and keep certification papers to show when you get it refilled.

My local gas company told me that as long as I don't damage the bottle, paint it or anything, they'd not make me keep certs on it, pay inspections or anything. I just take my empty and swap it for a full one each time I need gas. The only thing different about this and a lease is that I own A bottle through them... I guess it's whichever one I have when I one day quit dealing with them.

There's 2 sizes of bottles. The larger ones (about 5ft tall), they won't sell here. They are only available for lease, and they have gone up to about $150/yr. The smaller bottles are available for lease or purchase. I bought mine for $130.

 

I haven't bought anything yet. My friend that might help me with my welding suggested a 5 lb bottle.

I dont know if I want to rent or lease a tank though. I thought that all you guys owned your own tanks and just go to a welding supply store to have them filled up when they're empty. If the 20oz or 5lb tanks are too small, then what about the 10lb or 40oz tanks?

It's 8 PM here now and all the places are closed. I still need to figure out which tank I want to buy, but first I want to find someplace local that can do it and for how much.

 

well if a 5lb lasts 30 mins max, then a 10 will last 1hr max. youre really going to weld more than that im sure. just buy a small 3 foot bottle, im pretty sure i paid like 150 for just the bottle., mayb have been like 175 filled with 75/25 i am not sure though

 

One last question for you guys, off the top of your head which of these fillers do you guys think I should buy if I'm welding SS to SS and mild steel to SS?

http://store.cyberweld.com/migwire.html

I did some reading up on what types of wire to use. Somebody mentioned using wire for the higher quality metal you are welding. So I guess that means if I'm welding stainless then the 308L wire is what I need cause that's the one Hobart says to use for SS. And if I'm welding mild steel to stainless, I can still use the 308L wire.

is that correct?

thanks


Modified by BlueShadow at 11:31 PM 4/21/2005

 

ok guys,

I haven't bought the Hobart 140 from cyberweld yet. I'm trying to figure out why the handler 135 isn't available on cyberweld, but it is available on harborfreight. Also I was looking at THIS comparison sheet on Hobarts site and it goes right from the 125 w/MIG to the 140. However under the list of instruction manuals the handler 135 is included.

Does anyone know what the deal is with that? What's the difference between the harborfrieght handler 135 and the cyberweld 140?

Thanks

 

For most of your applications, you will probably be fine welding SS to CS with 308, but the reccomended wire is 309.

Here's a brief chart for reccomended filler metals:

CS to CS use ER70S-6 (or -2. -6 is best) This is CS filler.
304 to 304 use 308L filler
304 to CS use 309L filler
316 to 316 use 316L

For carbon steel exhaust piping and just general welding, you typically can use stainless wire on them. You can even use carbon steel wire on stainless pipe, but you will risk cracking....so don't do it on items you are going to sell or that you can't risk having ot repair them. This would be a half-assed thing to do and even if the welder is skilled, it may crack even immediately as the weld cools. It's really not a good idea. In other words, you're pretty safe to use stainless filler on carbon material, but not the other way around.

So, if you could get only one spool of wire, I'd pick 316L.

Now, you asked about welding carbon to stainless with 308....yeah, it will weld just fine. If it was on something that lives or safety depends on, or something like a manifold that would get very hot and have a lot of heat cycles, I'd have to reccomend the 309 instead. On the rest of the piping, that's not going to get nearly as hot, 308 will work fine.

 

ok, I'll go with a spool of 316L then.

Now about the harborfriehgt vs cyberweld welders...What's the deal with the HF Hobart Handler 135? I heard a lot of you guys used that, but when I looked for it on cyberweld I couldn't find it. On cyberweld all I could find was the handler 125 with MIG conversion and the handler 140. Harborfreight has the handler 125 flux only, handler 135 MIG, and handler 140.

I was thinking that the handler 135 from HF is identical to the 125 MIG that CW sells. But I saw the 135 on display at my local HF and it said right on the dial/**** 135A.

 

check out http://www.weldingdepot.com

Many people have their clarkes and are very happy!

As for the tanks, its really simple. When do you want to savemoney ?

Most of what your paying for is labor! Its really that simple!

I had a 20cf tank which is about 1ft tall.. The guy wanted $19 tofill it.. CHEAP! Or so I thought

I landed up trading for a 80cf tank. It cost me $50 more and I have 4x the gas. Whats it cost to fill?
$22.

The point is, #1 nothing sucks more than running out of gas on a weekend! This I can tell from experience.
#2 Its cheaper to pay up before hand and get rid of half the hastles and only need to get gas once every 6 mnths.

I weld 3 times a week for about 2 hrs a day and I still have 500psi in my tank! I am hella impressed but its MIG so no purging..

 

Thanks for letting me know about the difference between filling up a small vs large tank. I was gonna go with a 40cu 75/25 tank, but I think I'll just go with a 80cu tank.

Also I said screw it and went ahead and ordered a Hobart Handler 140 from cyberweld, along with a spool of 316L wire. The cool thing about CW is that they accept paypal, and HF and the other places didn't.

 

The hobart 140 replaced the 135, theres no major differences that I'm aware of.

 

I bought the Hobart 135 from HF. Haven't used the machine yet b/c I need to get a gas tank. All the local places wanted 150+ for just the 40cf tank. So I bought one off of ebay. It comes with a C02 fitting but there's an adapter you can buy (got mine for $8) to make it fit your regulator. I had it filled up locally for $16. Here's the link. I think overall its a pretty good deal.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISA...97834

 

Hey guys,

I finally bought a 75/25 tank yesterday and I just finished doing a very short practice welding session to make sure I knew how to use the gas setup. I only used it for like 5 seconds to make these small beads. I was in kind of an weird position so that's why it's not one solid bead. The pipe was on the ground and I was just crouching over it. Even thought it was pretty crappy, my initial impression was "dayum, MIG welding kicks ***!" or something like that.

I need some advice on gas flow though. I hear you guys saying that 16-20 is a good flow rate. I just wanted to make sure, you guys are talking about CFH though right? I heard CFH mentioned once before, but everywhere else I read you guys just use a number. I accidentally set it to 16 LPH which was about 40 CFH, but it was only on for about 5 seconds.

I also followed the Hobart 140's spec sheet inside the cover and set to #2 and wire speed to 35 (sheet said 30 though). Now I was wondering, for this setup how long would I hold it over one point to ensure a good weld? I held over each point for only a second. With the bead as round as it is for only holding it over for a second,

Again here are my settings:
drive roller tension = 2
voltage setting = 2
wire speed = 35
CFH = accidentally set it to 40

 

I am new at welding myself and I also have the hobart 140..... I am wlding 2.5 mild steel and I left my voltage at 1..... on 2 I was burning through on practice runs...

 

When you say burn through, what exactly are you talking about? is that when you burn a hole in the metal? how long are you holding the torch over the same spot?

 

Dont you need Tri-gas to weld SS? (Argon, CO2 and Helium) I thought the 75/25 was for mild steel only, the pure argon was required for aluminum, and the trigas for stainless....maybe I'm wrong.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by LBHgti &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Dont you need Tri-gas to weld SS? (Argon, CO2 and Helium) I thought the 75/25 was for mild steel only, the pure argon was required for aluminum, and the trigas for stainless....maybe I'm wrong.</TD></TR></TABLE>

I read that tri-mix is best if corrosion is going to be a problem. So since I dont have to worry about corrosion so much, I got the 75/25, and the guy athe welding supply store agreed with that too. I think the guy at the store said they didn't have any large tri-mix tanks at the time. The largest they had was a 55 cu/ft 75/25 tank.

dustin, I ended up going to Contra Costa Welding Supplies in Concord instead of that place in Citrus Heights, cause they were about 20 miles closer to where I lived. Their shop had a BUNCH of welding equipment in there. They had mostly Miller and Lincoln machines, from the smaller 135 machines to these huge ones which I assume were the TIG machines. They also had welding helmets, accessories, supplies, cutting equipment and a lot more.

 

I was putting holes in the metal.... I usually use the circular method so I was holding it there long enought to do a circle and move forward.... on 1 I did not have this problem.