I've had this Lincoln Weld-Pak 100 with gas since I was a kid, it's not much but it's fine for my needs. I'm mostly just trying to get back in practice and do a little work around the garage. I want to change a couple things on it though.

Where can I get a better clamp without spending a bunch of money? The stock stamped steel one is garbage. I was thinking about making the drive to Northern Tool, but I didn't see anything on their website.

I want to get a better diffuser. The plastic one is really short and fits really loose, I like to thread it down so the tip is just protruding. Wondering if I can just pick up some metal ones, or if I'm gonna be in for a whole new assembly.





I know I'm badly out of practice, but I also know that I've gotten pretty good results in the past with only slightly better equipment. I'm thinking these two mods will help me quite a bit.

Thanks for the input guys.

 

i was welding with the stock POC that came on my mig as well and switched it out for a standard metal one and it made a HUGE difference. the oulet alone is a ton bigger, thus giving wider gas coverage. as for a clamp troll around on ebay or amazon, they should have something for you

 

Thanks. I actually went to lowes yesterday and found the answers hanging on their tiny little rack. I never used it with flux wire but my dad did while he had it, so I didn't know that I was just looking at the flux tip. I picked up two of the metal mig tips so I have a spare.

As far as the clamp, I got this one that has nice copper lining in the jaws and a braided copper strap running between them for $10, but it's a 500A clamp so it's absurdly huge and the lug isn't compatible with my cable. I don't feel like hacking mine up so ill see what I can find elsewhere and return this one.

 

The nozzle made all the difference. Need to practice more.

.035 wire:

 

go out and get some .023 wire. you'll see some much better welds with better penetration with it. oh, and remember to flip your roller inside of the machine so the smaller groove is feeding the smaller wire. i had a hell of a time with this because the larger groove causes the thinner wire to slip and be very sporatic

 

Thanks I'll do that. Headed out to the local metal surplus today to pick up some raw material.

 

And clean your material. Bare metal, get all that rust and mill scale off before you start welding, even with MIG.

 

Yeah that was some shitty angle stock I had laying around. I didn't really care too much so I burned the paint up with propane and then hit it with an abrasive wheel to give me a quick surface to see if the nozzle was going to make the difference i was looking for.

I've got some actual work to do with it this weekend, ill be actually prepping that material.