http://www.harborfreight.com/c...44567

For the record, I've already got an old Hobart Beta-Mig 200 in the garage. I'm trying to weld some small crap up with 22 gauge sheetmetal, and even with the voltage turned all the way down the Hobart burns right through it. My neighbor that is an experienced welder gave it a shot and burns through it as well, so I eliminated the notion that I'm doing something wrong.

Can I go wrong with buying this $120 shipped welder? All I need it to do is weld a few pieces up that are 22 gauge sheetmetal.

I fully expect the welder to break/crap out sometime down the road; I'm just wondering if I'll be able to weld adequately on 22 gauge sheetmetal.

TIA

 

I welded in the holes in my ED Hatch with a Lincoln Weld-Pack 100 very similar. It gives poor looking welds from excessive slag, but I have the hang of using it and it's fairly easy for doing sheetmetal really.

 

That's exactly the type of post I was looking for.

Thanks for the info

 

Don't buy one expecting to lay a bead like you'd be used to. I used mine today to put a Stainless muffler on my civic's mild steel piping and the stainless wanted to melt too easily, and it looked terrible but I know it'll hold. On some things I can lay a decent bead but these welders aren't great for cleanliness.

 

Are you running flux or solid thru the Beta-Mig 200? .030" flux won't do less than 18GA and even that's tricky. .023 solid with 75%AR/25%CO2 is about the only way to do 22GA with it. 100%CO2 might work but 75%/25% would probably be easier. I'm not sure why but that's what I've been told.

 

i have the upgrade from that model The mig-101, its a POS. It blows holes through thin metal to easily and is very sloppy. I have very thin flux now, but still, you get what you pay for. then again it could be the user :-)

Nick

 

i just bought that welder, and its really not ALL that bad; i mean you get what you pay for but it gets the job done. Lots of splatter though, bought it to learn how to weld.
easy point and shoot

 

will that burn through aluminum piping? or steel piping? i want to buy that to learn how to weld turbo piping..?

 

i have that same welder. it does splatter a lot and the welds dont look nice. i used it to make all my intercooler piping, downpipe, and exhaust. this was also my first welder and it only took me a couple hours to get the hang of it. so as long as u dont care too much about how the welds look, it will get the job done

 

so would this be a decent investment to do some small things like an IC/intake piping, maybe weld an oil return flange on an oil pan, and connect a flange to an exhaust pipe? i'm looking at picking up something cheap to learn with and get a project finished.

being it is non-gas, what metals does it work with best?

 

i used it on aluminized 16 guage steel pipes from jcwhitney. it will definately be good enough for small tasks like that.

i will take a pic of some of my welds in a little bit....

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by tjbizzo &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Are you running flux or solid thru the Beta-Mig 200? .030" flux won't do less than 18GA and even that's tricky. .023 solid with 75%AR/25%CO2 is about the only way to do 22GA with it. 100%CO2 might work but 75%/25% would probably be easier. I'm not sure why but that's what I've been told. </TD></TR></TABLE>

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MIG is low penetration , so you must be very careful to assure penetration
even in thin sheetmetal . 75%/25% gas won't help , use pure co2 .
I welded 28 gage galvy with my first MIG , but not after years of failure
on stick welding .
After puddle watching for years , i found staying in one spot til your about
to burn thru , then looking for a heat sink is best . Sounds easy ? It's not ,
but it makes you an expert welder .
Weld a piece of 1/8" strap to a piece 26 gage sheetmetal , and when your about to burn thru , move the stick , or MIG to the thick stuff , allowing the thin stuff to cool BUT GET BACK TO THE THIN IMMEDIATELY .
Objective is to get max penetartion w/o burn thru .
My first MIG , the above 28 gage , on a single pass produced a bead on
BOTH sides !! That IS penetration .
MIG can get the worst penetration if you stand off a ways . This is not welding
but you will fill very large holes ! The resistance of the wire means lower heat
W/ stick welding the stick is thick so ohms are low , pulling the rod away
makes higher heat . Negative electrodes have thermionic emmision , so
are hotter , same with cars spark plugs , center electrode is negative for
lower power req'd to launch electrons .


For first time MIG weldors , start with wire speed very high , keep turning it
down til it stops "pushing" you .


BTW Stores say AWS6013 is sheet metal rod . FALSE , only 6011 has a narrow
enough penetration to do sheetmetal . Fleetweld 35 is so low quality it
can't do sheet metal . AtomArc is good . I can use 1/8" sticks over a
20 to 120 amp range . All 6011 spatters a bit . I can't be dryied , toss it
if it gets wet .

Harbor Fright has $150 220vac spot welder , it's good , bought 2 . Now i must
buy copper bus bar to make arms that reach out 24" to weld hard to get to places .
You need about .8 to 1 square inch cross section copper on these 1.8 vac , 2500
watt spot welders . Nix the brass parts for copper .



that pushing the heat to max and moving the arc, wire , or what ever JUST before learning
to weld ,

 

fixed voltage MIG blows holes .........

Large wattage resistors ( huge light bulbs etc ) or high current diodes ( several
maybe req'd) to drop the weld voltage and you will get lower welding heat to weld
thinner stuff . ( MIG is constant voltage , so drop it )
I used a styrofoam cooler with salt water and 2 galvy sheetmetal
strips in series with the electrode .
Adjust salt to adjust the weld heat .

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by z2honda &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">
fixed voltage MIG blows holes .........

Large wattage resistors ( huge light bulbs etc ) or high current diodes ( several
maybe req'd) to drop the weld voltage and you will get lower welding heat to weld
thinner stuff . ( MIG is constant voltage , so drop it )
I used a styrofoam cooler with salt water and 2 galvy sheetmetal
strips in series with the electrode .
Adjust salt to adjust the weld heat .</TD></TR></TABLE>

Please explain your setup more. I am very interested in this, but I can't quite visualize what/how you're doing.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by SiRex91 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

Please explain your setup more. I am very interested in this, but I can't quite visualize what/how you're doing.</TD></TR></TABLE>

__________________________z2honda wrote below___________________

methods to adjust or lower voltage or current in welders .
Several gallons of water and half cup of salt ( dirt also ) makes water conduct .
While dropping some voltage ( which causes a drop in current ) .
I dropped the welding current to 10 amps using a standard buzz box
( Miller Thunderbolt "AC" stick welder) using a styrofoam cooler and salt .
The weld cable comes into a 50 square inch piece of galvanized sheet metal
the cable out is same , another piece of galvy , submersed in the salt
water . Nick name is salt water "ballast" . Flour' lights use a "ballast" to limit
current , but it causes no heat ( it's an inductor ).
The current must jump thru the water from plate to plate . several gallons are enuf to keep the heat low .
This method drops current . In a constant current ( ca ) welder like the common
"Stick" welders ( buzz boxes ) , works well .
MIG is constant voltage ( cv) , so any change in volts effects the weld .
.023 wire needs 18 vdc , .045 wire needs &gt; 24 volts D.C.
The cooler full of salt water has an exact "ohms" ( read it with an ohmmeter )
It will cause the MIG to have poor "volt regulation " ( normally this is bad ,
not wanted ) .
But in this case the cooler will have so little ohms that it will lower
the voltage JUST enuf to achieve the objective of welding with less "heat"
and not be so low voltage as to make welding difficult for the poor regulation .
We need to drop it's voltage , but keep it constant at the lower level .
large diodes will drop the voltage and keep it more steady that the salt water ballast . Diodes will drop about 1 volt unless they are schottky or you're putting low
current thru them ( &lt; 1 amp ) . Std power diodes = 1.2 volts , S' diodes = .5 vdc
You should see a good drop with 2 power diodes ( must be &gt; 100 amp rated ) .
This should allow you to weld very thin sheet metal .
I "blind" weld thin metal . It's too fast to watch the puddle ! So you just analyse
the job , guess how fast you need to go , pull the trigger and go like hell ,
ignoring the puddle , only eye the gap to stay on course .
I know this is easy say , not easy do . It's simply too thin to allow you to
adjust speed after you judge the puddle . It works well .
Also copper absorbing heat plate behind the thin sheet metal is MAGIC !
You could get away with anything and it will not burn thru . Also spot/stitch
with MIG is a way to do thin stuff .