bought a welder!!!

jihiggs

its a miller 140 MIG. 669 for the welder, 150 in leathers and an auto dark helmet, and 180 for a bottle of argon/co2. now that im all ready to start welding, guess I better learn how to weld lol. any of you gents out there weld care to give a little advice?

cabinetmaker

I was a welder for years before I got into woodworking. You'll only ever need the leathers if you run an innershield setup, lots of heat there. When I ran a MIG, I only ever wore a leather glove on my left hand and a regular gardening glove on my right hand.

Small circles, vertical runs downhill. Watch the puddle, it'll tell you if you are going too fast or slow. Buy a good grinder

Goldy

So many times I have almost bought a welder. One of these days I will...

fla-gypsy

Can you light sticks with it? LOL

cabinetmaker

fla-gypsy:

Can you light sticks with it? LOL

Yes, but you would not like the taste...

Amos Umwhat

cabinetmaker:

I was a welder for years before I got into woodworking. You'll only ever need the leathers if you run an innershield setup, lots of heat there. When I ran a MIG, I only ever wore a leather glove on my left hand and a regular gardening glove on my right hand.

Small circles, vertical runs downhill. Watch the puddle, it'll tell you if you are going too fast or slow. Buy a good grinder

Same experience, used to make scaffolds, build truck parts etc. with a MIG, built rock quarry crusher stands, conveyors etc. for a couple years when I was young, before going into the military. Now I have an arc welder, which I put to good use yesterday after shattering the drive shaft on my bush hog. (not the first time) Don't know why, but I just love to do it. Stress relief, my day job now is ICU nurse, RN, and building things just makes me happy, and saves LOTS of money, for cigars, of course. Oh, yeah, listen to cabinet maker, one hour of welding usually means three hours of grinding and wire wheel.

jihiggs

I also find a lot of joy in building things, I work on computers as a profession, where I dont really get to see a finished product, its all virtual. its very satisfying to take a pile of raw materials and make something useful out of it. lot cheaper too, and since im a cheapskate it works pretty well.