need an opinion on this welder I bought. To return or not???

[Guest Anonymous]

I bought a farmhand 125 from tractor supply model # wg3013 (if I had known it was made by Campbell Hausfeld i would never have bought it)

reasons I bought it are

1 I have aspirations of welding aluminum dashboards for all my cars

2 runs on 120

3 came with a cart

4 my z needs some work

 

when I went to fill my recently purchased oxy-acetelyne tanks :flamedevil: I also asked about argon.

The man ( who I might add seemed very knowlageable sp) declared quite plainly that this welder would

" never weld aluminum in any satisfactory manner and that if this was my goal then I should return it immediately and purchase the lincoln- electric model 135 which would be going on sale in just a few days!" :malebitchslap:

 

what do you guys think? I have VERY LITTLE welding exp and would value and thoughts or stories you might have

[Guest BigWhyteDude]

i would listen to the Guy. if you have any doubts about it take it back.

[383 240z]

TAKE IT BACK good welders aren't cheap and cheap welders aren't good! I made the mistake of buying a lowcost welder and it made VERY bad welds I used my buddies miller cricket and it made me look like a real welder!!! Keith

[Guest Anonymous]

BIGWHYTEDUDE THAT THING UNDER YOUR NAME ROCKS!! HHIIIIII-YAAHH!

[Guest Iceickle]

If you are gonna weld aluminium, you are gonna need a TIG welder, and like that other guy said, dont buy a cheap one! Make sure you do alot of practice welds too, welding is one of those things that improves with practice.

[Drax240z]

You don't need a TIG to weld aluminum. Just get a spool gun for your MIG and fly at it. All high volume manufacturing/aluminum welding is done with MIG with very reasonable results. It isn't quite as pretty mind you, but definately functional.

[dot]

I bought the Square wave TIG 175 by Lincoln. I find it welds anything quite well. It was pricey at almost two grand and runs on 240 volt. It takes a lot of power to weld aluminium as the parts soak up plenty of heat. So don’t skimp on the machine.

It has paid for itself over time and was very instrumental in building my car but I now have a minor sideline of welding my kids friends seadoo parts back together. It would be the last tool I’ll part with.

Happiness for me is a full argon bottle.

Cheers…:::Glenn

[Guest Anonymous]

is the spool gun the one that has the spool on the gun instead of in the welder??

that sounds like a good idea cause one of the problems I've heard is getting a constant wire speed , what with tryin to push thin wire 10 feet through the regular gun

also I have a set of acet-oxy how hard is torch welding aluminum??

 

someone said you need alot of heat, that sounds like plenty to me!!

[johnc]

A 110v MIG welder can weld aluminum if:

 

1. You spend a lot of time preparing the parts for welding.

2. You use a spool gun.

3. You use a shielding gas.

4. The aluminum parts are small or you do a LOT of pre-heat.

5. The welder's plugged into a 40 amp circuit.

6. You are careful and take your time.

[Guest Perry]

MIG can weld aluminum but it's not dashboard pretty, or so I'm told-never tried it myself. I have a cheap MIG and it does Ok on steel but I agree very much that you get what you pay for...

You can Torch Braze or weld aluminum. I've done both successfully on a project a while back. Torch welding is difficult because aluminum doesn't indicate temperature with color which makes it hard to control. Torch braze using a TIG filler rod with a lower melting point than the base aluminum you can get some pretty nice looking beads but it takes lots of practice and if on a safety critical load bearing structure you may want to do some testing for strength or use a different method. Brazing in this manner avoids melt thru which is most of the trouble with AL torch welding thin material. This may be the best option if you don't have the cash for a TIG. Make sure you use the right flux paste, it takes a type made for AL.

If it's a dashboard I assume you want it to look nice, eaiest way to do that is with a TIG welder and lots of scrap aluminum for practice. This will give you those perfect little welds that everyone who has "hobby welded" has probably marveled at from time to time.

If you bought a cheap MIG you probably can't drop 1500-2000 on a decent TIG no matter how pretty the welds are(welcome to the club). I vote keep the MIG and get a mixed gas bottle on it, you'll find a thousand uses for it on steel stuff around the house/garage. Then play with the torch a while until you get good at brazing.

Hope this helps

Perry

[Guest Jason]

I haven't been very successful with 120V MIG on aluminum. My Hobart 135 claims to do 1/8" aluminum at full power, but I never got good penetration even with preheat to 500F. I blame my insufficient garage power (extension cord), improper cleaning, and lack of experience. I didn't have a spool gun, but did not have too many problems with wire jamming. A spool gun would have been nice though. I was able to weld some thin aluminum, but I found the whole process more trouble than its worth.

 

I later brought it to a auto repair shop that MIG'd my parts together and did a decent job.

 

If you need aluminum welded and don't have the proper equipment (175A+ MIG/TIG, argon tank, filler, spool gun), I recommend bringing your parts to a welding shop and paying the $40/hr.

 

-Jason

[Guest 73TPIZ]

My cheap welder before welded like crap. I just bought the lincoln 135 and it welds beautiful on steel. I haven't tried alum yet but was told it'll do fine. just make sure you use pure argon for alum welding. you can use 75/25 carbon dioxide/argon on steel but not on alum. also use the thickest alum wire you can if your feeding it through the whole line. 0.035" or 0.040" i think.

[Guest Anonymous]

did you get the 135 T or the 135 PLUS ?????

I am very seriosly considering the 135plus

 

I found a local shop who is going to have them on sale for $469 this month

[gramercyjam]

I bought a Lincoln 135 Plus a few months ago to replace a Century MIG welder that I was fed up with. The Lincoln is a very nice welder for 1/8" or less. Works well for the thin stuff, which is what I bought it for. I use it with Argon gas and it makes beautiful welds. The kind when engineers see them they say, hey, those are nice welds.

 

If your going to be welding up I beams, probably not the best welder for that.

[Guest Iceickle]

Lol, MIG is kinda easy to get good results with on steel, try getting a nice bead with a stick welder It's a bit more difficult...

 

 

If you have wire problems with MIG, you need to ensure the cord/cable is straight, from the machine, i recall several occasions where the MIG i was using refused to spit out wire because the cable was bent too hard... Other than that, a hand-spool isnt a neccesity, but it would be nice to have (i wish i had one)

[Guest Anonymous]

So I checked and the place I bought the welder has a 30 day cash refund policy 8)

 

sssssSO its the lincoln 135 plus for $ 479 or something

Cause with the way the oter one did the honda I would never NEVER EVER use it on the Z.

[Metallicar]

I have the Lincoln SP135, and I bought the aluminum kit for it, it was $65.00.

 

It performs very well for aluminum welding. Just remember to keep the the hose as straight as possible, the aluminum wire is soft and it can kink up.

 

The Alum. Kit came with a pound of AL wire. Use that and some scrap aluminum to practice, practice, practice. Get a 4 1/2" grinder and the Sand Disc Kit. Use 50 grit discs to clean up your welds.

 

Go to Metal Supermarket (they are almost everywhere, check there web site). You can buy Aluminum there for $2.50 a pound!

 

I got a little side job making Aluminum Diamond Plate Tool Boxes, and it paid for my welder in one weekend!

 

Have fun!

[Guest 260zman]

When using a mig to weld ali, and have previously been welding steel with it, you need to replace your liner as small metal filings off the steel mig wire can cause the alloy wire to jam. i had this prob with my 120 amp mig, i also used a wire lubricator which the wire runs through prior to going into the mig lead. like others are saying, you're never gonna get a beautiful looking weld with mig. I use mig to tack weld at home and then take my bits to work and fully weld with Lincoln Tig!!

[Metallicar]

The Aluminum Conversion Kit includes a teflon hose liner. It is a 10 minute job to install. You can do it.

 

The kit also includes new feed rollers. The idea is is that the AL wire should be kept away from all previous steel wire and steel for that matter. I keep the kit in a large zip lock bag when not in use. It is best to keep it as sterile as possible.

[Guest Tempe_Z]

Ok I've been looking to buy a TIG for a while here and hopefully will be doing so in the next couple months. I have it narrowed down to either a Lincoln Squarewave 175 or a Miller synchromatic 180.

 

Now without turning this into a Ford vs. Chevy type argument which would you folks in the know recommend and why do you recommend it? Or, is it a case where either one is probably fine it's just a matter of personal preference. I'm looking to weld Al and Stainless or else I'd just get a Lincoln Powermig 200 or something in that neighborhood. Then again my friend has a Powermig 200 I can use pretty much anytime, so that's why I'm getting the TIG in the first place.