Improving your welding?

[Sodo]

You are very good at telling people not to do things and then you go do those exact things yourself. Pretty funny.

Sounds like a goal. Not sure ThomasH is 'there yet' himself but it is a worthy goal! :thumbsup: Same here, I'm working on it and I'll get there.

I thought it was a collective of expertise across all the different areas.
I have and will continue to seek out the more experienced advise for my needs. Not saying I can't learn from others by any means, but if I were seeking marriage counseling I would ask the couple who were married for 50 years, not for 5.

Firedog if there's only a 5yr and a 50yr, I'd listen to both (and hope for even more advice from some 10 & 20 years). For example, what if the 50yr couple's most significant action was to get separate bedrooms just before it all fell apart? If you're an old guy that might work for you. A young guy? "Well, not so much".

IMHO this forum has a significant problem that the "proverbial 50 year old couple" doesn't want other points of view on the forum. IMHO this situation will ****** the development of everyone who wants a well-rounded experience from the forum.

I think the experienced should offer other ways to think about any situation, for example, to let their student do their part in the learning process. But currently they make their statement, then post cartoons, incite arguments, fan flames, try to gather supporters, and add off-topic stories about crazy big jobs that have no application to the thread beyond ego stoking. Then they get in a huff and threaten to leave the forum unless they get some love and quick. It is kind of immature, and it brings out the immaturity in others, a recipe for forum failure.

Often I see good good teachable moments lost like this, and really, all they're accomplishing is teaching others is how to "act experienced". That doesn't work in the rest of the world, I don't see why it's welcome here. This forum won't fail, it will go on, but there can be lost opportunities.

Certainly there are actual "proverbial 50-year old couple" with mountains of knowledge, with ability and motivation to teach in a forum environment, knows how to take other points of view and weave them into knowledge. That would be GREAT! But this person must have the time do it for FREE and have thick skin.

 

[jwmorris]

I always prefer to learn from someone that has more experience in the subject than me. That can be almost anyone depending on the subject. Being a professional and certified welder myself I don't have a lot to be learned in that area but my two year old can teach me new things or at least other ways of looking at problems.

If you close your mind to only certain information sources, that is all you will know.

 

[Reyer Farms]

ArcWeld - I enjoy good info.
We all have different tastes and preferences- especially true of welders. There are also differing personalities, especially here where folks are from all over.
I have get used to how some folks respond to posts because to my Deep South brain it comes off as harsh or point blank, no air in the conversation, my way or the highway. But then I say to myself: self, they didn't mean nothing by it, that's just how they talk.
Right is right, and wrong is wrong. We have all been both. I think we should all try to help each other out and play nice. We should all remember that once you post something you have opened the door for everyone's opinion and suggestions.
Knowledge is useless, unless it can be utilized.

 

[kered]

I just spent an hour reading through this thread hoping to improve my welding, be it from a pro or a hobbyist, unfortunately i got nothing from either only bickering.

If a tip works good it doesen't matter to me if it comes from a pro or a hobbyist, what matters is it works.

I see bashing of 110v vs 220v units, the 220 being the dogs danglers, now thats strange to me, here(Europe) we have 220-240v vs 380-400v and most say 220-240v is no good for anything other than thin stock and 380-400v is what is needed, to the point that its very hard to find a good 220-240v mig over 140amp similar with stick although some of the inverters are advertised as 200amps but at 15% duty and come down fast to 130amp 60% duty, i'm mainly refering to the hobbyist welder arround the $500-$1000 tag(300€-600€)

What sort of amps are we talking on the breakers to allow welding on say 1/2" plate with a 220v welder be it mig tig or stick to get high amperage with a reasonable duty cycle. Here i have 3phase 380-400v supply with the breaker being 3 x 20amp

The reason i ask is i'm ready for an update on my rigs, Telwin 135a(max) mig and telwin 110a(max) stick inverter both hobbyist machines.

Tia

 

[newbury]

What sort of amps are we talking on the breakers to allow welding on say 1/2" plate with a 220v welder be it mig tig or stick to get high amperage with a reasonable duty cycle. Here i have 3phase 380-400v supply with the breaker being 3 x 20amp

The reason i ask is i'm ready for an update on my rigs, Telwin 135a(max) mig and telwin 110a(max) stick inverter both hobbyist machines.

Tia

Most of our "home" circuits are single phase and limited to around 30 amps for dryers and top out at 60 amps for an electric stove.

 

[mikehaugen]

My old idealarc tig/stick 250 I think maxes out at 90 something, but I usually only weld with 1/8" rod or smaller and have a it on a 60 amp and have never tripped it.

 

[jwmorris]

What sort of amps are we talking on the breakers to allow welding on say 1/2" plate with a 220v welder be it mig tig or stick to get high amperage with a reasonable duty cycle. Here i have 3phase 380-400v supply with the breaker being 3 x 20amp

I weld up to 3/4" plate with my Maxtron 450 (MIG, TIG, stick) with a 50 amp breaker 240v single phase (wouldn't be enough breaker if I ever called for all it could do)

Connected to 460v 3 phase 565amp @ 60% duty cycle 450 amps @ 100% duty cycle draws 36 amps max.

I have never had the machine cranked all the way up.

 

[mikehaugen]

I weld up to 3/4" plate with my Maxtron 450 (MIG, TIG, stick) with a 50 amp breaker 240v single phase (wouldn't be enough breaker if I ever called for all it could do)

Connected to 460v 3 phase 565amp @ 60% duty cycle 450 amps @ 100% duty cycle draws 36 amps max.

I have never had the machine cranked all the way up.

You have a maxtron... that's cool. I was looking at them used before I bought my welder. Heard stories of fried boards and shied away somewhat, though it would still be cool to have. Seems you can get them used pretty cheap for the power they have.

 

[jwmorris]

You have a maxtron... that's cool. I was looking at them used before I bought my welder. Heard stories of fried boards and shied away somewhat, though it would still be cool to have. Seems you can get them used pretty cheap for the power they have.

Yeah, the wire feeder, spool gun and pulse control I got with mine ($1200 total) were worth the risk.

My syncrowave 300 needs 96 amps of 240 to get 300 amps out @60% duty cycle and 170 amps in for 375 out. The inverter machines will give you more efficiency but it is at the price of having more electronics.

 

[jwmorris]

You have a maxtron... that's cool. I was looking at them used before I bought my welder. Heard stories of fried boards and shied away somewhat, though it would still be cool to have. Seems you can get them used pretty cheap for the power they have.

Yeah, the wire feeder, spool gun and pulse control I got with mine were worth the $1200 asking price the fellow wanted for all of it.

My syncrowave 300 needs 96 amps of 240 to get 300 amps out @60% duty cycle and 170 amps in for 375 out. The inverter machines will give you more efficiency but it is at the price of having more electronics.

My little maxstar needs 26 amps at 115v for 80 amps out @100% dc and 20 amps at 230 for 100amps @100% dc. A lot of power and duty cycle for a 10 lb machine. You could never get it that light with a transformer machine.

 

[muddstopper]

I cant believe I just read thru this entire thread. Kind of reminds me of a bunch of school kids trying to show how smart they are. On one side you got a person that thinks he knows it all and aint about to concede he's not as smart as he thinks he is. On the other side, you have a few more kids that know something, but lacks the sense to ignore the other side. He said, she said, did,not, did to, blah blah blah.

I will just say this, "Its best to take care of your older workers or they will quit you, and all you will be left with are the uneducated that lack the experience to get the job done" Wish I knew who said that, but every day I find this quote is closer to the truth.

 

[PhysAssist]

I cant believe I just read thru this entire thread. Kind of reminds me of a bunch of school kids trying to show how smart they are. On one side you got a person that thinks he knows it all and aint about to concede he's not as smart as he thinks he is. On the other side, you have a few more kids that know something, but lacks the sense to ignore the other side. He said, she said, did,not, did to, blah blah blah.

I will just say this, "Its best to take care of your older workers or they will quit you, and all you will be left with are the uneducated that lack the experience to get the job done" Wish I knew who said that, but every day I find this quote is closer to the truth.

Amen Brother!

 

[PhysAssist]

I cant believe I just read thru this entire thread. Kind of reminds me of a bunch of school kids trying to show how smart they are. On one side you got a person that thinks he knows it all and aint about to concede he's not as smart as he thinks he is. On the other side, you have a few more kids that know something, but lacks the sense to ignore the other side. He said, she said, did,not, did to, blah blah blah.

I will just say this, "Its best to take care of your older workers or they will quit you, and all you will be left with are the uneducated that lack the experience to get the job done" Wish I knew who said that, but every day I find this quote is closer to the truth.

Amen Brother!

 

[Cherokee140]

I just spent an hour reading through this thread hoping to improve my welding, be it from a pro or a hobbyist, unfortunately i got nothing from either only bickering.

If a tip works good it doesen't matter to me if it comes from a pro or a hobbyist, what matters is it works.

I see bashing of 110v vs 220v units.....

Same here, but I did not read the entire thread. I have taken a few classes but that is it, I am not a welder, but I can stick two things together and they usually stay together. Personally I have a 110 welder and have had it for about 10 years now....it has done everything I need it to do (mostly car bodies)....but once and a while I have something thick I can usually get it to stay and be strong.

I was hoping to come and learn a little more about working with that thick metal with a low powered machine, but looks like I came to the wrong place.

 

[Sodo]

I was hoping to come and learn a little more about working with that thick metal with a low powered machine, but looks like I came to the wrong place.

Maybe it WAS the wrong place, but it could change. ( ? ? ) With luck. Also there was some 'tension' in the forum, which threw people off and gets in the way of knowledge. Hopefully that's gone now.

It took some time because I'm slow - but I may may have figured out what the problem is in the forum.

Pros don't have much to offer with regard to 110v machines because they have 220v. Most (active) hobby/maintenance welders have 220v, so the BULK of forum responses you will get, will be from members with 220v (just by statistics). Even if they are stick welders they will answer 110v MIG welder posts with how they'd do it on 220v. And what do you EXPECT their answer to be? They want to join the discussion but off-topic is all they've got.

Even if they have a 110v MIG they don't know how to extend it's range, thus have little 110v experience (because they have no need). Every time they have a problem they drop the 110v and go blast it with 220v, even if the 110v MIG may have been the better machine for the job. Keep in mind that 220v welders can't find any help for their 110v MIG (on forums) either. This lack of 110v assistance affects those guys too they just don't know it.

There's very little forum assistance for 110v MIGs because statistically, most 110v users are inexperienced. Which is surprising considering high quality 110v machines have been available for 10, 20 years (and how many are sold). Basically most people (as they get more serious) find the need to spend the money to get 220v to their welding area and this leaves the 110v users hangin'. It's a knowledge gap that occurs naturally.

Maybe we need a new thread called "Improving your 110v MIG welding".

 

[roadhunter]

Looking forward to hearing more from Mark about his 110v offerings.

 

[Shield Arc]

I was hoping to come and learn a little more about working with that thick metal with a low powered machine, but looks like I came to the wrong place.

Cherokee140 you are more than welcome to PM me. Maybe we can exchange email addresses so we can send each other pictures. I have a whole bag of tricks that may be able to help you.

 

[Furu]

Cherokee140 you are more than welcome to PM me. Maybe we can exchange email addresses so we can send each other pictures. I have a whole bag of tricks that may be able to help you.

Cherokee 140 take him up on it. It is an offer of great value and he can really help you.

 

[dragoneggs]

Cherokee 140 take him up on it. It is an offer of great value and he can really help you.

Totally agree with Furu here... I was lucky enough to spend a few hours with SA and learned quite a bit.

 

[dragoneggs]

Maybe we need a new thread called "Improving your 110v MIG welding".

That sounds like a good idea... I have a 110/220 MIG and am interested in what I can do if/when I am stuck with 110v.