What kind of welder should I get?

Ok, I am going to be building myself a new bmx bike frame and that requires a welder. I dont know what kind of wleder to go with. I certainly dont want to get a welder that requires gas.

So that puts me with either a Mig or Arc welder. I have used both and can lay pretty good bead with either of them.

I dont know what I should go with though. I will be making BMX frames which will use no more than 1/4" 4130 chromoly and thats for the dropouts, the thickest parts.
As for jeep parts. I'm going to make Rock Rails, a small tube rear bumper, small tube front bumper, and perhaps control arms.

So what would you recomend? I alread have the helmet, gloves and all the other stuff from last years high school welding class.

Thanks.

Try This Thread

Take a look at this. HTH!

Doesn't Cromoly require TIG welding? If so get ready for sticker shock, plus Shielding gas is required. There are some portable TIGs that are fairly resonable that cannot weld aluminum (they're DC only and Al requires AC), that may be an option.

B-loose

Chromo doesn't require TIG, MIG will work but isn't as good. Actually Chromo was made originally to be Oxy-Acetelene welded, maybe you should do that For the Jeep parts you mentioned a good old AC/DC stick welder would do just fine. I'd get an old arc welder and an Oxy-Acetelene torch/welder.

Yeah, its recomended that you use TIG for chromoloy, but not required. I just dont want to have a gas tank around my house.

So as far as stick welders go... are ther any that just plug into normal everyday wall sockets?

Bloose said:

...
(they're DC only and Al requires AC)
...

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Not true.

DC positive, unbalanced HF.

--ron

PS: Unless you are going to use robotics, and the assoicated high end controller for MIG, TIG is the ONLY thing I would consider.

wrecked said:

So as far as stick welders go... are ther any that just plug into normal everyday wall sockets?

Click to expand...

no, nothing worth buying. get 220.

ive got one question, when was the last time you rode a BMX frame that was anything other than tig welded, my guess is you never have, or for sure not any halfway decent chromoly or aluminum frame,

also, no offense, but i seriously dont think id buy a bike frame from someone comes to a jeep board asking these types of questions, such elementary welding basics, i value my body too much

promise im not trying to be an ass, but bmx frames are cheap!!!!! unless you just really want to be able to say you built it, there is no plausible reason i can think of to fabricate your own frame, when top of the line is just a few hundred bucks, and pretty darn good is less than 200 for a bare frame

adam

awspence said:

ive got one question, when was the last time you rode a BMX frame that was anything other than tig welded, my guess is you never have, or for sure not any halfway decent chromoly or aluminum frame,

also, no offense, but i seriously dont think id buy a bike frame from someone comes to a jeep board asking these types of questions, such elementary welding basics, i value my body too much

promise im not trying to be an ass, but bmx frames are cheap!!!!! unless you just really want to be able to say you built it, there is no plausible reason i can think of to fabricate your own frame, when top of the line is just a few hundred bucks, and pretty darn good is less than 200 for a bare frame

adam

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I know that BMX frames are cheap, I work in a bike shop so they are even cheaper. But I have been making my own bike parts in metal shop for the last 4 years and I really like doing it. In fact I just ran my CAD program on the milling machine and created a sprocket, so far thats only in plastic though.

I really just kind of want to play around with things right now and weld some stuff up. I dont know whether I'll use the stuff or not, but I want to have a welder so that I can make or repair things.

I like arc and mig best, but I dont want to have gas. At school thats fine and I can do that there, but I dont want to have to deal with the gas tanks and having them refilled and all that.

As far as the 220 goes... what do I need to be able to run something like that from my house?

wrecked said:

I like arc and mig best, but I dont want to have gas. At school thats fine and I can do that there, but I dont want to have to deal with the gas tanks and having them refilled and all that.

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what's the big deal about gas? CO2 is cheap and common and way easier to weld with than flux core.

wrecked said:

As far as the 220 goes... what do I need to be able to run something like that from my house?

Click to expand...

an electrician

"MIG" stands for "metal inert gas." A wire feed without gas is not a MIG, and I don't think you'll get good results on a bike frame with it. I would hesitate to do even MIG except for experimenting. One of the reasons bike frames are done with TIG, I think, is that it gets high penetration very quickly, thus allowing welding on tubing that has already been heat-treated.

You can get a pretty nice MIG welder that runs on 115 volts, and that would be plenty for bicycle work, but a stretch for some of the other projects you're contemplating. Control arms? I wouldn't try it with a little wire-feed!

Of course if you're just making gaspipe frames for practice and to test out shapes and sizes, you could probably make one that works with just about any welder, but you won't be making a fine quality frame, or anything even close. If you want to make good frames of good material and can't get into TIG, the best alternative would be to learn to braze. Of course that requires gas too, but you can braze just about any frame material without killing it.

To get a functional 220 outlet from your house, you need, first of course, access either to the fuse/breaker box, or to a high amperage outlet that already exists. You might be able to run a 220 welder from a dryer outlet, but it will probably pop breakers when you get up into the higher ranges. Most 220 "buzz-box" welders want a 50 amp range outlet of their own. This actually isn't all that hard to do if you have room in your breaker box for another circuit. You would need a breaker, wire of the appropriate gauge (don't know offhand, but can be looked up or asked at supplier), and a range outlet. Add to that the minor supplies - box fitting for the breaker box, staples or clamps for the wire, and it all is pretty cheap. If your breaker box is full, you'l need to run a sub-feed from the main bus to a second box for the breaker, a more difficult proposition, but still not that difficult. But of course you need to know what you're doing so as not to electrocute yourself or burn the house down. I'm not actually advocating that you do this work yourself. If you have to ask here, you probably are not ready to take it on. But if you are serious about getting into welding, and have a reasonable work space in which to do it, consider calling an electrician to see how much it would cost to wire in a dedicated welder outlet. I doubt it would be all that expensive, and if done right it will make all the difference in your ability to work. Put it near a garage door or other exit, so that you can weld either outdoors or with the door open. When at all possible, put the outlet in a position where you will not need to use an extension or a long cord on the welder itself.