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welder

sp53

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I am thinking about buying a welder from Home Depot and I am curious if I should get the one with the gas bottle. I plan to mostly do welding on sheet metal and body panels and I do not know if the bottle is recommended or necessary.
Thanks sp53
 
I have the Home Depot welder with no gas bottle. Bought it on ebay (new in box) for about half of the HD price. I was warned that the spatter would be unbearable and the quality of welds inferior, but after a course of evening lessons at the local tech school I found I could make very nice looking welds, and as far as I (and my instructor) can tell the penetration is good. I haven't tried any thin sheet metal welding, though just chassis strengthening. It is a really easy machine to use.

Hope that helps
Alistair
 
I have a Linclon 125 flux core welder, the same Lincoln with a bottle, and a bigger Miller 175 with a bottle. The flux core welder sees almost all of the work. I use it for everything from sheet metal to roll cages. Took it to fix a dump truck body once, and use it on job sites to weld plates to lally columns. I like the fact that it plugs in to any 110 outlet and I can carry it in the back seat of my truck. I've let just about every friend I have borrow it, and it just keeps on going. It's an easy machine to learn on. Bottles make it nice, but not really required for what us Brit car guys want to do.
 
sp53:
This topic has been discussed at legnth, both in the tools forum and a couple of articles in the wiki. F.Y.I. cored wire welding without the gas is called innershield welding, with the gas its called dual shield welding, the difference bieng the structural quality of the weldment {Not an important factor for us L.B.C. hobbists}. The solid wire can be purchased at smaller diameters, allowing you to use lower welding temps and weld thinner materials. However the gas bottle is a must have to use this process.

I recomend getting scraps of the same guage material as the project you intend on welding, use the trial and error method to determine what type of process and wire type and size will be required to achive the desired final result.
Lots of practice will also be required unless you are already an accomplished welder.
If you wish you can P.M. me and I will attempt to answer any further questions you may have.
 
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