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Happily welded the Mercury grille together (ss tubing and ms brackets) with my MIG. 

In industry it would be about weld performance and contamination issues. Use the right machine, wire, gas etc and it should be no issue.

 

https://www.millerwelds.com/resources/article-library/welding-stainless-steel-tube-and-pipe-maintaining-corrosion-resistance-and-increasing-productivity

 

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5 hours ago, johnny.race said:

Anyone know what the norm is in industry re welding stainless steel. Fuck knows where I have been all my life but I've never had anything to do with the stuff and always thought it had to be TIG welded. Not totally true because when I purchased an old welder years ago, I noticed it came with some arc rods for doing stainless. I put this down to this is what they must have used back in the day' given the welder was from the 1950's. But anyway - yeah TIG. But then I came across a clip on YT showing a guy MIG welding stainless so throwing all of my preconceived views out the window. So question - how is stainless normally welded in industry? Anyone know? 

Structural stainless frames etc normally mig uses a different gas mix - Stainsheild. And stainless wire.

Pipe or dairy etc or anything pretty - tig with argon for the gas.

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Swapped this in today for a new (full) one. Cost $425 incl. Eziswap Gas. G size. Argonshield. For those that were wondering what it cost to refill the large size. 

I'm usually in and out of that shop when I change a bottle but today I found myself in the new welders section looking at all the new stuff. Gawd! Need to stay outta this thread.

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What did the bottle cost? Im trying to work out the cheapest way to have gas at the shed, problem is that bunnings in hastings dont do the trade n go bottles, only blackwoods and bay trade but the fuckers are not open on the weekend at all. A G argo shield from boc is $208 plus the rental or a F is $133

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On 29/03/2021 at 19:14, Kiwibirdman said:

Still on special, just ordered one. 

This was the Weldtech machine. I finally got my shit together and connected it all up. Using Bunnings Mig Gas and 6mm wire also from Bunnings. Very happy playing with some scrap panel steel.  All up investment for everything including the deposit on the gas bottle, 5kg wire and a reg was just under $900.

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@M.H. https://oldschool.co.nz/index.php?/topic/56868-new-bunnings-gas-n-go-welding-bottle-hire/&do=findComment&comment=2060855

According to the link above I was quoted $1114 to buy in, and $425 per refill after that. Fuck, that was in 2018 and I still paid $425 today for a refill. Obviously things don't move in a hurry in the welding gas world. Good shit. 

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does anyone have any opinions on spool guns? or have a alloy mig setup they are satisfied with?

brands they have used etc that were ok

ive only used some reeealy crappy ones and have shyed away from this process until now its the only good solution for boat works.

 

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Did you see the Cleetus episode when they started building their little boats with the spool guns? I think they went into a small amount of detail in it. 

Alternatively I might be able to yarn to an ex employee who now works at a place that contract builds boats for Stabicraft. 

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Eh, 

15 hours ago, sentra said:

does anyone have any opinions on spool guns? or have a alloy mig setup they are satisfied with?

brands they have used etc that were ok

ive only used some reeealy crappy ones and have shyed away from this process until now its the only good solution for boat works.

 

I just came in to ask the same thing. I'm also in the market for a decent spool gun, for ali via mig. Halp. 

Def go for a spool gun Mr Sentra, the ali liners for a std mig lead/hand piece always suck ass.

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I wondered about ali MIG welding also. Makes 3 of us, lol! I remember years ago seeing a complete setup come up on TM that was fresh out of industry. Had been replaced with something newer or something. I remember in the comments section reading the sellers comments about the unit being a well used and well proven unit. It was used near everyday and ran like a dream. It was 3ph from memory. It had a spool gun on it. Right up my alley I thought. Plug and play. It attracted a lot of attention and sold. I dreamed about owning it but can't have wanted it that bad because I never stumped up to buy it. I think the main thing to me was that I knew deep down it would be like a fair bit of my gear - nice to have, mates love it but I hardly had call to use it after initial excitement had faded .

Must have been right. That was years ago and I hardly (if ever) have had cause to have something alum welded. I just don't use the stuff. I'd like to though, but are probably deluding myself. Since then, I've noticed pulse welding machines are becoming more common and affordable. Fuck I'd like one of them that could do alum. I don't know squat about pulse though. I wonder if any OS'ler uses one at work and cares to comment? 

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I just put alloy spool of wire+ matching size tip in normal mig welder+handpiece. has rolls with different knurl for alloy I think/maybe/cant remember. Plus pure argon for shielding. It works acceptably but its suited more for thicker/structual type stuff because you end up with not enough heat to start with, or enough to start with but it gets too hot quickly. so difficult to make a nice job of anything that is only a short weld. Also you are relying on the arc to blast the oxisided layer off, which with mig means wire going so this also is a factor in shitty starts to welds unless you can run higher amps etc. (i.e. thicker materials)

The other tip with using it in a regular mig is to keep the torch lead as straight as possible.

I never had any issues with brids nests etc. just the aforementioned limitations of the setup

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  • 2 weeks later...
On 28/04/2021 at 13:31, Testament said:

I just put alloy spool of wire+ matching size tip in normal mig welder+handpiece. has rolls with different knurl for alloy I think/maybe/cant remember. Plus pure argon for shielding. It works acceptably but its suited more for thicker/structual type stuff because you end up with not enough heat to start with, or enough to start with but it gets too hot quickly. so difficult to make a nice job of anything that is only a short weld. Also you are relying on the arc to blast the oxisided layer off, which with mig means wire going so this also is a factor in shitty starts to welds unless you can run higher amps etc. (i.e. thicker materials)

The other tip with using it in a regular mig is to keep the torch lead as straight as possible.

I never had any issues with brids nests etc. just the aforementioned limitations of the setup

exact wording i would have used

running Migmate 180 with straight Argon and very hard to get an even consistant weld through the torch, as a slight bend will slow the wire down

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  • 2 weeks later...

alright im gona retire my crashweld and get a new mig

It does most of what i want pretty well, but its the size of a chest freezer so is taking up precious junk space 

 

Mostly for rust work/panel steel, and im going to do a lot of it. im talking A LOT, i have 3 cars here right now that will wear out a cheap unit before im finished

those fancy new ones that work out amps and wirespeed for you seem pretty cool, but i guess they cant account for rusty stuff, ive been setting amps, speed, burnback etc on my existing welder so im not worred about that. The single dial ones perhaps dont allow for fine tuning, id prefer being able to change settings fast rather than navigate through menus.

 

Gonna make a trailer so thats about the higher end of thickness i would deal with.

 

I would also like to occasionally stick some aluminium or stainless together, so a combination unit could be ok, but i might just get a dedicated TIG if its going to be 'makeshift' and id have to buy a bunch of stuff to get it to do what i want anyways

 

 

budget, it looks like theres a bracket of machines around the 2-2.5k mark before it really takes off, so around that is fine, less is great but i want something thats going to last a decade and still have support

 

 

 

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