loochy88

heres the specs on my welder

its a craftsman wirefeed mig welder. (no gas)
uses .8mm (.030") flux core wire

Primary input volts: 120 vac
Welding Range: 60-120 amps
primary input amps: 20
Phase: single
Frequency: 60 hz
secondary output volts: 17
secondary output amps: 80
duty cycle rating at 80 amps: 20%
open circuit volts (max): 25 vac


manual says its good for steel up to 3/16" with a single pass, 1/4" multi pass.

i just got ahold of some scrap exhaust pipes. i practiced a little bit but my welds are still awful. will this welder work for what im tryingto do? i really want to put together a custom turbo and i would be doing all my exhaust with this welder unless its impossible.

from what i've heard, if i can get it to work, the welds will probably be a bit nasty looking, but im not worried about it being pretty, most of the pipes wond be seen anyway, and ill just clean them up with the grinder if i have to. i just want to know if im going to be able to use this thing to weld some exhaust pipes.

archemedes

it will work, but with no gas the welds will look like ****, even a pro can't do a good weld with garbage (flux core wire sucks) for exhaust you want a good weld so you don't get rust.play with teh speed, and temp to get a halfway decent weld

loochy88

well, i tried it again today. i've got some pics this time

the welder: http://memimage.cardomain.net/member...6_309_full.jpg

self adjusting mask, this thing is wonderful: http://memimage.cardomain.net/member...6_308_full.jpg

first i just tried to law a few beads across this resonator i picked up. you can see my progress from left to right. http://memimage.cardomain.net/member...6_307_full.jpg

once i felt comfortable with it i tried to actually joined two pipes together. i cleaned up the pipe really well, but the weld still didnt come out all that great looking. id got dirtier as i welded it too. i blew through the metal in a few spots so i would just go around the holes on a low setting and fill it in. when i finished it seemed strong enough, but it didnt look pretty at all. http://memimage.cardomain.net/member...6_310_full.jpg

i grinded it all smooth though, and there really werent very many holes at all. once i had it all smooth again, i laid down another bead and this one looked quite a bit better than the first: http://memimage.cardomain.net/member...6_311_full.jpg
i suppose if all else fails i can just take this approach.

TorqueDog

If you're doing piping fabrication, try this...

Do small spot welds to keep the piping together, then get someone with a tig to finish the job. That way everything stays together as how you need it to, but you can move it around.

archemedes

the way you have it is as good as I've seen with flux core wire, a tig is nice, but not needed for exhaust, if it was a chassis I would say do tig. That machine is a pretty basic one, so don't expect great things from it (it's the same as the cheapy harbor freight one made in china)

loochy88

im pleased with my results i think, like i say, im not too worried about having tremendously professional looking welds, i just want them to look decent and hold well, and i think these will.

archemedes

they should, the biggest thing is because of them being flux core welds there is alot of garbage in there, and it may rust

loochy88

a few coats of high temp paint should take care of the rust problem.