which welder

[breefee_BII]

Does anyone trust a weld with flux core enough to weld their suspension and take the family on a nice long road trip? I'm buying a welder sunday the weld pak 100 (Sears) which is the same as the pro core 100 at Lowes. I'm buying it because lincoln says it will weld 1/4 inch multi pass and you can convert to gas later if you want. If anyone has this welder let me know how you like it before sunday would be helpful.

[Phillippi]

I dont know that much about welders execpt to get a 220 at least. With those you can turn it down for the light gauge stuff and then turn it up for the thick stuff like frames and bumpers. As far as mig welders, I have no opinion as I only use a stick. I do trust my welds with my stick tho.

[DBrown]

I weld with the same welder as phillippi, and I trust it...but like was said earlier it is an arc welder.

with any welder the thing you need to wory about is penitration. as long as it is set to the right amount of amps and you get good penitration you will be in good shape. the key to any fab work is to clean, clean, clean, and practice alot before you decide to tackle a big job where your bead is critical.

also you should work with someone who has some experience with welding because they can show you tricks to lessen warping, and technique. when I was learning I worked with a guy who was certified then I went and took some classes on welding, casting, and machining. I did this so I understood alot more of the processes. all this info helps when you are thinking of fabbing something.

if I were you I would mabye start with a set of bumpers or sliders then go to some more important stuff...

[mccutcheon4]

[Nobody]

Sounds like a commercial for the Navy

[Paul]

...... ive been certified in Tig, Mig, and stick welding, fluxcore and non flux core in mig......... normally flux core gives a tensil strength between 50 and 60 thousand with gas shield, and some flux core wire can be run without gas depending on the type of wire, where as stick gives a tensil strength between 60 and 70 thousand so i prefer stick but if your doing sheet metal then mig with gas and no flux would be the way to go if you dont have access to a tig ( heliarc ) welder...... so for weldeing speed then use mig with a perfectly clean surface, for strength and durability i would use a stick becasuse of its versatility and its less expensive for the electrodes, with mig the surface needs to be extremely clean where as the stick welder would burn through small amounts of light debris and still make an efficiently strong weld.

[Paul]

but i want to note that if you have an extremely clean surface when used and you run a nice clean bead at the required specs for the wire, then yes the tensil strength for some flux core welders is rated as high as a 7018 welding rod ..... for example ..... lincoln E-71T is a flux core wire that can be run without a gas shield and has a tensil strength of 70, 000 lbs...... but it must be run perfectly for it to hold at that level, i also know its used in building barges and ocen going vessels... and it must be a perfectly clean surface with 100% penetration to achieve that level of strength ...... where as the 7018 would burn through light amounts of dirt or rust in cracks and crevices on an suspension with extremely good penetration...... although it would only rate at 60,000 lbs tensil strength a 6010 weldeing rod run on dc voltage can weld through heavy rust scale along with paint, varnish, and dirt, and oil once an arc has been made ........ it is considered a trash rod becasue it can be run on surfaces that are not sufficiently cleaned and will give 60,000 of tensil strength when applied in an appropriate weld setting. normally when welding high pressure pipes, they run 6010 in dc - for a root to achieve 100% penetration and cover with 7018 for the rest of the passes, and this is used in hydraulics, phnuematics, amonia refrigeration, and high pressure water limes, fuel lines and the majority of all large structural buildings and designs ................. plus remember if you run mig with gas you must not hasve a fan blowing into it or be in a breezy atmosphere too, because it will affect the welds becasue of the removal of the gas shield ...... but with stick you will not be affected by those conditions so i prefer for general use in welding a stick welder ............ but a mig is really nice when doing sheet metal work, and fabrication.