Lonesouth's general welding thread

lonesouth · Jan 23, 2014

I picked up a lincoln weld-pak HD for $125, figured I can't go wrong at the price and am taking aim at a few small projects, seat brackets, light tabs on the bumper, CB antenna mount. So I figured I'd start a thread for pictures and questions.

So here is question #1.
I'm making a seat bracket and the bulk of it is 3/16, because that is what I had laying around. However, I had a piece of 1/8 that is the perfect length for the long piece on one of the brackets. I attached my ground to the 1/8 and beveled both sides of the 3/16 to make a point <== I couldn't even tack this together. Would attaching the ground to the 3/16 which is only 1.5" x 1.5" make for a better weld? I was hoping to tack it and have a buddy finish it off with his 220 welder.

bknbronco · Jan 23, 2014

should be fine. Can you even get it to weld on the clamp? Something ant right?

Most of the time when I weld I don't even clamp the ground to the pieces, but instead I have a table that has a grate for a top. I clamp to the grate and can weld anything that touches the grate.

Ourobos · Jan 23, 2014

I like a metal table as a bench when welding if possible.

lonesouth · Jan 23, 2014

I was able to weld together two pieces of 1/8, but had problems with the 1/8 to 3/16. I'm still an absolute newbie on welding, so these may be very rudimentary questions.

broncodriver99 · Jan 23, 2014

I agree something isn't right. For the sake of tacking shouldn't matter. What wire are you running and is your tip polarity right?

bknbronco · Jan 23, 2014

lonesouth said:
I was able to weld together two pieces of 1/8, but had problems with the 1/8 to 3/16. I'm still an absolute newbie on welding, so these may be very rudimentary questions.

make sure you start your arc from the piece with the clamp.....then once some wire welds from that piece to the other the two pieces become one....from that point on you should be able to weld from either piece. My explination my not be classroom quality but it makes since to me

lonesouth · Jan 23, 2014

From what I've read, this welder is DCEN, and can't be changed.

I will check what wire is in the machine and get back later.

kurtboyd · Jan 23, 2014

As a matter of principle, you should always ground to your "parent metal". It's just the way things should be done (whenever possible). Not sure what type of clamp your ground has (or if this is even a ground problem), but you may get better results if you take some vice grips and clamp your ground on a little harder. The little 110 machines are really sensitive to bad grounds and they usually come with crappy ground clamps.

lonesouth · Jan 23, 2014

I did pick up a new ground clamp today. Harbor freight 300amp. The spring on the existing clamp is shot as are the "teeth"

Wyflyer · Jan 23, 2014

Make sure it's feeding the wire nicely, as in smoothly, and the wire speed control works.
Make sure you are either using flux core with no gas, or gas with no flux core wire.
Play with making a weld on a spare piece before you try to make a corner filet.
Preheating both pieces before you weld will allow you to weld on heavier metals.

BronCowie · Jan 23, 2014

Wyflyer said:
...Play with making a weld on a spare piece before you try to make a corner filet...

Yes, practice on scrap pieces first to get it dialed in before doing your actual weld. I'm a newbie to this too and do this religiously.... well worth the extra effort.

C Saporito · Jan 24, 2014

It might sound like a silly question but is either piece of steel coated, painted, rusted or possibly stainless?

lonesouth · Jan 24, 2014

both pieces were cleaned off with a wire wheel on my bench grinder. Then I ground the 3/16 to point(beveled).

bmc69 · Jan 24, 2014

lonesouth said:
I will check what wire is in the machine and get back later.

And? ....

bmc69 · Jan 24, 2014

I wasn't familiar with that welder and mistakenly assumed at first that it was something like my little 110V Hobart 120 Handler. It is not..not even close. With an advertised power range of •35-88 amps output, they are really stretching when they advertise "up to 1/8"". That is actually just enough power to do the sheetmetal body work and reliably to about 1/16" if you run small enough wire.

lonesouth · Jan 24, 2014

didn't have a chance to check the wire. I knew it was a really weak machine when I got it, but figured for $125, there will be enough small projects to make it worth while. I was just stumped when I went to tack and didn't get any stick on the thicker piece.

bmc69 · Jan 24, 2014

lonesouth said:
didn't have a chance to check the wire. I knew it was a really weak machine when I got it, but figured for $125, there will be enough small projects to make it worth while. I was just stumped when I went to tack and didn't get any stick on the thicker piece.

Great machine for body work..methinks.

TwoDalesDad · Apr 30, 2014

I would not sit on that seat knowing it was a 110 welder that did the job. They are only for sheet metal.....

lowbush · Apr 30, 2014

You might be asking too much out of that welder but that being said, you should have still gotten a tack out of it, maybe not with good penetration but it should have melted some metal. Can you braze a straight line with it on a scrap piece of metal, when you hit the line with a hammer does it all just chip off?

Teal68 · Apr 30, 2014

The best advice I've seen so far is to make sure you start the arc on the piece that is grounded. Once you melt the two together then they are both grounded good. Short of that you are most likely having a problem with your ground.

Lonesouth's general welding thread

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