Arc Welder Question(?)

[bobgroger]

The great thing about the HF welder is that it was made in good ol' Chicago!

After I got out of the Army many years ago, I worked in an exhaust system manufacturing plant. I was a production welder at first and learned mig welding which is used for the production stuff. Welds went through QC and if the system leaked, theses systems went into a repair bin and the repairs were stick welded. Since it was a union shop and the repair work actually paid better than production, I didn't do much of this as the very experienced (and longer seniority welders) got those tickets. It is easy to blow holes in exhaust tubing with an arc welder but that type weld is good for blobbing shut small leaking holes.

Is there a town named Chicago in China now?

[bwringer]

You can get the manual from HF's web site. Just find the product page and there will be a PDF you can download.
This might be it:

http://www.harborfreight.com/120-amp-flux-welder-61849.html

Before attacking your bike with it, practice on a lot of scrap exhaust pipe and cut your welds in two so you can understand what's going on. I've done car exhaust parts that worked out pretty well

Also, from what I understand welding on a vehicle can damage the battery and electronics. Do a little research on this before welding directly on the bike.

[Burque73]

Glad you finally found a welder. Just a little advice:

Don't skimp on a good hood. Dark goggles are not good enough. Flash burn really sucks! I did a bunch of welding on my trailer and had a cheap hood and didn't realize my neck was exposed. Felt like a bad sunburn the next day.

Make sure your ground is on good clean, not painted or rusted, metal or you won't be able to strike a good arc. The same goes for the weld, if it's painted or rusted metal grind it till it shines or you'll get a lousy weld.

I always keep a fire extinguisher handy especially when welding in the garage.

Don't weld galvanized metal if you can avoid it. The smoke is a carcinogen and super bad stuff to breathe! If you have to then take care not to breathe the smoke.

Molten metal will burn through the tops of your sneakers and the splatter from the weld of a flux cored wire feed will burn your shirt too. This I learned the hard way. I have a crappy denim jacket I wear which does ok, but long leather gloves help a lot.

Remember, you're sending electrical current into the steel. If your gloves are wet, or you're standing in water you'll get shocked. That sucks too!

Good luck and I hope you have fun with that new welder.

[BurntKittyForge]

You can get the manual from HF's web site. Just find the product page and there will be a PDF you can download.
This might be it:

http://www.harborfreight.com/120-amp-flux-welder-61849.html

Before attacking your bike with it, practice on a lot of scrap exhaust pipe and cut your welds in two so you can understand what's going on. I've done car exhaust parts that worked out pretty well

Also, from what I understand welding on a vehicle can damage the battery and electronics. Do a little research on this before welding directly on the bike.

Thankyou very much for the link (I downloaded/ saved it going to print it probably too! And the advice.
I'm planning on removing the Exhaust, but also wanted to give a try to maybe welding a rod onto a stuck header bolt for (another) removal attempt. Gonna check on the electrical issue FIRST regarding it. (Probably won't work for removal but worth a shot(?))

Glad you finally found a welder. Just a little advice:

Don't skimp on a good hood. Dark goggles are not good enough. Flash burn really sucks! I did a bunch of welding on my trailer and had a cheap hood and didn't realize my neck was exposed. Felt like a bad sunburn the next day.

Make sure your ground is on good clean, not painted or rusted, metal or you won't be able to strike a good arc. The same goes for the weld, if it's painted or rusted metal grind it till it shines or you'll get a lousy weld.

I always keep a fire extinguisher handy especially when welding in the garage.

Don't weld galvanized metal if you can avoid it. The smoke is a carcinogen and super bad stuff to breathe! If you have to then take care not to breathe the smoke.

Molten metal will burn through the tops of your sneakers and the splatter from the weld of a flux cored wire feed will burn your shirt too. This I learned the hard way. I have a crappy denim jacket I wear which does ok, but long leather gloves help a lot.

Remember, you're sending electrical current into the steel. If your gloves are wet, or you're standing in water you'll get shocked. That sucks too!

Good luck and I hope you have fun with that new welder.

Thankyou very much! I have gear for when I'm doing pretty heavy angle grinding/ other steel work but this gave me more insight.

Been mega-busy at work. Rained couple days straight. I'm past the five days return and no use yet.
Got into an arguement with an old part-time ex boss of some crap at work (Lazy old shammer w/ false pride issues always in my way telling me to slow down [milk it] meddling when I'm super busy daily already, alone too...Had to talk with owner over it.
Wasn't much of a talk. he heard him in private, lectured me. Sad that the owner has no idea his loyalties...
Maybe he just figures it's lesser problem dunno.
Realized there's like 8-9 managers through my tiny workspace and my info is basically simple : I'm below them all and the place is set up/ structured for clowns and rejects...no place OR structure intact for professionals...(only time I've sat for past year and half is during 30 min. lunch for 20 minutes. Jeez...it's all just been extra work...

SOOOOoooo: I took one week of my vacation time (was saving for trip w/ wife out of country) to go apply for jobs in outer banks, N.C. Instead...Got one interview saturday, another looks very promising...fingers crossed...hopefully I'll have more space and get to use the welder very soon!
Phew! sort of off-topic but on-topic excuse i guess. {thanks in advance for some prayers]
Thanks again!

[mmattockx]

I did a bunch of welding on my trailer and had a cheap hood and didn't realize my neck was exposed. Felt like a bad sunburn the next day.

The arc is many times more intense than sunlight. Covering up all exposed skin is pretty much a necessity if you want to avoid injuries. There are sound reasons why welders wear long sleeves, turtle necks, long pants, leather gloves, leather shoulder/arm covers and work boots, even in warm weather. Doing the same makes the work both more enjoyable and safer. Also watch for frayed cuffs on your pants and trim off any loose bits, the dangling strings catch fire pretty easily and it's no fun doing the hot foot dance across the garage while trying to put out your burning pants.

Make sure your ground is on good clean, not painted or rusted, metal or you won't be able to strike a good arc.

Also place the ground close to where you are welding, it helps a lot when working with the light duty hobby machines.

I always keep a fire extinguisher handy especially when welding in the garage.

Great advice. Police up any rags, garbage and/or junk laying around, too. Sparks and blobs of hot metal can bounce an amazing distance and easily start fires if they find flammable materials.


Mark