To Todd

[Frederic Breitwieser]

> Are you usin a 110 Mig welder to weld your patch panels are are ya just
> leadin em in or just brazin?

I purchased last fall a Lincoln 170T wire-feed MIG welder, which uses
220V at about 45 amps if I remember the data on the cord correctly...
installed a 60A 220V industrial outlet (versus a dryer outlet) and
gave it its own breaker.

> I'm lookin at getten a lil 110 mig for the house, and am lookin into em
> right now...

I checked them out as well... and didn't really like any of them for
my application, which is building a mid-engine car from scratch - I
have a lot of tubing to weld together and panels, firewalls, etc, so
something more heavy duty was important.  These things are not only
rated in voltage/current output, but also duty cycle... keep that in
mind.  If a particular unit can give you 30A at a 30% duty cycle, that
means you can weld for a minute, then wait three.  Stepping up a size,
could be rated at 50A at the same duty cycle, which means if you only
need 30A, you now have a much higher duty cycle.

For welding mild steel, I welded two 8' strips together in one long
swoop, because the machine was slightly oversized for the job - so I
had the current turned down about half way, which increased the duty
cycle significantly.

I really like this unit (170T), and if you have access to 220V in your
garage/home/yard, its not that expensive either.  Figure about a grand
for the unit, gun and cable, then on top of that you'd need a face
shield, and a display filter (shade) of your choice, leather gloves
and preferably a leather apron.  My total bill with a huge spool of
flux-core welding wire (no gas bottles, but a lot of slag grinding)
ended up being about 1300 bucks or so.

> Have a few projects I want to do that will require weldin, and I don't
> wanna keep on borrowin the neighbors... ya know?

Yep, I hear ya.  I have the reverse problem.  I'm the first in the
little townhouse complex to have a welder, so I've been "asked" by a
few people to weld little trailer brackets back on, etc, mostly minor
stuff.  No one's been brave enough to bring by a rust-bucket that
needs its quarters cut and welded.



-- 

Frederic Breitwieser
Bridgeport CT 06606

1993 Supercharged Lincoln Continental
1989 HWMMV w/turbocharged 500cid Caddy
1975 Dodge D200 Club Cab soon to have 431 stroker + turbos
2000 (I hope) Buick GTP (Mid-Engined Sports Car)