Newbie Signing In

[d_todd_phelps]

Hello everyone.

I am a newbie. I've welded a total of about 30 seconds in my life. I have a collection of broken things that could use some welding, which I normally take to my brother in law (2 1/2 hours away). Anyways, it's getting old. It wouldn't hurt for me to learn how to weld and fix my own stuff when it breaks.

My foreseen projects are mangling/fixing implements for my new tractor, putting a tire carrier on my flatbed trailer, fixing some rust holes in my old beat up truck. Aluminum welding at this point would be a curiosity.

I currently have no welder, but am surfing the classifieds for a MIG around the 200 amp range. I currently have my eyes on a MM185 which has all the goodies with it (roughneck gun, helmet, tank, jacket, gloves, and steel) and a MM210 (with standard items). If I buy new, it'll probably be a MM180 and get the spool gun for $120 for aluminum welding (just in case). But somehow I think I would be happier with something slightly larger than a 180.

And I do have a digital camera for posting pictures.

Anyways that's my story.

[hankj]

Welcome aboard, Todd.

There's plenty of knowledge here, free for the asking. Looking forward to those project pics!

Hank

[bryce_burden]

Welcome to the boards. Glad to see another person getting into the welding hobby. I would go with something a bit bigger than a 180 as you will most likely outgrow it quickly. The 210 you mentioned used would be great, or if you want to go new, the 212 or 252 Millermatics are both excellent machines. Good luck with learning how to weld, and as always, practice, practice, and practice some more. Don't ever give up, it will come to you. Feel free to ask for advice, there are lots of very smart people here who can help you out tremendously, I know they have helped me.

And remember what everyone else has said, we love pictures of people's projects.

[d_todd_phelps]

This is wierd. This is almost the first time I've dived into a hobby with knowing absolutely nothing about it.

Well I'm now the owner of a Miller Millermatic 210 with 5 hours of use on it (supposedly). Being a newbie, I really can't verify, but it was a lot cleaner looking then anything in his barn (but not too clean). It came with a large cylinder tank (I'd guess 80 ft3) which the LWS informed me I could not buy because it was an industrial sized tank (is this possibly true?). Now I need to hook up a new breaker and outlet to the electric panel in my barn. I got some 8AWG wire and will be hooking it up tomorrow. I stopped and got a ad helmet, gloves, and jacket from the LWS.

By the way, I noticed the cord on the welder is only 12AWG. I always thought 12AWG was good for 20 amps, 25 amps max. Should I replace this with 10AWG? I have 25 feet of stranded 10AWG lying around. I've read about voltage drop making a difference.

(no arrogance intended here, I'm just really excited I got this welder after all my internet reading about the 210). I offered the guy $50 over what he was asking, and that's the reason I got it. He said he was getting a call on it about every 10 minutes. So if anyone sees what they think is a decent steal, feel free to offer a little additional money, it worked for me.

Now all I have to do is learn how to weld . Time to call on a few relatives and have them give me some lessons. I should be a good male bonding experience. I'll check out the local library tomorrow too. Not sure if they'll have anything (its a small town). And some welding classes in the summer. By time fall, I should know enough to be dangerous.

[tnjind]

Good machine.
Why would you pay $ 50.00 OVER his asking price?

[Bert]

Because, when a lot of people want to buy it, you HAVE to go over the asking price, so YOU get it, and not them! Happens a lot over here. I have a MM251, so I'm not sure about your 12 awg, but sounds too small. Maybe someone here that has one will chime in Does it look like the old owner changed the cord? If so, I'd worry and wonder why..... I had an electrician hook up a 50amp 220v outlet to the garage and he used 6awg. I think it's a little overkill, but I'm happy...
Do you have a Home Depot over there? $15 welding book or buy some at amazon.com Since you are into computers, should be easy for you to do searches. Do a lot of reading at Millerwelds.com if you haven't already. LOTS of articles along with this forum. Once you start questions, ask everyone here, do searches on these forums and you'll find there are a LOT of excellent weldors here!!!!! I think Fusionking does a lot of aluminum, Dabar39 makes magic out of pigeon "garbage", Monte makes a bunch of stuff he posted on utube, list goes on....oh, and I won't be the only one to say it, but I'll be the first: PRACTICE, PRACTICE, PRACTICE....and just when you have it right, PRACTICE SOME MORE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Welcome to the forum...you're in for a real treat!!!!!!!

[griff01]

This is wierd. This is almost the first time I've dived into a hobby with knowing absolutely nothing about it.

Well I'm now the owner of a Miller Millermatic 210 with 5 hours of use on it (supposedly). Being a newbie, I really can't verify, but it was a lot cleaner looking then anything in his barn (but not too clean). It came with a large cylinder tank (I'd guess 80 ft3) which the LWS informed me I could not buy because it was an industrial sized tank (is this possibly true?). Now I need to hook up a new breaker and outlet to the electric panel in my barn. I got some 8AWG wire and will be hooking it up tomorrow. I stopped and got a ad helmet, gloves, and jacket from the LWS.

By the way, I noticed the cord on the welder is only 12AWG. I always thought 12AWG was good for 20 amps, 25 amps max. Should I replace this with 10AWG? I have 25 feet of stranded 10AWG lying around. I've read about voltage drop making a difference.

(no arrogance intended here, I'm just really excited I got this welder after all my internet reading about the 210). I offered the guy $50 over what he was asking, and that's the reason I got it. He said he was getting a call on it about every 10 minutes. So if anyone sees what they think is a decent steal, feel free to offer a little additional money, it worked for me.

Now all I have to do is learn how to weld . Time to call on a few relatives and have them give me some lessons. I should be a good male bonding experience. I'll check out the local library tomorrow too. Not sure if they'll have anything (its a small town). And some welding classes in the summer. By time fall, I should know enough to be dangerous.

The amperage capacity of wire is largely dependent on the ability of the insulation to handle the heat. SO cord (normally used for power leads to the machine) will handle a higher amperage than THHN ( normally used with conduit).
12 awg sounds a little small but I do not know the load requirement of this machine. Consult your owner's manual. If you do not have a manual, you can download one from Miller for free.

Griff

[fun4now]

i would not replace the cord that came on the welder, but the 10 gage will make a nice extension cord.
as for the tank. you will soon find all welding stores seem to have there own idea of whats rental and buy-able. 80 is usually the last of the owner size but some places don't sell over a 60. just depends on the dealer, so look around.
i have an 80 and a 125. i have to drive 100 mil. round trip to fill them as my LWS only sells 60 and under, so he wont fill mine for me as all he dose is exchange tanks not fill.
call around, look around, getting an 80 filled should be no problem. thoroughbred has tanks in a cage at TSC and some other places like home depot. you will have to pay a hydro test fee to get your tank into the system, but after that you just exchange it every time you need a fill. hydro tests run from $15-$30.
don't give up on the tank. for low usage its best to own rather than pay a rental every year.

[d_todd_phelps]

The power cord is about 8 foot long. It does look like it's overall thickness is thicker than other 12-3 wiring I've seen. I'll leave it be.

The LWS said they would fill it, but not exchange it. So I should be all set. I'll need to get it re-certified (the date on it is 1995). So I'll keep the tank.

[fun4now]

cool glad it worked out.
happy welding man.

[Bert]

Awsome!!! Hydro for the tank should run you @ $25, not to bad for 5 years!
Do you have the outlet hooked up yet?

[d_todd_phelps]

The welder is hooked it up. No extension cord yet.

I played around with some welding 2 pieces of flat 1/8 at a 90 degree angle (with the neighbor's help). It was much easier than anticipated. It shouldn't be too hard to get to amateur quality. We had some issues with the wire feeder, so we loosened the nut on the spool.

Project #1 : I welded a knob back on my pull behind mower which broke off probably 3 years ago. It took me about 10 attempts. Forgetting to turn on the gas didn't help. (I had more issues with the wire feeder -- see next paragraph). The weld looks like crap. But it looks like it'll hold.

I looked closer at the wire and it has a thin coat of rust all over it. So I cut the wire, and the spool unwound. No problem, since I was going to toss the outer edge of the wire out. I threaded the wire into the gun again. There is all this very fine rust dust on my wire feeder which I wiped off. Should I be concerned with rust dust in the liner?

Project #2 : I fixed my ash scraper for my wood stove. Basically a 1/4 rod going into a 1/8 piece of flat iron. I got the nice popping sound on this one. Looked like a hardened molten pool of steel when I was done. Not the pretty drops of steel I see in other people's pictures.

Now I need to practice, practice, practice.

[bryce_burden]

Glad to hear that you got your machine up and running. As with anything else, keep practicing and it will come to you. I myself don't know about your rust problem, but I'm sure someone who knows more than I do will chime in and help.

[tnjind]

Rust=bad.

I would us compressed airto blow out the liner with the tip and wire removed.


The liner needs to be free of kinks and free uf dust loose flakes of wire.....

I even use a felt pad that clips onto the wire ahead of the feeder, the pad holds a liquid that cleans and lubricates the wire as it is fed.
You can pick them up at any welding supply.

Good luck and happy welding.

[Bert]

TNJIND:
I even use a felt pad that clips onto the wire ahead of the feeder, the pad holds a liquid that cleans and lubricates the wire as it is fed.
You can pick them up at any welding supply.
We use those at work also, works REALLY good!!!