Welding a trailer Receiver and Supports with a Maxstar 140

[tonyd21266]

Hi,


I haven't welded in a while so I am a bit rusty... over 20 years lol

I am using 6013 rods I have 1/8 and 3/32.

I just picked up this Maxstar 140. What amp should I go with around 120- 130?

Should I bevel the new receiver on both sides as i had to cut the old one clean off and how wide a bevel to use?

How wide should I go with the bead if not? I think the metal is 1/4 of hand?

The guy who built it weaved it as you could see from the bottom and then made 3 passes on top.

Should I weave or just make 3 passes as i am rusty.

I believe the duty cycle is 10 mins. How long should I let it rest.

6013 is a contact rod as I remember, correct?

Like I said , its been a while

be good

[man of steel]

re maxstar /welding trailer receiver

lso i would suggest you get some 7018 3/32 rods as they will make the joint stronger and run stringers and overlap them slightly.Play with your heat on a piece of scrap close to the metal you will be welding and when your satisfied with the beads its laying down then go to your trailer, good luck

[welder_one]

i believ monofsteel has said it the best, but if you insist on the 6013 rod, 60 to 90 amps for a 3/32 and you wont be fast enough to hurt the duty cycle at that amperage

[Jolly Roger]

Duty cycles are rated in percent of operation per 10 minutes. A 20% duty cycle means you can run 2 minutes out of every 10 minutes. Man of steel has it right on the 7018. It is stronger and has more resistance to shock, stretch and vibration. I use only 7018 on hitches and have never had one fail.

[tonyd21266]

Thanks guys!

I havent started yet as I am getting used to the maxstar 140. It is a pretty nice machine as I leaned on one of those behemoth dinosaur gas engine welders from like 1800 lol and used a lot of of the machine shops welders to teach myself as a kid


7018 I heard was the tip in the smaller rod size but was overkill. I was told that they are obviously stonger as per their 70 psi tinsel strength.

I will take your advice with the rods on the trailer as strength is an obvious concern.

Well I tried all the rods that I had practicing on some old car springs that had I cut up

I tried all the welds I was ever shown with 6011 and 6013. I didnt do bad since I hadnt welded since 86 or so. I found that around 80A was good for the smaller 3/32 rods and and 110a with the larger ones, both 6011 and 6013

I did a lot of fills and laps , mainly single beads, double and weaves. my first few I would rate 7.5 and the last run I looked like I hadnt skipped a beat as they looked better then the guy who did the trailer. I give full credit to miller LOL

My suprize was minamal problem striking. The only problem I had was site. I was using an auto adjusting helmit that I couldnt get right and my hand held which worked better.

OK back to that receiver. let me know all tricks for stregnth and what to weld and wich way. Stringing was on my mind.

I have one problem out the shute.

I have every thing level and plumbed as I was watched a good rigger years back who let me even spot weld... you know the deal .

Anyway, I have a perfect match at the back mate, but the front needs to be oped som to match the front of the receiver.

What is the best method with something like this... I was just going to beat the front senseless after doing the main bead in back with some added heat figuring that should hopefully allow me to open it up enough. If I cant get it wide enough I will have to add metel wich I really dont want to do. That is why I ask you guys as you guys do this all the time.

I am going to lay the receiver on and snap a few pics so you guys can see the job as you are cracker jack and I eat cracker jack at baseball games lol

Ask me to build you a computer or network something lol

Thanks for the tips so far!

[Jolly Roger]

Ah, a fellow geek, heheh. My first puter was a DEC PDP1170. If you know what that is you have been around for a while. Uncle Sam gave his pet geeks really cool toys even back in the '80s. But I am also a welder geek (yeah I even read books on it).

Pics will help a lot for trying to answer your questions as I am having a hard time visualizing from the description.

I wouldn't recommend anything larger than 3/32 with the 7018 because it will be approaching max on the machine to run it properly. The main reason I suggest it is because of the resistance to shock and vibration as well it's characteristics when stretch becomes involved. If you had a big enough machine and could turn it I would recommend 7024 (Jet) because it is incredibly easy to weld with and will take more stress than any other electrode. I don't think a 140 will run even 3/32 Jet though.

[fun4now]

just wanted to say welcome.
the welder will take care of its self, odds are good you wont hit the duty cycle problem as you will be in rest state between sticks and wile doing fit up and prep. and they cool fast. but like Jolly Roger said its based on 10 minuets. at the 80ish amps for the 3/32" you should be above 30% (just a guess) so you should be fine. if not, it will shut off not get hurt. i have pushed the duty cycle on my MM135 many times without a shut off. i think they are stronger than rated.

[jwsrep]

Tony,
Are you operating the machine on 115V or 230V? If 230V you can weld with 1/8" electrode with no prblem and that is what I would suggest. I would recommend 7018 as your electrode. Use a slight weave pass. Stringers tend to leave voids if they get to humped up. I would say 3 passes should do the trick.

JR,
3/32" Jetweld 1 E7024-1 amperage rating: AC: 65-120 amps, DC: 60-110 amps

[tonyd21266]

I wish I had 220 there!


That was why I got this for it versatility and size.

I still want to get a nice mig. I heard there was some special kit that let you do mig on the 140 but was a few hundred bucks.

I figure that if I have to throw 250 or so out on that kit i might as well get a good used mig.

It is funny how everyone tries to talk me into using a mig to do this hitch. I know enough about migs to tell you that I would blow it up with all the passes.

I was thinking about borrowing a friends and usings flux steel .030. Like i sayed , I think I would owe him a welder.

I think people overuse the mig because of its ease of use or the fact they cant even strike an arc.

On to that puter. Was it a VAX sys or possibly a Wang copy.

I saw a few at the computer show a while back. I see them when I watch old football games I taped lol love those old commercials.

They are actually quite common.

I met the guy who made the ground system for ENIAC at the a show.

The man was there with his grand daughter and great grand son who were nieve to computers. It was kinda funny. This guy was around 90 sharp and on the ball and up to date on everything. Heck of a conversation. It was like talking to one of the 1927 Yankees. lol

I got to get to that garage to get thos pics. I want to show that to you guys and see what is the best option to open it up.

Funny thing is I think this trailer was mad inbetween the time of 27 ' and ENIAC.


Hey, thanks for the warm welcome guys

[fun4now]

i used the wang computer in the army, nothing like geting payed to sit around playing with your wang all day. ..
you cant add MIG to the maxstar.
as for using MIG on the trailor, that would be fine with the right MIG. a MM210/212 would be great for it. i think you are right about people getting MIG's for ease of use. the problem there is too many think its like glue and all you have to do is squirt some on and its good to go.

[Jolly Roger]

ROTFL!! It was a VAX type, and a beastly machine for it's time. Now I have a cheap laptop that puts it in the dirt. For that matter the Amiga 500 I had kinda did the same to it. It was something else for crunching data though.

Actually the MIG is excellent for hitches and such, provided it's a big enough MIG. The little portables really aren't designed for it. I used to use one in a heat exchanger shop that would run 1/8 flux core with a 1 1/2 inch wide bead on a single pass. I don't know how many amps it was putting out but it would burn your eyes in a matter of seconds, and have your clothes smoking in no time if you were within 3 feet of the puddle. We actually had a hood hanging on the wall that melted because the welder held his head too close.

All of the factory hitches like drawtite are mig welded. Wire is cheaper, faster, and has a lot less cleanup than sticks.

I am still making my mind up about flux core on small machines.

Looking forward to seeing the pics.

[man of steel]

re jet rod

7024 is a ac rod and flat and horizontal position only,your maxstar is a dc inverter,i own one ,mine does lift tig also, great little machine, on 220 it can burn 1/8 rod all day long(it has a 100%duty cycle.

[jwsrep]

7024 is a ac rod and flat and horizontal position only,your maxstar is a dc inverter,i own one ,mine does lift tig also, great little machine, on 220 it can burn 1/8 rod all day long(it has a 100%duty cycle.

AC is the prefered polarity, but 7024 can be run on DC+ or -. The main reason AC is prefered is because on DC it is suseptiple to arc blow. I used to run a ton of this stuff back in the early 80's. Not enough O's in smooth how this stuff runs. But like man of steel said flat position and slightly downhand only(no more than 15 degrees).

[Jolly Roger]

Hey fun4now, what was your MOS? I was 98C20F8 Electronic Warfare/SIGINT Analyst

[fun4now]

76C & cross trained as 63T