Re: Portable 120V Welder

["Bob La Londe" <none@xxxxxxxxxx>]

"NickMark" <nmarkowitz@xxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:fb3c7991-a8af-431c-ba16-3f1e2ca921b4@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> On Tuesday, July 23, 2013 4:21:30 PM UTC-4, Bob La Londe wrote:
>> I know most of you guys don't do this sort of thing, but as part of my
>> alarm
>>
>> business I have often found myself having to weld a handle on a gate
>> after
>>
>> installing a spring bolt and access controlling it.  My original 120V
>> welder
>>
>> did a dozen of them on the first job site I ever took it on, and it paid
>> for
>>
>> itself.  (I only had to do two, but the property owner saw my work and
>> asked
>>
>> me to do all of the gates on the premise with the same type handle.)
>>
>>
>>
>> Anyway, here is what I have to say about that original welder and its
>>
>> replacement.
>>
>>
>>
>> For years I used a Harbor Fright 120V machine for this sort of thing.
>> After
>>
>> I cut a huge hole in the case and put a giant fan on the back of it, it
>> was
>>
>> useable.  It was also cheap.  After about 15 years I got frustrated with
>> it
>>
>> yesterday.  I was fitting a trailer fender between two steps, and I was
>>
>> going to tack the inside liner plate in place with the China box, and
>> then
>>
>> after it was locked into shape, unbolt it to finish welding in the back
>> of
>>
>> the shop with the Miller 212.
>>
>>
>>
>> I made a couple practice welds to make sure I had it right and then I
>> slid
>>
>> under the trailer.  It made an arc, and then quit feeding.  Somehow the
>> wire
>>
>> got stuck in the liner.  I had no issue taking the tip off.  It was
>> seized
>>
>> in the liner.  Cut to the chase.  I set it aside and looked on line to
>> find
>>
>> that Lincoln has a little 110V wire feed that is JUST for flux core.  No
>> gas
>>
>> at all as near as I can tell.  Since I never used gas on the portable
>> stuff
>>
>> anyway I figured why not.  Better yet it was on sale.
>>
>>
>>
>> Holy crap.  This thing welds about 100 times better that the Harbor
>> Fright
>>
>> China box and has at least ten times the duty cycle, and it was cheap.
>>
>>
>>
>> Pro Core 125.  Anything heavier than about 12ga will require multi pass
>> (I'm
>>
>> used to that), but it does it.  Holy crap.  I made about a dozen tacks on
>>
>> the bottom inside the fender to hold the back plate on.  Only 2 didn't
>> look
>>
>> good, and only one did I have to go over.  A mix of a dozen vertical and
>>
>> overhead welds from a crappy hack welder (me not the machine) and they
>> were
>>
>> 90% good and good looking.  Wow!  I took the fender off to weld some
>> beads
>>
>> on the backside and get it ready for paint.  All the welds look decent.
>> I
>>
>> only had one issue.  It was going so fast and clean that I got a little
>>
>> cocky and burned a tiny hole in to.  I was able to stack 3 little spots
>> and
>>
>> filled the hole so easily I had to stop and stick a scratch awl in it to
>>
>> make sure it had really welded up.
>>
>>
>>
>> I didn't even take that fender in the back of the shop to finish.  I just
>>
>> finished the whole thing right there with the Lincoln.
>>
>>
>>
>> This is my portable anywhere field welder from now on.  Its not something
>> I
>>
>> would want to do lot of plate welding with, but this thing will make
>> short
>>
>> work of things like gate handles for access controlled gates.
>>
>>
>>
>> Wow! What a pleasure to use.
>
> The Lincoln unit is made here in USA  they have always had an excellent
> reputation for products and you will find them and miller in most weld  /
> machine  shops  I have worked in.

Well, Made in USA doesn't mean what it used to.  It just means in many cases
the last coat of paint was applied here.  Imported as "un-finished goods,"
and final assembly done in the USA.  A very well known electrical tool
company manufactured all their tool pouches in Mexico, and then installed
the rivet at the end of the stitching in sweat shop in San Luis Arizona for
years.  They were all stamped made in USA.  I think they are all made in
China now.  Who looks at the label on a tool pouch?

I recently bought some replacement parts for my Miller 212 spool gun from
USA Weld.  They are a big importer.  They said that they had absolutely no
doubt the parts would fit, because they were made in the same factory as the
original Miller parts on the same assembly line.  :^O  (None of the MIller
Dealers I called had stock, and at the local shop I tried the guy asked me
if I could come back another day, because he didn't even know what the parts
were and couldn't order them even when I gave him the part numbers.)

The Lincoln is a good welder, but just because it says Made in USA doesn't
mean it "really" is.

Heck, I have been working on a big (big for my shop) CNC milling machine in
my spare time.  (Retrofit to modern controls.)  It was made by a US company
in 1982.  All the castings have metric bolts.  Everything else has SAE
fractional threads.  Even back then Made in USA didn't really mean Made in
USA.