Harbor Freight products

Just went through manual for my Omni 220, and yes, Chris is correct, as it lists only mild steel, stainless, and chrome moly. I find it easier to MIG aluminum anyway than TIG. My old Hobart has reverse polarity switch and I did some TIG on aluminum with it, but I'm not so hot at it. Not steady or coordinated enough these days. Need to try out my spool gun soon just so I'm familiar with it before I use it for a real repair weld.
 
I Tig the hell out of everything except aluminum with reverse polarity DC ! Only thing a/c is good for is tig welding aluminum and some stick welding.
 
Cvans said:
AC is also good for stick welding Stainless steel. Especially out of position. Welding Stainless vertical up with DC is a real challenge.
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are you sure? I weld with stick almost exclusively uphill on everything and have no issues at all with stainless, its Nickle that gives me the greatest challenges! It melts and blobbs up way too easy.
You must be using the wrong stainless rod then for your application. Or....Or you don't have a good inverter type welder maybe? The old copper wound heavy assed beasts run too hot for vertical stainless I have found. They weld good for about 2 minutes then start getting sensitive to contact with the electrode(welding rod) .
My old Big Blue 500amp Miller diesel welder was an absolute DREAM to weld with, but it also was a special pipe fitters machine and had serious electronics to keep things perfect in all positions. When I ran my buddies old Lincoln tomb stone with dc converter it would get hot and go goofy. Same thing with my Miller Shopmaster 300 at work, gets warm and goes goofy on stainless vertical but still keeps the fire lit, you just can't be johnny I need a drink shakey! lol.
 
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Here is a couple quicky beads going vertical on stainless angle with the Vulcan set at 75 amps dc
In the pic I ran a single vertical bead with 1/8 330-16 rod and at about 1.5 " from top realized I had the wrong gloves and had to get out and reposition my hands and carried on to finish so the blooper in the bead was my bad LOL.
Then I started a second pass at bottom and as you can see the weld cools much faster than you think and causes a stringy looking weave pattern. That would need a pinch more heat to correct and blend nicer .
 

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My most favorite welding rods hands down are 6013 and 7018!
They run sooo nice and are strong!
And anyone that says a Vulcan stick machine doesn't like 6013 or 6011 is a rookie! They will push 6013 uphill like you were welding horizontal .
The Vulcan blows the Miller shopmaster away!
 
skyrydr2 said:
are you sure?
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I'm sure and I'm talking about welding around stainless pipe for Anhydrous Ammonia (R717) refrigeration systems. When welding with a mirror it proved to be a big help. Even then I had a helper on the welder turning down the amperage 5 amps at a time when he was told to.
Lincoln welding used to (maybe still does) have a publication called the Stabilizer. In it they discussed welding vertical on stainless and what the proper procedures were. At the end of the article they summed it up by saying that there was no "this is the only way" when it comes to welding stainless vertical. That it was up to each operator to choose the procedure that produced the best quality welds for him.
For me AC made it easier to control the puddle.
 
No kidding? I find AC spatters way more than inverter driven DC! Even transformer driven DC spatters more then if it were driven by an inverter machine.
Chris do you have an inverter driven welder? If not you are truly missing out on a memorable experience! They are wicked smooth and clean running for sure!
 
No inverters as my welding days are limited now. I have welded with them and yes they are smooth. The new electronics are able to do a much better job of cleaning up the power before it gets to the arc.
The only things I have now are a Miller AC-DC buzz box and a 150 Miller Mig. My son ended up with the Lincoln square wave. Also a gas torch which is what I learned to weld with back in the sixties. Still like welding with a torch when I feel like being creative. And still use a carbon arc torch also. Yes I'm older than dirt.
The AC is an intermittent arc unlike DC which is constant. That helps freeze the puddle so it doesn't run away on you. It was actually brought up in the stabilizer and so I tried it with good results. Running flat or slightly out of position I'll run DC. I also much prefer a thumb control on my Tig torch over a foot pedal. Maybe I'm the odd duck in the pond. o_O
 
Not at all Chris, as I too like to use the "UN welder" too! It does such a nice job of blowing away material that it makes life easy! It is just WICKED NOISY! And the molten metal can be an issue at times especially when it goes down your leg lol.
 
I've used the air arcs before and the molten spray can be a problem.
What I'm using is exactly like this one. Saves on the cost of refilling the gas cylinders.
 
The carbons tend to last longer using AC. These torches are good for heating metal in a lot of applications. Listening to the sound of the arc reminds me of the old WWII aircraft search lights.
The old ways tend to get forgotten but can still be useful at times.
 
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I want to heat steel instant I use high frequency generator with a plain old copper tube bent into a coil . Only industrial manufacturing would ever have something like this but boys its INSTANT! step on the pedal and walla instant red hot steel !
You sure don't want to monkey around with the innards.... 10s of 1000s of volts in there! Like static electricity.
 
ol' stonebreaker said:
A #6 would sure draw down the oxygen fast!!
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Ah just turn er down is all, if ya know how to run a torch you can easily cut with a 6 tip. I would rather have more in reserve than not enough! Especially if you might encounter extra thickness from something welded to the other side! Hardest part of teaching proper torch use is that THE TIP NEVER EVER TOUCHES THE STEEL! EVER!
 
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