New to welding, Need to pick a welder

[matttc]

Hey everyone-

My whole life ive been interested in fabraction and building. Im going to a top notch engineering school for Mechanical Engineering.

Im always working on my car and because of it, im always having to pay local shops alot of money to do very basic fabraction that involves welding.

I want to be able to weld 304 stainless up to 1/8in thick. Im only able to get a welder that runs on 120V. I found a great deal on a MIG welder. It’s a firepower FP120.

http://www.arizonatools.com/tools/mig-welders/detail/FPW1444-0304/

I’m able to get it for about 200$ under retail
How would the welds be with the correct gas mix on SS? Its going to be on an exhaust manifold so would the welds be strong enough with all the heating and cooling?

Thanks guys for any input

 

[RapidResponse]

That machine looks ok. You may want to look at Miller, Lincoln and Hobart. They are well respected over there.

 

[shenion]

Have not heard anything good or bad about them. 1/8 will be just at the limit of a 120V machine.

Too bad Clarke has gone belly-up in the US. You might want to check weldingdepot.com . They have Hobart and Lincoln/Century, both respected brands and have some in the same price range.

 

[matttc]

alright, going to check the site out now
The shop I take my car to said that MIG isnt that great to do 304 stainless with. Is that true or is he just saying that so I can give hime more money to work on my car?

 

[shenion]

With standard MIG gas, it will turn black and need to be cleaned. Can also cause brittle welds. There are specialty gases for stainless (Argon/O2 or Argon/He). I do 304 with 92/8% Ar/CO2, works well enough.

I bought my CLarke though weldingdepot, great service.

BTW, Clarkes are being dumped on ebay these days. They can be had cheap. Mine worked great with no problems.

 

[matttc]

Great, something I'll look into
As far as the stainless with MIG, if the correct gas and wire is used, the welds should be good and strong? Will I be able to achieve this with a 120 amps?

 

[shenion]

My Clarke was 130A and would barely do 1/8" mild steel. I also needed to run a dedicated outlet as it draws 20 amps at 120V. I wished i got the 180EN as it was 220V and had more power.

It will be strong. Stainless is a pain on exhausts as it expands twice as much as steel. So you need to consider it in the design.

 

[matttc]

yeah right now I dont have the option of a 220v welder. The max thickness u need to weld would be slightly smaller than 1/8. My main concern is that a 120 amp output will be able to weld 304 SS strong enough with the correct gas and wire feed

 

[shenion]

The Miller MIG calculator shows 120-130A for 12ga SS (0.1"). 1/8" would be 130-140A.

 

[matttc]

Alright, thanks for all the help. I think im going to go with the firepower just because i cen get it brand new for 2/3 of the price new. Ill make sure to post up my progress and how the welder does.
Thanks again guys!

 

[shenion]

You can get along with lower power by beveling the edges and leaving a small gap. I did 1/8" with my 130 by leaving a 1/16" gap.