Why a getting welder is a level-up in life.
I can still remember many years ago how I tried to stick things together with screws, glue, this, that and the other. But deep inside my heart I knew that a welder was the answer to all my questions. Well the metal related ones at least. So through a relative I found some yard work and spent my entire summer chopping wood. After all the work was done I was left with some money, not much but hopefully enough to buy myself a welder. So I kept all that money safe until that fateful day when I found a welder in the flea market. It was an old "Schweisstechnik" AC buzzbox, so old you can't even find it on the internet. Adjustable current up to 110A at one phase and a max 180 amps with three phase power. But best of all, it was within my budget. So of course I immediately bought it and with the help of my cousin we both carried the absolute boat anchor of a welder into my dad's car.
As soon as the welder was home I started looking for bits of metal to try it out on. And after I got the hang of it I had to make something but what do I make? Well the welder is dangerously heavy, and getting it on some wheels would help out a lot. So I gathered up some pieces of tubing and clobbered up together a cart for my welder. Even to this day the welder is still on the same abomination of a welding cart.
This marked a turning point in my life, honestly. It's like I leveled up. All the things that could I now do, oh boy. My first big project was a bicycle with a soviet "druzhba-4" chainsaw engine (made in 1976) stuck to it. Dangerous? Yes. Ugly? Yes. Fun? Oh you bet. I even went to the length of checking the law and making it road legal. The police once pulled my friend over when he drove the contraption around the block and had some good laughs. One officer even said "hey is that a druzhba-4?? I recognize that!" and even took a picture. Good times.
But eventually you find out that there's so much more to an arc welder than just welding. After all it's just a power supply that's big, dumb and tons of fun. And, naturally, the next thing I played around with was melting stuff with a carbon arc, especially the different kinds of rocks I had around. It was so much fun aiming the carbon arc at a rock and seeing it melt like an ice cube. The liquid rock would then solidify into glass, some rocks would bubble when molten and then when they solidify these bubbles do too producing all kinds of cool stuff. Some rocks didn't even melt, they just burned.
Another thing you notice is when the word gets out that you got a welder, suddenly everyone has something that needs welding up. My grandpa would come weld his broken roof rack then someone else comes out of the woodwork with a broken shovel or something else.
A few years have rolled by since then and i've acquired the holy trinity of welders, that being arc, MIG and TIG. And, honestly speaking, MIG has so far been the best one out. TIG is expensive, it needs argon, if you dip the tungsten it's back to sharpening, any wind and your weld is ruined along with your tungsten. For those reasons the hobbyist just keeps his TIG welder for those "special occasion" welds and as result falls out of practice. TIG welding needs constant practice to make good welds. The advantage of TIG is control, because TIG adds heat without adding metal.
Arc welders, on the other hand, are the opposite of control. With an arc welder there's so many things happening at once. And once you start that arc the timer starts ticking, go too slow and you burn through, too fast and it doesn't fuse. All the while maintaining the arc length, which is constantly changing because the electrode is getting shorter. Amps too low? Enjoy the slag in every hard to reach spot ever.
MIG welders, in my opinion, are like glue guns but for metal. You pull the trigger and it shoots metal wherever you point it. Welding with regular CO2 is perfectly fine and it's cheap. If there's wind blowing you just turn up the gas flow. Settings are easy to understand and you can get started right away. When I got my MIG welder I immediately welded up a new welding cart and it came out amazing. With a little twiddling of the settings and practice you can make really nice looking welds.
In conclusion. If you're shopping for a welder and have the money then MIG is, in my opinion, the most practical option. I've welded so many things with my MIG welder that I wouldn't feel comfortable welding with my buzzbox and where TIG would have been a hassle. And i've used my MIG welder for everything from construction to car body panels. But if you're on a super tight budget then a stick/arc welder is also good. Even the bottom of the barrel buzzboxes are better than nothing, believe me. Something like TIG just doesn't work for your average hobbyist. When buying a TIG welder you do it because know you need it, not because you want it. Stuff like aluminum and stainless can be done with MIG and stick, but are most often welded with TIG. A one time job won't justify a TIG welder although there's always the option of offering your services to other people to make that welder earn its stay. But that applies to every welder.
And that's it for now, thanks for reading.
As soon as the welder was home I started looking for bits of metal to try it out on. And after I got the hang of it I had to make something but what do I make? Well the welder is dangerously heavy, and getting it on some wheels would help out a lot. So I gathered up some pieces of tubing and clobbered up together a cart for my welder. Even to this day the welder is still on the same abomination of a welding cart.
This marked a turning point in my life, honestly. It's like I leveled up. All the things that could I now do, oh boy. My first big project was a bicycle with a soviet "druzhba-4" chainsaw engine (made in 1976) stuck to it. Dangerous? Yes. Ugly? Yes. Fun? Oh you bet. I even went to the length of checking the law and making it road legal. The police once pulled my friend over when he drove the contraption around the block and had some good laughs. One officer even said "hey is that a druzhba-4?? I recognize that!" and even took a picture. Good times.
But eventually you find out that there's so much more to an arc welder than just welding. After all it's just a power supply that's big, dumb and tons of fun. And, naturally, the next thing I played around with was melting stuff with a carbon arc, especially the different kinds of rocks I had around. It was so much fun aiming the carbon arc at a rock and seeing it melt like an ice cube. The liquid rock would then solidify into glass, some rocks would bubble when molten and then when they solidify these bubbles do too producing all kinds of cool stuff. Some rocks didn't even melt, they just burned.
Another thing you notice is when the word gets out that you got a welder, suddenly everyone has something that needs welding up. My grandpa would come weld his broken roof rack then someone else comes out of the woodwork with a broken shovel or something else.
A few years have rolled by since then and i've acquired the holy trinity of welders, that being arc, MIG and TIG. And, honestly speaking, MIG has so far been the best one out. TIG is expensive, it needs argon, if you dip the tungsten it's back to sharpening, any wind and your weld is ruined along with your tungsten. For those reasons the hobbyist just keeps his TIG welder for those "special occasion" welds and as result falls out of practice. TIG welding needs constant practice to make good welds. The advantage of TIG is control, because TIG adds heat without adding metal.
Arc welders, on the other hand, are the opposite of control. With an arc welder there's so many things happening at once. And once you start that arc the timer starts ticking, go too slow and you burn through, too fast and it doesn't fuse. All the while maintaining the arc length, which is constantly changing because the electrode is getting shorter. Amps too low? Enjoy the slag in every hard to reach spot ever.
MIG welders, in my opinion, are like glue guns but for metal. You pull the trigger and it shoots metal wherever you point it. Welding with regular CO2 is perfectly fine and it's cheap. If there's wind blowing you just turn up the gas flow. Settings are easy to understand and you can get started right away. When I got my MIG welder I immediately welded up a new welding cart and it came out amazing. With a little twiddling of the settings and practice you can make really nice looking welds.
In conclusion. If you're shopping for a welder and have the money then MIG is, in my opinion, the most practical option. I've welded so many things with my MIG welder that I wouldn't feel comfortable welding with my buzzbox and where TIG would have been a hassle. And i've used my MIG welder for everything from construction to car body panels. But if you're on a super tight budget then a stick/arc welder is also good. Even the bottom of the barrel buzzboxes are better than nothing, believe me. Something like TIG just doesn't work for your average hobbyist. When buying a TIG welder you do it because know you need it, not because you want it. Stuff like aluminum and stainless can be done with MIG and stick, but are most often welded with TIG. A one time job won't justify a TIG welder although there's always the option of offering your services to other people to make that welder earn its stay. But that applies to every welder.
And that's it for now, thanks for reading.
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