Nate's 2002 TJ, Not so simple anymore by gst95dsm

4 minute(s) of a 391 minute read

Got a new toy today. Now maybe I can stop being such a bolt on master. Picked up a Hobart Handler 140. Based on a zillion reviews I read the consensus was that this is a quality machine. Seems like it. My only experience MIG welding was a brief ownership of a harbor freight MIG-100 that absolutely sucked about 10 years ago. And before that I did some ARC and OXY/Acet. welding in High School. Other than that... I'm a total newb. Well I just got it home about an hour ago, got it assembled and set up (no gas yet) and just for kicks I made some sparks. I can tell it's going to be NICE when I get some practice. Even my total rookie nervous hands almost made something that looked like a weld bead. haha. Was actually quite the rush pulling that trigger for the first time.  

Nice looking machine, sucker is heavy too.....

Practice Practice...... haha.

7-30-2012

Spent the day after work gathering up the rest of my modest welding set up. Picked up a cart from Harbor Freight. I'm really trying to get away from buying junk but this little is pretty nice. Seemed NICER than the hobart cart they had for twice as much money. The only weak link I see in this cart is the casters are absolute bottom of the barrel. So they will most likely get a nice upgrade. Very simple though and should make the cart last forever. The welder fits perfect on it also, could not fit better.

I also went to the local gas place and looked into renting a bottle. Well it was around $15 a month... So 180 a year. He suggested to just "buy" a bottle, own it and just pay for refills. I decided to go this route. I guess you own your bottle, but you just simply swap it out whenever you need a refill with a like bottle. This way your also getting a bottle with a current certification and never have to worry about it. It was $180 up front for the bottle and a fill. A little more than I was expecting but at least I know the bottle is mine. It wouldn't surprise me if one fill lasted me a whole year. The bottle size I got will weld for 3 hours continuous. That's ALOT of welding I think. So GAS and cart done! Pretty much set up.

The one thing I didn't get today was some scrap to practice on. I only have this one piece of bumper I cut off a while ago. So after setting up the tank, regulator, swapping to the solid wire and just making sure everything was hooked up legit I was able to run a couple small beads. WOW at how much difference the gas makes. It's like I would NEVER not use gas unless I absolutely had to. It's so clean and so much easier to SEE the puddle and what your doing. It was very enjoyable and much calmer. If anyone has a gas capable welder but has been using flux core just because they have not wanted to bother with gas...... you're really missing out on a much more pleasant welding atmosphere IMO. I also think that welding with gas will really speed up your learning curve and make welding with flux core that much easier when you need the added strength or convenience. Just because it's much calmer, you have more visibility and there's no smoke coming up into your face.

Ok here's my set up. UHG at how much I've spent on it, but hopefully I'll have some fun with it and learn with it.  



My first beads ever using gas..... keep in mind this metal is NOT clean...

Top one was u shape motions pulling (to fast I think)
Middle was weaves pulling (to fast)
Bottom was weaves pushing (slowed down cause I've never pushed before)



I know it's nothing special..... just having fun!