Gas vs. electric welding??????

[SteveL]

OK, so here's the scenario.........wife has oxygen and acetelene(sp?) tanks, just not used together. She uses her oxy tank with natural gas and the acet. by itself.

I can get a oxy/acet set up for under $200 or get a small MIG for around $500. Big difference in cost and for what I'm going to use it for, not sure if the difference is justified.

I will mainly be welding small home/shop projects with angle iron up to 1/8" thick or smaller, or sheet metal up to 16 gauge. Will probably use either less than 10 times a year.

So which should I do???? Is there a chance that I could use the wife's natural gas/oxy set up with the right rods????? The welds are not going to be holding up a lot of weight and they don't have to be the prettiest weld wither. Just want functional.

Any links out there for what can be welded/brazed with natural gas/oxy???? Thanks for the help!!!!

 

[Uncle Buck]

I am confused about the wife having oxygen and acetylene, and natural gas, but not togeather. Assuming you are speaking in terms of a regular gas cutting setup, I would think you have a bottle of oxygen, and a bottle of acetylene that have the proper threads to accept a set of regulating gages. Assuming that is the case, the next question is how proficient you are at brazing and gas welding. Almost anyone can stumble their way through torch cutting. If you are not good at gas welding and have no desire to get good, the obvious answer would be, to by the Mig outfit because it would be much more forgiving of someone with limited skills welding. I do not believe you are probably too experienced with a torch or you would already know about how versatile a gas setup is, you can weld,braze,cut,fabricate, remove a broken stud from a casting, apply heat to two parts so that they come apart and so forth. So if you are skilled with both and can only choose one, make it gas, If you have limited skills with gas and no desire to expand those skills choose the mig! Nuff said!

 

[red caddy]

Steve, O/A was the first system used in industry, and will serve you very well for your intended application. a small Victor welding/cutting set, such as the "twin jet 100" will gas weld and braze up to 1/4 in. material and give you cutting capabilities up to an inch or so depending on your skill level. The 000 or 0000 tip will make it easier to weld sheet metal and silver braze, you can even get special coated rod to gas weld aluminum. The learning curve is pretty steep on thin stuff, but practise material's are cheep.
I use O/A gas weld and TIG on chrome-molly tube for race car frames and roll bars interchangeably, depending more on accessibility and position, I find it's easier to control the heat input with O/A than TIG in certain "stand on your head and look in a mirror" welds. Other than the width of the heat affected zone, it's hard to tell the difference between the processes, just by appearance. Learn to watch the leading edge of the puddle, and the penatration and adjust your speed of travel accordingly, the skills are common to both O/a and TIG. A MIG machine will make a novice welder look good, but can hide unsound welds, TIG and O/A don't lie... RED

 

[MXtras]

O/A is versatile and for what you described, I agree with red.

The drawback to O/A is heat input and weld time. For occasional use, though, you will be fine. It may take more practice than running a MIG but everything you learn will transfer over if you ever make the leap.

Keep your eye on E-bay, too. Every once in a while, a decent little MIG will show up.

Scott

 

[SteveL]

Maybe I should have been clearer...........my wife makes jewelry and uses her natural gas/oxy set up to solder gold and silver, riticulate silver, etc. The gas is a direct feed off of the gas supply to our house and is regulated at the tip. Works just like an A/O set up but less heat. The regulators for the gas will not fit an oxy tank. (Is it possible to use this setup with a rod to do what I'm looking at, or will it just be frustrating?) I can not find anyplace that will give me the differnce in temps between gas and acetylene.

She also has a straight acetylene set up that uses the surrounding air, much like what a plumber has to sweat pipes. I used this to put in all of my copper air lines.

Also, I have not done any welding in about 30 years, but am pretty handy with stuff like this and a quick learner. I see Mig's on e-bay and at Harbor Freight that go for around $100-150 but worry that they will not do what I need or will fall apart in short order. I'm assuming that the AMP rating will determine what can be done or how easy it will be???? The cheaper units seem to have 80-100 amp ratings but they claim the you can weld up to 1/4" steel????

 

[danski0224]

With a welder, and any other piece of shop equipment, you get what you pay for.

Sometimes, you pay for what you get

 

[Uncle Buck]

Do not buy one of those cheap mig outfits, you will regret it. I bought a 90 amp years ago and had no good luck with it. I had two other guys that I knew to be good welders try the machine and neither of them could get any good out of it either. The earmark for the cheap mig welders is a rocker switch with a high and low side for heat settings instead of a dial for the heat setting. I have been told that if I put the same cheapo outfit on a bottle, that should straighten out most of my problems with this unit, but who knows. Perhaps I will try that one of these days. Rotsa Ruck!

 

[red caddy]

Steve, sounds to me like you need to invest around $500.00 in a good entry level MIG unit. Miller,Hobart and Lincoln all make good useful machines with about 150 to 175 amp output, the main drawback for you might be the required 220 VAC, although the smaller machines will run just fine on a properly sized extention cord from an electric dryer outlet.( 30 AMP) My advise is to buy a little more machine than you think you need, and grow into it. Don't waste your time and money on any of the 110 VAC machines but the top of the line name brand ones, and even then, with flux core wire, they are still marginal for your purposes, and cost nearly as much as a light duty 220 machine. Some rental centers have mid size MIG welders available, (Hobart 175's or Miller 210's) A day's rental is good insurance against buyin' the wrong machine for your needs. Might also be a good idea to check with your local welding supply outfit, for a used "trade in" machine, lots of guy's buy too small, then trade up. Don't forget to check with the local high school's and communinty college for welding programs and advise. RED

 

[motorheadjohn]

I have both a MIG and an O/A setup. I use the MIG constantly, it's so easy. If you have one, you will find more uses than you realize.

I need more practice with the O/A....

 

[TOMWELDS]

Get the MIG. You'll end up using it a lot once you see how cool it is. Those jewelers O/A rigs usually have regulators and tips that are too small for the work you want to do.

 

[imported_banzaitoyota]

I would buy a complete O/A setup. Learn to USE IT.