What type of welder is best for a novice welder wanting to building a trailer. I'm curious what welder (brand/model) do you use in this project? I want to get a welder. My 1st project will be building a trailer. Thanks.
What type of welder is best for a novice welder wanting to building a trailer. I'm curious what welder (brand/model) do you use in this project? I want to get a welder. My 1st project will be building a trailer. Thanks.
Please do us all a favor and get some practice welding before you make a trailer and take it on the road.
Egon
Thank you for the advice Egon. I own a little lincoln handymig for many years and have welded a lot of stuff. Since it's a 110v light duty welder, I want to get a bigger one to take on the trailer project. Don't worry, I'll include a sign behind the trailer "made by stumpfield" so you'll know it's me.
stumpfield:
Opp's; foot in mouth has struck me again. Seems to be a fairly common occurence. Soon outside weather will be here and I can go outside rather than make attempts at missinformation! [img]/forums/images/icons/grin.gif[/img]
Egon [img]/forums/images/icons/grin.gif[/img]
Regardng welders and weldors... This weldor uses two arc welders. I have a 120 volt MIG which has abilitiy to use shielding gas but I just use InnerShield (flux cored wire) that is god for up to 1/4 inch on mild steel with multi-pass techniques. I also have an AC/DC stick welder for heavier stuff. Both are Lincoln brand, both were bought new, both are getting old (like me) and neither has ever had a single problem of any kind that I didn't precipitate through my stupidity. Neither has ever had any repairs and they just keep on working and seem to thrive on abuse.
If I were to build a trailer (I don't do light duty trailers) I'd use the MIG for tacking and fitting and any light duty areas of construction and get to the serious work with the stick machine.
If you buy a larger stronger MIG that woild replace the stick welder but wold probably cost considerably more than the pair like I have.
STICK TO A MAJOR NAME BRAND Lincoln, Hobart, etc. Not Harbot Freight or Home depot, JC Whitney or...
[img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img] Pat [img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img]
"I'm not from your planet, monkey boy!"
[img]/forums/images/icons/tongue.gif[/img] I'm not exactly sure how I would utilize a "little" mig welder. Multiple passes don't seem to work for me on thick material the few times I have tried it with one of the 120V "little" MIGs. Stick electrode is good for jobs where the MIG will not reach, or where the material is particularly cruddy. I don't have a DC stick machine right now, only a crank-front tombstone Lincoln, so I weld just about everything with the more robust MillerMatic 35....a 1977 model MIG which has been a superb machine once I threw the Miller gun in the trash and got a TWECO. [img]/forums/images/icons/crazy.gif[/img]
CJDave
Well, I mounted the pump temp. and hooked the jumper cables to my truck battery. It takes 27 secs to go from all the way down to all the way up. The dump angle is 50 degrees so stuff should slide out pretty well. This pic shows it in the dumped position with it sitting on it's own wheels. I worked on it 3 hrs today and have the pump permantly mounted and the rest of the cross members in. Only a few of the X-members are in on this pic, because it made it easier to mount the pump and battery box without them being in the way.
I should get 3-4 hours on it tommorow and except for the sideboards it should be nearly finished. I'll post some pics tommorow. Later, Nat
[img]/forums/images/icons/tongue.gif[/img] You will no doubt be wanting to box those two pieces of channel that the ram connects to. As you know, channel has no resistance to rotation, so the ram will wind them up once it has a big load to push against. A skip-welded piece added on is all it would take to make them a square, and a super twist-resister. [img]/forums/images/icons/tongue.gif[/img]
CJDave
CJDave, it's kind of hard to tell in the pic, but on the bottom cyl anchor the is a piece of 1" X 3" X 5" bar that is face welded to the channel seen in the pic. What isn't seen is that the 3" diminision is welded to the chanell and the 4" is welded to a tube that extends from it under the channel to the next channel abd that there are 2 pcs 3" channel that extend from it out at an angle and connect to the place where the tongue meets the front frame. I'm not worried about it twisting that channel as it's load will be straight down.
The one place I'm not positive about is the top channel. I have a simular lug face welded to the channel and a piece of 4 X 3/8 flat bar welded on top and connected to the angle in front of it. That should stop it from twisting since it will be welded to the underside of the steel floor. My thoughts are that with the combination of the channel/lug/flatbar to angle andall being held in place by being welded to the floor it should, REPEAT, should stay, but I'm thinking a couple diagonal braces from the back of the channel out to the side rails is cheap insurance. What do you think? Later, Nat
Nat, after reading CJDave's suggestions, your idea about putting the angle pieces leading from the back of the upper cylinder mount was what I thought I would do in your situation.
I would think that would stiffen up that channel nicely, and put in the rotation stop as well.
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