My shop now has a welder! Yes!

[Bored_2wd]

Alright, I only welded an inch or so last night, but who cares? I've got welding capacity now! Yes! Now it's truly a real shop.... The miller 130xp ran just fine, although I was too nervous to run more than at the lowest setting, and the weld was useless. I didn't want to make too much smoke or anything, since I'm finishing up a woodworking project and can't handle soot on the wood. Too cold to polyurathane last night, so I tested the mig instead!
If only I could get the cabinet done, I can switch over to metalworking for the winter!
--Bob

 

[88vert]

Congrats Bob sounds like a nice welder I was happy when I got my new Lincoln a couple of years back.Have you done any welding in the past?

 

[Bored_2wd]

I took a class in Oxy/Acet and another 2 in stick welding at the local junior college. That was all two or three years ago, had to stop going because the class met 4 nights a week, and you had to go 2-3 nights a week to get the work done to pass the class. With a wife, house, dog, and child, I could only give up 1 night a week. Now that I have my own, it will be great! Only problem is, I have coupons from my last stick class, and the welds look really nice. What I did last night was horrible. It'll take some time to get back with it I'm sure. Right now I'm needing to finish the china cabinet I've been working on, all that's needed is 3 coats of polyurathane and it's dining room bound. Fumes from that and an arc welder is just not a good mix!

 

[88vert]

i have been welding off and on for about 10 years.i used to be a certified pipe welder about 5 years ago then a bad flash burn ended that.Dont ever go cheap on a hood.Hope you have fun

 

[Bored_2wd]

thanks 88vert,
Did you fully recover your site? I'm curious what your impression is of the safety of the auto-dark helmets. I bought a cheap fixed lense which came with a 10 lense. I figure it's only me striking the arc, and I know when I'm gonna be squeezing the trigger. Don't those milliseconds of switching on the autodarks add up? I don't think you're protected then, right?
--Bob

 

[88vert]

I personally think the autoshades are better,becase the hood is always down,with the other kind you are always worried about where you are starting.I recovered about 95% of my sight,sometimes driving at night kills my eyes.I was in the hospital about 2 days when my eyes got burnt.You can pick up a real nice autoshade helmet for about 100