Recent content by CA_Bgrwldr

It is recommended to disconnect the battery whenever welding on a vehicle, though most I know don't. To protect the ecu, it should be disconnected from the harness. If you can remove the section needing welding, it would be a lot easier to weld it on a bench than under the vehicle.

The knob will be the wire feed speed, the Min/Max and 1/2 switches is for the Amp range. Would assume Min/1 would be for .095 and thinner, Max/2 would be for .250, if the machine can actually weld that thick. Fluxcore spatters, cheap fluxcore spatters a lot. Might try a 2lb roll of Hobart...

3/8's of an inch would be center of .75 inches.

It looks like the 185 is a 60-195Amp machine, so the 135amp range is divided into 6 settings on the upper dial, which should make #1 on the dial is 60amps, #6 195amps, and #2-5 likely 25-30amp increments. The lower dial numbers are how many inches of wire is being fed per minute. The...

Given the cost of $15-20k for a base level unit, not a Chinese knock-off, they seem a bit pricey for a hobby unit. You would probably be better off getting a multi-process welder. https://store.cyberweld.com/collections/multiprocess-welders If the sheetmetal is very thin, brazing is also an option.

As long as you grind the galvanized coating far enough back so it doesn't off gas from the heat, that would be fine. What kind of damage are you trying to fix on the boat trailer?

If you can set up something as a wind block, you could give MIG a go outside, however due to welding galvanized, I would use fluxcore, so you can use a small fan to blow/draw the fumes away.

.035 is a bit big for 1.3mm, .030 would be a better choice. With as thin of material you are dealing with, with whichever wire you go with, you will want to stitch weld the material, a continuous bead will generate too much heat

By "slasher" I believe he means a machete type of blade, like you see the bad guy use in slasher movies.

If you feel the vise isn't up to the task, I found this DYI jig online, which might be more useful. With a jig like this, you might be able to use the heat from a bead of weld on the back side of the blade to relax the bend enough to make the blade useful again.

Since you have a welder and a vice, I would weld up a jig to use in the vice. I would take some angle iron, like 8cmx8cm given the depth of the blade, and cut three 3cm sections, then cut some 1cm round stock into 3cm sections and weld it to the angle iron. Place two on one side of the vice...

Might try a welding supply store like cyberweld.com over Amazon. https://store.cyberweld.com/gosagl.html

That link is from Amazon, must not have copied it all. I just used "pilot arc plasma cutter", then selected max price. Though for a little more this one from Firepower fp-35i plasma cutter, might be a better option, it is listed on Cyberweld.com for $569 on sale...

Outside of finding a brand name used, being given away, I think your only option is to roll the dice on one of these with an extended protection plan, and keep returning them until you get one that works...

With the machine being 240 only, you can't convert it to run on 120, however, you could combine two separate 120 circuits together and create one 240 outlet with something like this...