welders?

[NateD4]

The most important thing in welder care is duty cycle. Don't exceed what the manufacturer recommends. As a reference pushing 180 amps while welding aluminum intake manifolds my Miller 180 can easily draw 60 amps at 240 V. For exhaust you don't need many amps, though if I was investing more then a few hundred bucks in a welder I'd buy a Miller or Hobart.

[TGP37]

My Tig welded 0.1" mild steel with fantastic penetration at 130A. 16 gauge steel did good at 90A-100A with a quick bead. 80A for slow work.

I only needed to hit 160A when welding the flange to the 0.1" steel. And that flange was 3/8" thick. I found the 3/32 Ceriated Tungsten to work great....and it avoids the radioactive thoriated tungsten. Ceriated is not as good at high Amps but anything under 150A definately isn't high amps.

For beginners, I can attest the prep work is vital. Got to have clean metal, otherwise the tip gets dirty and it's all over. Stop, pull the tip, cut some off, grind it down, grind the weld, it gets out of control fast.

[ForcedFirebird]

I weld all day wit the Miller Syncrowave 300 at 120amps D/C, and you don't need to turn up the amps to weld to a flange. Typically you want 10amps for every .010" thick, so 16ga (.065") should be welded somewhere around 60amps, only a little higher for where flanges meet. I set the machine to double the thickness (120amps for headers) and use the remote foot pedal to control heat. Usually you just need to use higher amps to get the pool started on flanges, then go back to about 1/2 pedal to push the pool.

[TGP37]

I weld all day wit the Miller Syncrowave 300 at 120amps D/C, and you don't need to turn up the amps to weld to a flange. Typically you want 10amps for every .010" thick, so 16ga (.065") should be welded somewhere around 60amps, only a little higher for where flanges meet. I set the machine to double the thickness (120amps for headers) and use the remote foot pedal to control heat. Usually you just need to use higher amps to get the pool started on flanges, then go back to about 1/2 pedal to push the pool.

I see, I was adjusting travel speed. I will try adjusting the amps instead.

One thing is sure, I got great penetration...maybe too much?

[geoffinbc]

To get a top of the line welder at a great price buy from Red-D-Arc or similar weld rental outfits. The machines are top notch and half the price and come with all the running gear. They have been used but the price goes down depending on rental time. And a lot of times places rent them for months to do certain jobs but they sit for 7 hours in an 8 hour day.