Spot welders Whos got em? - Pirate4x4.Com : 4x4 and Off-Road Forum

MC · 08-03-2004, 06:39 AM

Guys we need 3 spot welders here and I am wondering who works with them and what theri opinions are on brands. Basically we are generating oil pans with skidplates and need deep throat spot welder attachments (which we will probly have to fabricate ourselves) Does a duty cycle even pertian to these machines? I have seen millers on sale on ebay and have seen the cheaper hobarts...Lost when it comes to spot welders

big97redtj · 08-03-2004, 07:32 AM

What thickness of metal are we talkin? Water cooled machine?

Are you after the real deal or just a small unit? You can pickup press welders very inexpensively. Look for controllers such as Entron or Dengenshua. Look for transformers such as Roman and cylinders like Milco.

Press welders go super cheap and the consumables are inexpensive.

MC · 08-03-2004, 07:43 AM

I am looking into the ability of .09 material spot welded to .1875 or even up to .3125. This really wont be a large production run maybe 300 oil pans with 16 spot welds per pan.

MattyL13 · 08-04-2004, 10:10 AM

at my shop in school we have a miller water cooled unit, its sweet but the transformer blew on it and they tell us theres no money to fix it (bullshit, cough cough). we also have a bunch of half assed broken portable spot welders. i got one to kind of work. id say for what youre doing a portable one would work fine, we jsut mounted ours in a vise with brass jaws and plugged it in so the freshman class could make their little block plane for a metal shop project. the units we were trying to make work have probably been abused since the day my school bought them back in the 1800's and the spot welds didnt hold. i ended up plug welding 60 some 14 gauge metal plates to their little block plane base, spot welder woulda been awesome.

Lord

fj40guy · 08-04-2004, 02:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MC

I am looking into the ability of .09 material spot welded to .1875 or even up to .3125. This really wont be a large production run maybe 300 oil pans with 16 spot welds per pan.

I have a Miller LMSW-52 model (220V). With the short tongs you could weld the 3/16" material (0.1875") just fine (6" tongs). Even with the longer (18" tongs) also doable.

If you go to 3/8" material, you need something bigger - most likely water cooled. For the price, I'd just drill holes and plug weld. 300 pans x 16 holes... groan, I hate stuff like that!

No timer on mine... for thin sheet metal I just toggle and count "thousand... " for the thicker stuff "thousand one, thousand two, thousand three.... " usually by the then I can see the HAZ - heat affected zone - growing.

Tom

MC · 08-04-2004, 02:38 PM

Thanks Tom and everyone who contributed, I think I will go with the miller water cooled

08-03-2004, 06:39 AM	#1 (permalink)
MC Pirate4x4 Addict! Join Date: Aug 2003 Member # 21997 Location: Insane CNC machine mfg Posts: 5,276	Spot welders Whos got em? Guys we need 3 spot welders here and I am wondering who works with them and what theri opinions are on brands. Basically we are generating oil pans with skidplates and need deep throat spot welder attachments (which we will probly have to fabricate ourselves) Does a duty cycle even pertian to these machines? I have seen millers on sale on ebay and have seen the cheaper hobarts...Lost when it comes to spot welders __________________ Industrial Quality CNC machines at a Hobby Price! USA Quality is job #1 We build CNC plasma tables, click me .................................................. ......... American Motors Engine HERE!! 1-651-257-7917

08-03-2004, 07:43 AM	#3 (permalink)
MC Pirate4x4 Addict! Join Date: Aug 2003 Member # 21997 Location: Insane CNC machine mfg Posts: 5,276	I am looking into the ability of .09 material spot welded to .1875 or even up to .3125. This really wont be a large production run maybe 300 oil pans with 16 spot welds per pan. __________________ Industrial Quality CNC machines at a Hobby Price! USA Quality is job #1 We build CNC plasma tables, click me .................................................. ......... American Motors Engine HERE!! 1-651-257-7917

08-04-2004, 10:10 AM	#4 (permalink)
MattyL13 Registered User Join Date: Jul 2004 Member # 32766 Location: Pennsyltuckey Posts: 121	at my shop in school we have a miller water cooled unit, its sweet but the transformer blew on it and they tell us theres no money to fix it (bullshit, cough cough). we also have a bunch of half assed broken portable spot welders. i got one to kind of work. id say for what youre doing a portable one would work fine, we jsut mounted ours in a vise with brass jaws and plugged it in so the freshman class could make their little block plane for a metal shop project. the units we were trying to make work have probably been abused since the day my school bought them back in the 1800's and the spot welds didnt hold. i ended up plug welding 60 some 14 gauge metal plates to their little block plane base, spot welder woulda been awesome. Lord __________________ If it aint broke fix it till it is To the pessimist, the glass is half empty, to the optimist, half full, to the engineer, the glass is twice as big as it needs to be. 00 TJ. 318, NV4500HD, 231, 44 locked on 35's. Work in progress

08-04-2004, 02:38 PM	#6 (permalink)
MC Pirate4x4 Addict! Join Date: Aug 2003 Member # 21997 Location: Insane CNC machine mfg Posts: 5,276	Thanks Tom and everyone who contributed, I think I will go with the miller water cooled __________________ Industrial Quality CNC machines at a Hobby Price! USA Quality is job #1 We build CNC plasma tables, click me .................................................. ......... American Motors Engine HERE!! 1-651-257-7917

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08-03-2004, 07:32 AM	#2 (permalink)
big97redtj Registered User Join Date: Apr 2002 Member # 11356 Posts: 644	What thickness of metal are we talkin? Water cooled machine? Are you after the real deal or just a small unit? You can pickup press welders very inexpensively. Look for controllers such as Entron or Dengenshua. Look for transformers such as Roman and cylinders like Milco. Press welders go super cheap and the consumables are inexpensive.