Thermit

Hi Sam and thank you for the welcome. Unfortunately, a 110v mig welder and .025 wire will not sufficiently penetrate 3/8" mild steel, no-way, no-how. Maybe by the skin of your teeth using pre-heat first, that might marginally work at best. However, "marginally" for most people won't cut it at all. 1/4", is a better shot, but even then a 110v welder is marginal. Yes, many people make "beautiful" looking welds with a 110v mig welder. The weld can "look" beautiful on 1" steel too. The problem is that the weld bead just sits on top of the steel and never penetrates to form a strong weld. This is exactly the problem with mig welding. Beautiful looking welds that are just to cold to be strong and sound. A good analogy for a 110v mig welder on steel thicker than 3/16" is like saying a jeweler's tack hammer can make boulders into grains of sand. Sure it's possible, but its going to take forever and ever to do so. Same goes with a 110v mig welder, welding thick steel (anything over "sheet metal" thickness). Problem is, the 110v welder's duty cycle will crap out before thicker steel over 3/16-1/4" gets hot enough to take the weld bead properly.

Well, picture this..... Any amount of batteries you need for your fab shop, would take up 75% of your shop floor space, thus crowding out your tools. Second, is a pic of what your "solar" welding + battery power banks would more than likely look like. As Catain Kirk used to scream out to the engine room, "Scotty, I need more power!" Solar powered welding on a "hobbiest" scale, isn't gonna cut it.

Sorry, but his "120v" welder was probably an old Lincoln Weldpak 100 model. It's basically a toy that will make a crappy bead on maybe 1/16" steel. I cant believe his 120v welder is making any worthwhile penetrating beads. Spending $2,000 for a " junk" solar welding set-up, isn't going to cut it for anyone serious. He would be better off buying a harbor freight 80 amp stick inverter (model 91110) and plug that into his generator. Using 1/16" electrodes will give him a "fair" at best bead on sheet metal. Im afraid that the $2,000 solar welder set-up the author describes, is a joke. A standard Lincoln 140T or 140C model needs 25 amps as recommended by Lincoln Electric, in order to get MAXIMUM output potential. Pulling the full 25 amps from either of those two machines will usually cause a person using only a standard residential (garage) 20A circuit, to play "musical circuit breaker" while welding on the highest settings.

Lincoln has "wearshield ME" that I use. Once it's on, you can't drill it or grind it. It works nicely. Tell your friend that nothing is free and if he wants it done, he has to pay for it. Since you're his friend, im assuming you won't be charging him labor. I think that is a HUGE discount already! He can't expect you to fork out the cash to purchase the hard facing rods now, can he???? $92. Gets you 10lbs of 1/8" rod of Lincoln Wearshield ME. It's gonna cost your buddy about a hundred bucks to pay for the rod if you give him free labor. Here's where you can buy it: https://weldingsupply.securesites.net/cgi-bin/einstein.pl?Next::1:UNDEF:OR:ED023323

I've met Steve Bleile. He's a nice guy and a heck of a welding instructor. Really knows his stuff.

You can "home school" yourself. You can attend FREE welding courses at U of Y also. (University of YouTube). Yeah it's not formal welding instruction, but it will help dramatically with the learning curve. As far as a machine, here is just another opinion..... Buy a MIG welder. Running mig (GMAW) or flux core (FCAW) are similar but two different processes. A person can make beautiful welds with FCAW, IF they have a good machine (and they know what they're doing). Many newbie and hobbiest welders have a problem of using an inferior machine that just put out the voltage (heat) needed for good flux core weld beads. I believe that if you buy a cheapo welder, you'll have cheapo welds. I say, save some more money for another few months and read/learn more about mig welding in the mean time. Once you have enough money, buy a descent welder. Many people falsely believe that mig welding is like working a hot glue gun. Or that mig welding is "easy." I'm here to tell you that everyone I've met that says its easy, usually can't produce a weld that looks any better than fresh camel snot or rotten rope! I'm not talking about an experienced welder either. Another problem with MIG welding is that someone that doesn't have much experience one day thinks they are laying down "good looking welds." Unfortunately, the biggest problem with MIG welding for the inexperienced is that the weld "looks" great, but is cold and only a surface bead. I've only covered a small perspective of MIG welding here. When I suggested YouTube learning, you'll learn to see crappy welds where people think they know what they're doing. If you wanna see some great "how to" videos on welding, look up "weldingtipsandtricks" and "chuckE2009" on YouTube. You'll learn a lot. Again, these are just my opinions. Good luck.

Hi. Magnetic angle clamps (used to align 45 and 90degree angles) are only intended for an initial tack weld. For instance, if you're setting up a t-joint, place the magnet up for your 90degree angle. Tack the joint once on each side of the vertical piece. If you have a larger piece with multiple magnets holding up the vertical pice, more tacks may be necessary. As soon as you're done with the tacking, remove all of the magnets, because they are no longer needed to complete and weld the joint now. No magnet, no arc blow, no problem.