North American Turbocoupe Organization



Welding
Qwertys Offline
Senior Member
#11
Thanks Nitro, thats a Whole lotta info to process...
so what is the difference between a wire feed and spool gun? all i've seen at local hardware stores are wire feed.
'85 TC BPV and Ford FMIC
'88 TC Kirban AFPR, Autometer Boost, FP and A/R Gauge, 8.8 to 4.10 rear, Walboro 255lph Fuel pump, Garrett GT3071R T3/T4 Dual Ball bearing Turbo, Custom AWIC.
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Nitro_X Offline
Senior Member
#12
The wire feed mechanism consists of a hub to mount a reel of welding wire, a set of variable speed motor driven serrated or knurled wheels to pull the wire off the reel and an infeed assembly which provides for connecting the power, inert gas and liner (a flexible metal wire guide). This in turn sends the welding wire and gas through the liner up to the tip of the gun. The wire feeder may be built-in the welding power supply (as is the case with most "consumer" grade machines). With larger industrial welding machines, the power supply and wire feeder are usually seperate units. We have one large welding machine at work that has a tandem wire feeder with two guns so you can switch from 308 to 309 SS wire without having to change wire reels.

A spool gun is actually a handheld miniature wire feeder with a pistol grip, spool (wire reel) holder, drive mechanism, gas connection, controls and welding tip / shroud assembly all in one unit. What it does is provide a very short, straight path from the spool of wire to the tip of the gun (6" to 8") versus the long flexible liner (as much as 12 feet or more) of a standard MIG gun. Since aluminum wire is so soft and prone to kink, this short path makes feeding much more reliable. The downside is a spool gun is heavy (compared to a MIG gun) and cumbersome, so you have a hard time getting into really tight spots with one.

I suggest you go to a local welding supply house, have a look at some welding machines, talk to the sales guys, ask questions and pick up some literature. If you know any pro welders hit them up for info too. Do you're homework and when you finally buy a machine (no matter where you buy it), you'll be more likely to get what you really need.

What GaryS#2 stated in the previous post is right on the money. For pipe fabrication and precision welding, TIG (Tungsten Inert Gas) is an excellent choice. The smaller machines use gas cooled guns (vs. large industrial TIG set-ups that require a cooling water supply). The downside to TIG is that you have to use a separate filler rod fed in to the joint by hand. Now this sounds simple enough, but it requires a tremendous amount of skill and coordination to master the technique properly (especially on round work like pipe). IMHO, when or if you master it, TIG produces the cleanest prettiest welds of any process commonly available (laser and plasma welding are NOT commonly available). But TIG is also very slow compared to MIG. So if you're interested in throughput, MIG is probably a better choice for most automotive applications.

On the other hand, most TIG machines can be used with a standard electrode holder (since they're constant current vs. MIG which is constant voltage) to run standard flux coated rod. So from a versatility standpoint, a good TIG machine would relate more to an SUV (you can drive it to the mall in comfort or go four wheeling). I think if I were forced to make the choice of having only one machine in the shop, TIG would be the way I'd go.

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87 TC, T-5 swap, billet quadrant / adj. cable, solid state IVR, fog light relay mod, PST suspension, KYB-AGX fronts, Gas-A-Just rears, K&N cone, billet alum BCV, med. red, 90's wing, polished snowflakes and centers, 195K+ Mi's., daily driver, feeding on ricers!
87 TC, T-5 swap, billet quadrant / adj. cable, solid state IVR, fog light relay mod, PST suspension, KYB-AGX fronts, Gas-A-Just rears, K&N cone, billet alum BCV, med. red, 90's wing, polished snowflakes and centers, 195K+ Mi's., daily driver, feeding on ricers!
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Qwertys Offline
Senior Member
#13
unfortunatly the price of the TIG's i've seen are a little outa my budget. 1,500$ is quite an investment.
'85 TC BPV and Ford FMIC
'88 TC Kirban AFPR, Autometer Boost, FP and A/R Gauge, 8.8 to 4.10 rear, Walboro 255lph Fuel pump, Garrett GT3071R T3/T4 Dual Ball bearing Turbo, Custom AWIC.
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methos Offline
Senior Member
#14
fortunatally I got a job that was doing welding... there I learned to weld fast and good... when I started I was slow and just barley eeeking by... but now I'm quite adept at it... my next project is to make my oil pan for the cleveland and save me alot of $... but gotta get back to the daily grind of making parts for fold down boxes... catch you later guys...

Methos

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Jason Schaffer
88TC - 5speed, all options but leather and sunroof
Mods:
3.73 Gears and currently getting a transplant... Stay tuned for details...
AIM - Shizniblit
Jason Schaffer
88TC - 5speed, all options but leather and sunroof
Mods: 3.73 Gears
Finally getting it back together.
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crystal Offline
Member
#15
Definately take a course, there's a lot more to welding than people think.

I'm 2/3 of the way through mine (~60 hours at a vo-tech school for $300) and I love it. We've covered stick and mig, and I start TIG tonight. Also a few quick classes on Oxy/Gas welding, Air Arc Gouging and plasma cutting.

When it comes to stick welding, my teacher said if you absolutely have to store rods, put what you don't use in the oven at 350 for 30 minutes, then wrap in cardboard, followed by plastic wrap and store in air tight container near a furnace.

As recommended, the best thing you can do is talk to a guy at a welding shop and get recommendations on equipment, then either buy it new, or try and get a good used machine.

I lucked out and partially took the class since I work part time at a speed shop where I have a MIG and TIG machine available. I'm also going to learn how to do a lot of old school gas welding work there.

And just for fun, here's my welding hood that I just picked up from the pin striper last wed. http://www.ferdbird.com/weldinghood/ I love auto darkening hoods, they're so much easier!
88 TC, 63 Ranchero, most of a 48 Prefect Wink
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Pete D Offline
Administrator
#16
Nitro_X and GaryS#2 thanks for all the excellent info. Guess I need to get out my "How To" and start preping for a class.

Crystal, I chekcd at the local VoEd and a community college. Both off er classes but prices as of a year ago were $650+ per.
Nice looking helmit!
Pete Dunham


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crystal Offline
Member
#17
Wow, that's expensive, what do they cover and what's the time frame? Mine was 60 hours over 10 weeks 2x/week (with days off due to school closings, etc.) We cover a lot, but there's still plenty to learn.

I have a friend in OH that looked in to it and he said he was finding classes at $300 for a lot shorter time frame, and more specified, so you couldn't quite do the crash course take what you need attitude.

I've also lucked out and fallen in with a bunch of hot rodders (I'm talking guys that were in to it all when it started) and have them as additional teaching resources and sources of equipment.

It really is worth the classes though if you can find them, even with my resources. Some people just don't make good teachers and don't have all the info you want.
88 TC, 63 Ranchero, most of a 48 Prefect Wink
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