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Any info on Mon-Arc welders, and any tips on arc welding

acarmody

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I just bought myself a second-hand (very old) arc welder off an Uncle, its brand it Mon-Arc, and its a 130amp model, still goes from what hes told me, and I was wondering if anyone has any experience in the brand. This is the same uncle who sold me an Ingersol-Rand 14cfm compressor for $500, and hes an ex-mechanic (retired a long time ago), so I suspect the welder can't be too bad. Also came with a fixed tinted helmet/mask. I figured $85 on this unit has to be better than $100 on a Bunnings special.

Also has anyone go some tips on arc welding? I will be practicing on some metal plates until I get some decent looking beads, than I will practice joining stuff. Dad wants to build a trailer one day, so I need some decent practice.

Also any good brands for the electrodes? I just got a pack of Weldmate (?) or something electrodes but I want to know if there are any better brands out there.

And one last thing, I have some welding gloves, the helmet, and will get some arm sleeves so I don't sunburn my arm, and hopefully I can get something to protect my shoes (I hear slagin the shoes can burn a little bit :p), but is there anything else I need.

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IBLOWN

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Depending on what you want to weld theres a real art to it but for general purpose MMA welding its not real hard.

As a matter of fact i saw some really good tutorials on Youtube. Its a bit hard to learn on a forum lol.
 

DANNY8

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I'm not a heaps good welder or anything, but with an ARC one thing I've noticed is ya don't drag the stick down, ya let it burn down, and just move ya hand lower as the stick shortened, and move from side to side pretty slowly....hard to explain and I prolly shouldn't even try explaining it incase I steer ya in the wrong direction lol.

Older stuff generally is better when it comes to those sorts of things. Was made in the day when stuff was built to last.

Here's the last thing I made, front bar for my Triton. Started off with the mig but ran out of wire, so moved onto the arc, then coz I'm a lazy bugger and still didn't finish it, a month l8r we got more wire and also put the welder on gas so finished it off.

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Pub247

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thats a good old arc welder "as they say they dont make them like they use to" that thing should last for years to come they have one massive coil in them.

As for electrodes theyre specific ones for specific purposes. If your not doing anything fancy stick to general purpose.

Tips electrode angle is very important around 70 degrees is what your aiming for. As Danny said you want to keep electrode about 3-10mm of job depending on electrodes and what your doing. Weaving isnt always needed 90% you dont need if your amps is right and electrode size. With that machine 2.4 is probably the max size to use. On the packet it should tell you an amp range for each welding position of the electrodes.. You know your doing well if slag comes off easy and evenly.

As for other things get an auto-darkening helmet makes things easier. Get a slag hammer to chip off slag and you can buy gloves that come up past elbow if you wish
 

Smitty

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arc is easy if....
you get an auto dark tint helmet.. they are not expensive
and
you swing the electrode in an arc to start (backhand or forehand up to you)
and
you practice !

try with 2.5mm electrodes with scrap steel and see how they go
you could move up to 3.0mm on thicker stuff with 130AMP but try the
smaller one first ( I assume the welder is not adjustable)

beware with thin walled stuff..tube etc you can blow a hole in it when you start
but you know you are getting the hang of it...when you can fill in the hole you just blew!
 

somefool

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practise practise practise. when i first started it was as though i blew my nose all over the workpiece. At the end of the year i finished year 12 with dux in metalwork. Just also make sure your welding rods never get wet or exposed to moisture.
 

acarmody

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Yeah I checked out some youtube videos, and read a few beginners articles.

Cheers for the confidence booster Ari. :p

Cheers for the advice Pub247. Yeah my uncle being a retired mechanic wasn't in the business of buying cheap ****. When you say 70 degree angle, you mean from horizontal right, so the electrode is 20 degrees from straight up?

I bought some 2.5mm Weldcorp electrodes from Bunnings, and the packet doesn't say ****, but the Murex electrodes that my Uncle gave me (which I won't use because they are as old as the hills) say 2.5mm is 55-80amps.

Also I got a Nuweld auto helmet from RSEA for $50 on special, so if you don't hear from me again than I am officially blind and can't see my keyboard. Also I have some welders gloves, and a slag hammer.
 

acarmody

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Cheers Smitty, my dad got some scrap steel to practice on, I will go crazy on it on the weekend.

And I'm not sure what you mean by adjustable. The welder has the rod on the top to change the amperage, and it has two terminals for the welding lead for a lower amperage setting and a higher amperage. Left goes up to 100amps and right goes up to 130amps.
 

Pub247

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Smitty saying you can use a 3.2mm electrode on 130 amps.

With arc you want your shade on your mask to be 10-13 or as dark as possible.

Your angle is 70 degrees up so 20 short of 90 degrees.

electrodes quality do get better personally midrange electrodes i go cigweld common most welding joints stock them and theyre good quality for what you pay.

Yeah forgot about the moisture thing best to bake them in an oven before use to dry them out. If they get wet or moisture putting them in oven will bring them back
 
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