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Wire Welder

When we started to revamp our mad monk prop, we decided to make the legs much stronger by reinforcing them with metal.

This turned out to be our first project that involved welding.

David already had some experience with gas welding but was new to arc welding. Dennis had no experience whatsoever in welding.

Expect us to make a lot of mistakes!

Warning: We're not experts on safety, tools, or construction. We hope that what we write here will encourage you to look into safety issues and make your own good decisions.

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• Overview
• Consumables
• Accessories
• Buying A Welder
• Safety Essentials

• Related Pages

Overview

A "wire welder" is a form of electric arc welding:

• A low-voltage, high-current power supply throws an electric spark (arc) between the torch and metal that you are working on.
• The spark causes instant heating, melting of metal, and blinding light.
• The welding machine contains a spool of special "welding wire" that it feeds out of the torch. This provides metal, flux, and a continuously fresh electrical contact.

Dennis bought this wire welder at Harbor Freight Tools.

This is the front of the welder.

The top opens to load the spool of welding wire.

The grounding clamp attaches to the work, close to where you want to weld, but far enough away so it doesn't get in your way or get damaged by spattering metal.

A long cable connects the grounding clamp to the welding machine.

This is the torch head that actually does the welding.

A long cable connects the torch head to the welding machine.

The torch head does several things:

• It extrudes wire, which puts metal into the weld junction and serves as an electrode (electrical contact) that is constantly being renewed.
• It supplies the electricity that heats up the metal and makes welding possible.
• It is a convenient and safe way to hold the thing.

Pushing the red button causes the wire to be fed out.

Dennis does some welding, seen from the back where you won't get blinded by the arc.

Consumables

A wire welder contains a spool of special flux-core wire that is electrically charged and automatically pushed out of the torch.

This spool of wire came with the welder.

Replacement spools are readily available.

David loads the spool of wire into the welder.

This mechanism takes wire off of the spool and pushes it through the cable to the torch head, where it serves as an electrode and a source of metal and flux.

Accessories

If you plan to do welding, you will need a way to pefrorm certain types of preparation and clean-up. You need an Angle Grinder.

You should also have a wire brush to clean the working surface, and some wire cutters to trim the wire coming out of the torch.

Buying A Welder

On our Philosophical and Social Issues page, we discuss some issues like name-brand tools versus house-brands, and inexpensive imported tools versus high-end tools. We raise the issue and let you make your own decision. We basically consider the cheap tools to be disposable. And that's easy to do with a screwdriver or a drill bit.

But what about expensive specialized tools like air compressors and welders?

• We didn't want to get something that is so poor that we would regret the purchase.
• We didn't want to spend large amounts of money for a machine that has bells and whistles that we may never use and might make learning hard.
• We wanted a michine that would run on ordinary 110 power for convenience. (That alone means it won't be a professional model.)

We came to the conclusion that an inexpensive wire welder from Harbor Freight Tools would probably be "good enough" for the foreseeable future and "good enough" to learn on without handicapping us.

After trying it out, we believe that this model isn't "disposable". It is a very competent "starter model".

Safety Essentials

• Welding Helmet (also provides Eye Protection)
• Welding Gloves
• Spark Protection

Related Pages

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