Wire Feed Welder

I’ve been watching craigslist for some time now for a good deal on a MIG welder.  I finally found a light duty unit here in Allen.  I was hoping to find one with a little more capacity, but for $150, this one was an excellent deal.  It came with a nice cart and the gas regulator… ready for the MIG conversion.  Turns out the guy I bought it from is a car buff that used to build dune-buggies in Midland.


I changed the oil in quadzilla tonight and had a little time, so I decided to do a little practicing.  All I had laying around was some sheet metal.  I tried to lay some beads and I promptly burned holes.  Next I tried attaching a bolt to the sheet metal.  Then I welded a few bolts together.  It doesn’t look pretty, proof that I need lots of practice. I’m using flux core wire right now… which seems to be very messy. I’m going to try to buy a CO2/Argon bottle and some solid wire this weekend.