I have been on the teaching side. So well done. Concise to the point, didn’t bore. As a retired Ironworker I think this is precisely what most people are looking for.
Newb here. Bought myself a older Lincoln 180 and can't wait to molt my hibernation blubber and give it a go. Winter is too long in Canada but gives me time to educate myself and make plans. Been watching a ton of videos and have to say yours are fantastic (I dare say the best one I've seen so far)! Despite it's bad rap, I'm going to do flux core and it will likely meet my needs for the things I want to do and where. Having had a long career fabricating plexi cases where I flame the edges and also plastic welding hdpe tanks, I can really appreciate the detail you went into about the angles, speeds, settings, etc because they all apply for what I do too. Definitely an excellent video and great resource I will refer to. Bonus tip to other Newbs while practising: bang around a bit when you're in the garage, drop a thing or two, swear occasionally. This way the wife doesn't know how much fun you're having. Thank you kind sir for posting.
You’re welcome. Flux core has a bad rap mostly because of poor quality welders and inexperienced people. If you pick a decent wire (since you have a good welder) you will be able to make excellent welds. If you master running simple beads with flux core, that is equal in width/height and consistent start to finish, you will be able to take that knowledge and apply it to other processes. So much of welding is just moving smooth/consistent/at the right speed, which is a skill that can be built up with any welding process. By seeking information and combining that with practice, you will gain skills really fast. Just make sure to not give up when you get frustrated and you will be doing real well 😀
Thank you. As a beginner do you think it's best to master one technique ie stacking dimes, sawtooth, etc or to practise varying techniques until you get good at all (but takes longer)? Is that answer dependent on the type of welding you would primarily do? eg. vertical instead of flat? Which technique is the most versatile? If you could only do one technique which would you choose?
Excellent teaching! Dad was a self-taught welder . Didn't teach me because he did not want me to be a welder, I just turned 73 and love learning to weld watching your you tube. (hobby only) Love it!!!
Glad you enjoyed the videos and you picked up welding. No matter the age or skill level being able to join two pieces of metal opens doors that few other hobbies/skills do. 😀👍
This series are some of the most concise videos on weld characteristics and what we should be looking for. I have learned quite a bit as a new weekend welder and appreciate your time and patience putting them together - Thank You!
Thanks for the kind words. I am glad it helped you out, that’s why I wanted to make the videos. As long as you practice a bunch you will be surprised at what you can do with simple flux core. The initial learning curve is a bit steep but after that it’s not hard at all. I will be revisiting some flux core with vertical up and overhead welding once I am done with my stick welding videos (probably about 3 weeks). 😀
I purchased this welder (Titanium 125) to learn welding, got it on sale a year ago for 140. I watched both of your videos and learned a lot. Very common sense and to the point.
Thanks for the kind comment. The titanium 125 is a great welder, and is a great place to start learning. The funny thing is even if you “upgrade” to a more powerful welder, or one that can do gas shielded MiG, it still pays to keep the titanium 125 around. It’s simply too useful.
Hi again Greg - a safety bulletin for the benefit of fellow metalwork newbies. Earlier I was cleaning up a load of steel prior to welding it, using a brand new (cheap) flap wheel. The bloody thing exploded. Don't know why because I wasn't abusing it, I was just cleaning off mill scale with the wheel tilted maybe 10 degrees. Anyway it dug some deep gouges into the safety guard before some of the bits flew about 10 feet away from me towards my work bench and one piece carved a chunk out of the wood. I was wearing safety glasses and when cutting I also wear a spare cheap welding helmet just in case - for those thinking that these disks can't delaminate and disintegrate I can assure you that they can. The expression is "I nearly shat myself!".
Glad to hear you made it out ok 👍. I have never seen a flap disc explode, but I am sure it could happen. Walter abrasives recalled a ton of their flap discs due to a failure in the glue that held the paper in place. If you ground on a hot weld or used the disc hard enough the glue would heat up and fail, causing the disc to blow apart. High RPM grinders would easily throw parts of it around dangerously. The guards do work, I run them on every grinder I own besides my slow speed Milwaukee.
@@makingmistakeswithgreg Another learning experience - don't buy cheap disks, like I did. I bought 2 at a local store for about $2, one was ok but the 2nd broke - I've just checked and neither has a date, or anything, embossed in the metal part, and the cut-off disks (all a 'reputable' Chinese brand) I bought in the city last week expired in 2022. I've never checked before but I certainly will in future!
Lol. You underestimated the titanium 125. I welded a new trailer hitch on a friends heavy duty trailer with mine and surprisingly I could only run it at about half the settings without taking a chance of blow through. These damn things have lots of power with a highly consistent arc. One guy did an amp meter test in his review of these and got a maximum 140 amp reading. Good video man.
I have a video I just shot with it welding 1/4in material and I did a cut and etch. It has no issue with penetration, however it did have some porosity. I am going to do another run on 1/4 with a different wire and I will see if it’s better. For the money it’s a very good welder. Thanks for the kind word too 👍
Wow , I am very new to welding and just researching good tutorial videos and I have to say there is so much knowledge and amazing explanation in this video. Thank you so much ! I have project I would love to complete this fall It’s military trailer which I will be turning in to overlanding camping trailer and want to fabricate frame to hold Roof Top Tent it will be total of 600 lbs weight. I wanted to use 2x2” square tubing and 1/8” thickness. Would you recommend to go thicker or 2x2 1/8” would work ? Thanks you again for your time
Awesome and congrats. Just expect to fail a bunch at first but you will improve. Try to be as smooth and consistent with your movements as possible. Also, don’t get discouraged if you get frustrated, that’s part of the learning curve. Stick with it and you’ll be building stuff in no time. 😀
Yes, you do like to talk and thank you for that! I find it very easy to listen to you talk about this subject, and I'm glad I found this video on the first day of researching about welding. I thoroughly enjoyed your delivery about these basics of welding. I've been quite unsure about learning to weld, but I am now SUPER excited to give it a try. Thanks!
Thanks for the kind words. I am glad you are excited, it is a fun skill to learn, and very useful. The best advice I can give to you is expect to fail a bunch, and get discouraged a time or two. Just focus on what you can do better and try to change minor things every weld. After a short period of time the worst you will do will be better than your best you can do at the start. A bit more time and the worst you will do is almost perfect. Don’t give up, practice a lot, and it won’t be long before you can actually build stuff which is the best part. Also, I may make certain things look easy. I have more experience though. So don’t compare your work to mine, compare your work to where you were last week. You will progress 😀
Glad to hear 😀. It’s crazy how much a few tweaks will improve things. Dialing in things 100% takes a lot of work, but luckily you don’t need to be 100% to make really good functional welds.
I've done tons of stick but this is my first at flux. All the mistakes you showed I make lol thank you for saving me tons of time figuring this out. now it's off to practice.
Glad to help you out 😀. If you have experience with stick you will find flux core like easy stick welding. Don’t be surprised if you see porosity that you never see with stick. That stick out of the wire is hugely critical and needs to be maintained properly. That is a bit of adjustment over stick but I find the process overall pretty easy. You will find yourself using it a lot for thinner jobs and repairing stuff in odd positions. You can run flux core uphill way easier than stick, especially on 1/8th or thinner material. Anyway welcome and keep practicing 😀🔥
Glad to help you out 😀. If you have experience with stick you will find flux core like easy stick welding. Don’t be surprised if you see porosity that you never see with stick. That stick out of the wire is hugely critical and needs to be maintained properly. That is a bit of adjustment over stick but I find the process overall pretty easy. You will find yourself using it a lot for thinner jobs and repairing stuff in odd positions. You can run flux core uphill way easier than stick, especially on 1/8th or thinner material. Anyway welcome and keep practicing 😀🔥
Glad to help you out 😀. If you have experience with stick you will find flux core like easy stick welding. Don’t be surprised if you see porosity that you never see with stick. That stick out of the wire is hugely critical and needs to be maintained properly. That is a bit of adjustment over stick but I find the process overall pretty easy. You will find yourself using it a lot for thinner jobs and repairing stuff in odd positions. You can run flux core uphill way easier than stick, especially on 1/8th or thinner material. Anyway welcome and keep practicing 😀🔥
I'm JUST beginning to weld and picked up this welder. Your tips are seriously GREAT to know and have under my belt before I really start my practicing. Thanks for sharing and setting us newbies up for success!
No problem 😀. Expect to fail a lot and get frustrated at the start. Treat learning welding like learning to write. Repetitions and practice will iron out everything. Try to focus on consistency as much as possible. Move consistently, and try to be as smooth as possible 😀
I'm the Same boat just got a gasless mig and a stick welder but as I progress I'll move to gas and better welder as the ones I got are about $300ish for both
@@makingmistakeswithgreg Your tip on changing wire saved me. I laid my first weld that wasn't pure spatter. Turns out the wire I was using was garbage. I was very frustrated, but when I changed the wire, I was immediately met with a bead I could see and follow! Thanks for helping me learn a skill I've wanted to know for decades!
It has been several years since I took a welding class. I just got a cheap flux welder and your videos provide an excellent refresher. Time to practice before I tackle a pretty simple project that motivated me to get a welder.
Glad to hear that. Flux core wire is a great process for small projects. Make sure to practice a bunch and get a good wire to make welds that need the most strength. I find Lincoln’s nr211, Hobarts fab shield 21b, or is forges t11 wire to make real clean/solid welds. No need to spend the extra on those wires for practice or simple jobs 😀
Just got this exact machine today. Never welded anything before. Exactly the information I needed. Many thanks for the effort of putting this together.
No problem 😀. Big thing is practice and expect to suck at welding for a bit. If I can do it you can as well. Within a couple spools of wire things will start to come together, and you’ll be able to make some cool stuff/fix things. Welcome to the start of your welding journey 😃
Great video. I have been having so much trouble with my flux core welding and you have just taught me why :) So, like you said, I will be off to my workshop to practice and I will probably be taking a look back at this tutorial from time to time. Thanks again.
I am glad you learned a few things, it’s very easy to have bad results with flux core. Once you dial it in and run consistently decent welds it will open up a whole new door for you 👍
Thanks for putting all this together. Really like the way you explain the whole procedure. You are a great addition to the school of you tube. Thankyou.
Thanks for the kind words 😀. Flux core is a lot easier when you know the details that matter, especially stickout distance. A few small things being off makes it hard not to have terrible welds, which is why a lot of people write off flux core welding altogether. Luckily it is a affordable process that can really help people make some cool stuff once you know what you’re doing 😀
Exactly the series I was looking for. I know there is one of these under the tree right now. Thanks for putting this together. Blessings to you and your family.
Glad the videos helped you. I have 3 more videos welding with it that will be out in the next two weeks. I want to see people putting down good welds with the machine, for the money it’s probably the most useful tool a person can have. Have a great holiday season too, fellow Wisconsinite 😀
The reason why it has a bad reputation is that it’s mostly used, on TH-cam, by new welders, using very cheap machines, with cheap wire, with no knowledge on how to use it, often learned from guys on channels who themselves don’t really know how to weld (we don’t read no manuals!). It’s thought of as a beginners method. What people don’t seem to know is that heavy fluxcore is used for large structural work.
It definitely is. With a quality wire and a machine with adjustments, flux core can make really good welds. It’s too bad a lot of people wrote it off as a “joke process” when it really has a lot of practical uses at the hobby level (and structural work with a more powerful welder).
Holy smoke....you are awesome....your teaching style is so smooth and precise...yea...I don't know if you teach or not...but you would be one heck of a teacher....I have my eye set on the titanium 170 mig welder and waiting for HF to do some special Xmas sale...I started with the HF 90 amp welder and what a disappointment that was...I finally gave that unit a toss in the trash... Anyway...thanks for all the video series...and yep...I subscribed..👍
Thanks for the kind words and the comment. Luckily youtube allows me to be a teacher and have my “lessons” reach people all over the world, which is ultimately one of the reasons I recently started the channel. I am involved in a lot of stuff far beyond welding (it’s a small part of what I do) so I will have a ton of interesting content in the future. As far as welders go the 170 seems to be pretty good. I have used the titanium 200 (works real good) and I will be buying the 140 and doing videos on how to mig weld with that coming up. The difference in weld quality with a proper dc output wire welder and the cheaper AC output Chicago electric welders is huge. Not to mention using quality wire vs harbor freights makes a significant reduction in spatter.
Real time welding speed is actually slower than many would think, the trick is to run settings low enough that you don’t burn a hole through while moving slow. The thinner the material is the harder it is to do that, so travel speed must increase to a certain extent depending on thickness and joint. The key is moving slow enough that material is fusing together.
Great video, I have struggled with fluxcore for years and thought it was just how it was.I am looking forward to giving it another go asap,have just started Tig welding after 40+years of mostly stick and just need more time to practice 👍😉😎
Thanks, glad you liked it 😀. Flux core wire is very useful, so is tig. Tig has a steep learning curve at the start but becomes easier once you train your hands how to move. Flux core wire is actually super easy to learn because it’s far easier to weld out of position and poor fitups than gas shielded mig. Good luck on your skill development journey 😀
I just picked up Titanium 125 from Harbor, trying to learn how to weld so I can do small jobs on my rig. Im a complete noob but thank you for the video it is very helpful to people like me I learned alot but still need alot of practice.
It takes a ton of practice to get good, I won’t sugar coat it lol. You also have to do a lot of repetitive things that are fun, like run beads on a plate, which is boring. Think of it like learning to write, it’s a lot of repetition and it sucks. Once you learn to write can take it with you everywhere and it’s extremely useful, just like welding. If you focus on trying to be as smooth and consistent as possible you will progress fast, especially because you are seeking knowledge on how to do it. Knowledge will shorten the time it takes to get good by a lot.
Wow I learned a lot been thinking about buying a welding machine for around the house hobbies and you told enough to help me make my decision. Thank you
No problem. You won’t regret buying one of the titanium 125s. As long as you follow what I say in the video series and practice a bunch, you will be able to do a ton with it. Probably the most useful 130$ tool you can buy honestly.
First, I don't know of a machine that welds HF flux core wire well. I also wanted to thank you for explaining what a good voltage and wfs should sound like on flux core. I picked up a newer to the market "Warcking" 150 multi process, multi voltage machine, and I love flux core welding in and out of my garage shop. I'm still on the .035 wire that came with the machine, and so far, it has worked well above its price. I like to run a "C" style weld on my fillet welds, but you showed how a steady stringer can really do the job, so thanks for the lesson.
I am glad you got some useful info out of the video 😀. You can do the C style and be ok, the main benefit to that is it keeps the wire eating away at new metal. When you do stringers like I generally do there is a fine line with how much metal you can put down before you will either lose penetration or start to get porosity. The big thing with flux core is you want to get that weld to flow out/penetration and minimize porosity. The E Or C motions in my testing can give good penetration and help keep porosity to a minimum.
I just recently found your channel and I have to say I really enjoy your videos. I have this same welder and I am trying to learn to weld, kind of getting into the game a little late, I'm in my 60's but better late than never right! You are clear and concise with no BS...I really really like that. Yes you do like to talk but you are giving out valuable info and not just talking to be talking. Well done sir, I appreciate your time and willingness to share your knowledge.
No problem and welcome to the channel. Surprisingly enough the titanium 125 is a great wire welder and is totally capable of welding anything between auto body and 3/16th thick material (1/4 if you push it). The video series I made will really help you understand what you need to do, and get you up to speed. The most important things when learning to weld is to accept the fact you will fail for a while before you get the hang of it, that you need to practice a bunch to get good, and that before you know it you will be putting down good welds 😀. With flux core in particular you need to maintain a drag angle, 5/8th or so stickout from contact tip to molten puddle, and you need to move forward slowly/smoothly. It won’t take long for you to start building stuff 😀
No problem and welcome to the channel. Surprisingly enough the titanium 125 is a great wire welder and is totally capable of welding anything between auto body and 3/16th thick material (1/4 if you push it). The video series I made will really help you understand what you need to do, and get you up to speed. The most important things when learning to weld is to accept the fact you will fail for a while before you get the hang of it, that you need to practice a bunch to get good, and that before you know it you will be putting down good welds 😀. With flux core in particular you need to maintain a drag angle, 5/8th or so stickout from contact tip to molten puddle, and you need to move forward slowly/smoothly. It won’t take long for you to start building stuff 😀
Wow...I listened to you for 43 minutes and time went quickly...I must really like welding. I still have not done my first mig weld. Tutorials like yours are prepping and motivating me. Many thanks for posting. I had to laugh that you had to try VERY hard to do a bad weld...I will have no such problem...for now.😐👍
Thanks for the kind words 😀. When you get to a certain point it is hard to put down a bad weld (I still do from time to time lol). Think about it like signing your name, at some point you can get it pretty much perfect every time. Welding also has a lot in common with golf in the sense it’s a stupidly simple concept but in practice it’s deceptively difficult lol. As long as you keep your contact tip to work distance consistent, your travel speed smooth and consistent, and your settings are high enough that a puddle is established that you slowly drag along, you will be good. It just takes some practice and not giving up. You can do it 😀
Its no problem 😀. Thanks for taking the time learning how to better your skills. I am just happy to be able to give some advice people can use to become better at something 😀.
I'll probably buy the HB titanium flux 125. Then self-teach (really videos like yours) welding. Eventually, projects planned are lightweight brackets, metal connectors on a bike, and maybe some vehicle body repair. Your video is a great help to me.
Hello from Northern Ireland, thanks a lot for this series on flux core. I have a cheap dedicated flux core welder that I recently bought from Static Arc in the UK. I have learned a lot from your videos and now know what indicators to look for when practicing. I have saw an improvement already, Cheers!
Glad to hear your improving and thanks for the comment. It’s amazing how a few small changes make a huge difference. I will be diving back in to flux core next week with atleast 3-4 more videos with arc shots and everything. It should help you progress more steps forward 😀
I have this same welder from Harbor Freight, my first experience with an. Invert welder, I'm really impressed on how well it welds, nicer looking and smoother. Great Video
I bought one of the titanium 125s back when they first came out. I was surprised at how well it welded and how useful it is. I am glad harbor freight marketed it because it gives the average person a ton of capability for very little money. Their titanium stick machine is also really good too.
Greg, after 40 years I finally found out that my old Century built Powermate Quick Fix was junk. 🤣😂 I got the gas conversion and only used it on sheet metal. It was the best mig that I could afford at the time. Fast forward to today and I'm going to get a new welder in the next few weeks. I've settled on a Hobart Handler 210 MVP. I believe that it will do everything that I will need. I'll be working on some sheet metal on my "63" Falcon. I would really love to have a Miller but unfortunately that's out of my price range. But that being said, Hobart is made by Miller. Anyway, what I wanted to say is that I learn something from every video that you make. Again, thank you and God bless.
Thanks for the kind comments. The 210 mvp is good from what I have heard. Hobart is owned by miller, and the build quality and parts generally reflect that. Millers prices on a lot of machines are sky high (and unreasonable in some respects, like there 140amp MiG welder at over 1k). The difference a good MiG welder can make is huge on the low end. Welding sheet metal and thin material tends to be far easier with .025 wire and a quality welder with good low end capability. I will be dabbing into MiG shortly, I just need to finish up stick welding videos. 😀
@@makingmistakeswithgreg I'm currently on Part 4 of the video on the Titanium 125. I'm retired and the weather outside is kinda bad and so I'm making a marathon of your videos. It's great having the time to be able to watch them.
Picked up mine for $140 when it was on sale. Pretty nice little flux core welder. I definitely have an addiction problem for welders. Don’t care if they are cheap cause I have 3 of the green harbor freight welders and one AHP I use for TIG. It’s handy to have a machine for each specific process so I don’t have to keep changing settings and electrodes etc… I really appreciate all your videos, very helpful with all your advice.
Glad the videos have helped you 😀. There is nothing wrong with multiple welders, that’s what I prefer too. I have owned two different all in ones (esab rebel 205 and everlast 275) and they worked, but I much prefer stand alone machines. That way the machine can be set the way I want and I use it for that. Not to mention the reliability issue, you never know when one tool may have a issue/fail. I always have a backup, I’ve been burned too many times lol.
I appreciate all your knowledge. Still working on sorting out voltage, feed speed, and all the different pieces that works together and how to identify which is off. Might have to watch your video again. Great stuff
Thanks for the kind words 😀. I made a video on what I call heat metal ratio, it can be found here: th-cam.com/video/rml5SZBy_f0/w-d-xo.html . That video should help you a lot. Don’t feel bad if you find voltage and wire feed confusing. In simple terms voltage dictates the width of the weld and how flat it is. Wire feed dictates how much metal you deposit. When you have thicker metal you need bigger welds than thin metal, therefore you need more wire feed. Everything must be in harmony though, if you have high wire feed and low voltage your weld will just be a bead of caulk on plate. If you have high voltage and low wire feed the wire may burn back all the way to the tip. By keeping the ratios close everything will work properly.
I recently picked up a welder after 30 years. I'm trying to weld 14 gauge square tubing that's rusted and pitted. I think what you are trying to show people when it's done wrong is what mine looks like 😖. This was very informative and I'm probably be checking back with this video time and time again as I try to get my bearings with this titanium 140 harbor freight welder. Having a real bad problem blowing holes through. When I'm not doing that it's not getting penetration
Flux core tends to have a bit more penetration than short circuit mig, so no doubt it can be a bit challenging to weld thin material. Here are some tips to help out getting the best results. Make sure you are using .030 wire. Make sure the gaps are minimal/fitup is tight. If you tend to blow holes soon after starting try to lower the wire feed a pinch. If it still blows holes run little 1/4inch welds then stop right before it melts through. Ideally you would run a complete weld start to finish, but sometimes it’s very difficult to do. Doing short welds will be weaker, but on thin material it probably won’t matter. Find a setting that works to run a simple bead on the material that looks decent and doesn’t blow holes. That should be a bit on the cold side for an actual weld between two pieces but if there is a gap it should buy you some time before a hole shows up. Beyond that it comes down to a bit of practice. The thinner material the harder it is without a doubt.
great video! I am planning on buying my first welding machine and I am considering going the flux core route. never welded in my life, but always wanted to. you explaining things really well make me feel like I maybe could do it too! :D
You can do it 😀. Just expect to fail a bunch and get frustrated at first. Flux core is a great place to start, it’s affordable, useful, and fairly easy to do. It has some limitations but for what the titanium 125 welder sells for new, it’s about the most useful tool you can buy for the money. It opens up a ton of capability.
It definitely is 😃. One of these days I need to try the stainless flux core wire and see how that is. I have never ran it and it could be pretty useful if it works decently.
Awesome video. Answered all my questions by example. That's the best way for me at least to learn. I think I'll go out and buy one of these machines tomorrow!
You won’t regret it, they can help you build a lot. Just take the time to practice to get it dialed in. Your first welds won’t be the best but it won’t take long to get much better. On a interesting note Lincoln electric is actually going to be releasing the welder under their own name shortly lol. They will have it as both flux core only and mig/flux (aka gas capability). No idea on pricing but obviously more than harbor freight lol.
Excellent video with great information; it is a really useful resource to watch before each practice session too. Thank you for taking the time and effort to help us novices.
I am glad you are learning stuff and find the information useful. I want to see people struggling less and building stuff more. Keep with it and practice as much as you can, if you can master flux core wire everything else will become easier. Especially Mig 😀
No problem. I do believe the titanium 125 is 100% worth the money. It’s capable of doing nice welds on a lot of projects, is easy it work with, and has proven to be durable. The fact it’s really affordable is the icing on the cake.
@makingmistakeswithgreg Nice, thanks for the reply I appreciate it, im 39, this is my first time I would be trying out welding, figured it would be a neat thing I would like to learn and have around the house for a couple of projects, I can definitely use one. Im a pretty quick learner, so everything should go well!
really excellent instruction. Thanks. Vulcan and Lincoln wire are spatter lovers. Forney Yeswire Hynide wires are top of the line, according to last head to head comparison that I saw.
You’re welcome. There are definitely differences in wires. Gasless flux core has to be the worst when it comes to specifications. I have been doing some testing on 3/8th plates and having issues (not too unexpected). To help better understand what’s going on I looked into the spec sheets for every manufactures Gasless flux core wire I could find locally. Every manufacture specifies different max plate thickness for their wires, different test results, and literally different operating voltages/wfs settings. I think the key take away is that you need to find a wire that is suitable for what you’re doing (and is multi pass rated if doing multi pass) and that runs good with your machine. Unlike with gas shielded Mig or even stick, switching wires to another brand with flux core is almost guaranteed to cause issues.
100% agree. I found a reasonable priced brand at my welding supply that reduced my spatter by half. obviously more suitable to my "garage welding". You gave me the answer to all of my welding issues: speed, stick out, settings. in that order. @@makingmistakeswithgreg
@@karljolley8346 I am glad the info helped😀. I am sure you saw a drastic difference in how your welds were looking after a few tweaks in what you were doing. Flux core is a great process but it works terribly if something as simple as the wrong stickout is used. Once you realize the “range” you need to be at for everything it works great and gives a ton of capability.
Glad it helped you out 👍. Hopefully flux core wire will be a lot easier for you with what you learned. In about 3 weeks I will be starting a series for gas mig welding, which should also help many new people out 😀.
You’re welcome and you’ll be making some cool stuff in no time 😀. Just expect to really suck at it for a while before you get it, that’s how everyone starts. Practice a bunch and if you don’t get something/have a question feel free to ask 😀.
excellent video 👍i bought the same welder couple months ago havent used it but to weld rebar so far... hopeful to get enough skil under my belt to replace my rockers on my truck
Thanks 😀. Rockers are doable with the machine. Generally gas shielded MiG is preferred, mostly because at super low values porosity isn’t a issue. However with some fine tuning you will be able to do it with flux core. Definitely practice on the same thickness material as much as possible before trying it. It also helps to have someone hold a piece of copper on the backside of the welded are (or holes you need to fill) to prevent a blow out). Search copper auto body spoon to find cheap ones on Amazon. I will do a auto body video soon that will be of use 😀
Glad to hear than and no problem. If you practice the tips I gave in the video you will be able to progress fast. Flux core is actually a very easy process to learn and is super useful. You won’t regret learning it 😀👍
NIce job. I was surprised to see you welding from right to left as a right hander. I usually like to observe the puddle just behind the arc with the tip angled away from view where you are viewing just ahead of the arc. I found if I slowly move side to side for the first half inch or so of my welds that I get better penetration into both sides while the metal is warming up.
So I don’t really know why, but with flux core I weld right to left about 50% of the time. With stick it’s 90% left to right. Mig is right to left as well most of the time. Bizarre lol. Great tip on the starts 👍
Hello young fella , finding your videos very interesting , thank you for your effort . I have 2 questions what is DCEN and DCEP ? And can I use Hydrochloric Acid for etching , seem to remember a welding inspector using it ? Again thank you and kind regards from Australia
These are amazing tips and demos. I just got my MIG working and look forward to getting some jobs done at home here. I wonder, have you done or will you do a vid on how to weld aluminum with one of these inexpensive MIG welders? Mine does have the option for gas, but I don't use that nor plan to. Around these parts, it's way over priced and for the few things I have to do, it's not worth it. Apparently, this welder can do aluminum with or without gas.
So I weld aluminum all the time but with TIG. I don’t technically have the ability to mig weld aluminum (typically you would use a spool gun). In the future I might buy one for the machine I have. You can technically weld aluminum without a spool gun, but you must keep the mig whip straight, use 100% argon gas, and ideally use 5356 wire. 5356 wire is much harder than 4043 so it’s less likely to kink being pushed through the liner. MiG aluminum is a process that’s super hot/fast since it operates under the spray transfer mode. It can be tough to weld thin material, and it tends to have cold starts, and way hot weld ends. That’s why high end mig machines have adjustments to fix those things 😀
@@makingmistakeswithgreg For me, getting Argon is not going to happen. I don't know about other places, but around where I am, the price is out of reach for someone who only needs to do a few small things. Plus, again, around here, it's very difficult to BUY a tank and have it refilled. Rather, the rip off artists... COUGH... I mean supply places demand that you RENT their tanks and if I remember correctly, they put a time limit on how long you can have the tank out. It's disgusting. I miss the old days when the family just bought the tanks we needed and could throw them on the back of the truck and get them filled. So it's not worth it for me. I may have to give up on the idea of welding aluminum, even though, the manual CLAIMS that this MIG can... but I guess, they mean with the Argon tank attached.... sigh... As I have NO CLUE what I'm doing here, do you think that using a MAPP gas torch to heat up the work are on the aluminum, while welding with the MIG could work? Or is that just not a thing? SEE! I have no clue. LOL Thanks in advance.
Thank you; Greg, I just got my new Harbor Freight Titanium Flux 125 welder, welding has always been a fascination of mine, but I have no idea of what to look for or how to get started, you do talk a-lot, but with great instruction. and as a new beginner, I truly thank you for your no-nonsense approach, One question, how would this machine work on say 1/8 to 1/16 aluminum, Thanks again
Thanks for the kind comment. So unfortunately the machine can’t weld aluminum because the flux core process was not designed for that. You can wire weld aluminum with the gas shielded MiG process (argon shielding gas and what’s known as a spool gun or push pull gun). If you want to weld aluminum there are very few options that are available under 6-700$ and that would be for the MIG process with a spool gun. The titanium flux 125 can weld steel and stainless with flux core wire though.
Thanks for the kind comment 😀. I really try to be as useful as I can because it’s my hope to help as many people as possible. I am glad I can help out 😀
I have done a few flux core weld tests. One of the big issues with flux core is in .035 wire it seems to be incapable of welding 1/4in without some pindots of porosity. Steel thicker than that (5/16, 3/8th) will have a lot of internal weld porosity with .035. Stepping up to .045 flux core solves most of this (the issue is the weld pool cools too fast and the escaping gas can’t fully escape with .035 on thicker plate). Because of the porosity issues with flux core it tends to perform far less than short circuit mig on bend tests. In this video you can see what I mean: th-cam.com/video/lEytWQQPHOU/w-d-xo.htmlsi=7TewILNGprFooqUg Also, standard store bought flux core wire seems to produce a strong but brittle weld. It doesn’t have much give between its yield strength and its ultimate strength. There are a ton of flux core wires that perform far better than standard store bought wire, but unfortunately they commonly are only available in .045+ diameter and require a lot of amperage to run. This makes them impractical for the average person to use (most home machines can’t run that diameter or handle the voltage/amperage of bigger wires. They are also only available in big expensive spools.
Great tip. I did a test in a video with the us forge wire and overall liked it a lot. For the price it’s very reasonable and much less spatter than harbor freights wire.
I bought a small 110v flux core machine once , and even if im an 20+ years experienced mig welder , i found it really hard to weld with this. Maybe a hobbyist would find it easier but for me , the problem was that it didn't feed well. Im used to quality machines that feed consistently ( i work with an esab warrior 500i ) and the inconsistent feeding was way off for me. I can't do a nice weld with that whatever i do
Feeding is better on higher end machines no doubt, however if decent wire is used (Lincoln nr-211 or fabshield 21b) and the tension is adjusted decently the little titanium 125 can make some really decent welds. Self shielded Flux core in general isn’t the best process for the best welds, it’s highly sensitive to changes in feed rate so you are right, beyond a certain point you’re limited.
@@makingmistakeswithgregi ended up selling it , welding way too cold to my liking. Usually i weld with solid .035 wire , 1/8 thick i set it to 25volt and 500 ipm so im not used to this cold weld. But at least i did what i had to do before selling it. Might try a better quality machine one day. I do a lot of dual shield too so for me , flux core welding is more a hobbyist thing ( at work we have .045 flux core wire too but the spools are just taking dust in a corner we barely use it )
@@Saleen35000 At 25 volt on 1/8 th you must be just ripping along ! Yeah no wonder you dont like flux-cor which for the most part is a dialed down slower process.
Sooner or later I'll pick up one of these, but based on what you're telling us I should get my wire some place other than Harbor Freight- there's a Tractor Supply on the other side of town, and I'm pretty sure they carry Hobart welding products, and Hobart from what I know from welding classes makes a pretty good wire product.
Hobarts fabshield 21b runs really good and I bet they sell it. It’s a e71t-11 wire and suitable for multi pass welds. Highly recommend that wire, it’s a night and day difference from harbor freights wire. 😀
Great video. Just bought a Arccaptain 200. I am a totally newbie and all my welds looks like s…. I wish your welder didn’t use ABC etc but amps. Maybe more understandable for a newbie. I am only on my first flux roll so I guess I have a long way to go. But I did learn ;)
Spend the afternoon making huge mistakes. Trying to weld 0’9 and 1,5 mm steel. At low settings I managed to blow holes in the 0,9mm. Do you have a video where you show/explain setting in WF and amps? I wish I had someone like you next to me *lol*
So I have a bunch of advice that should help you. I have not used the arc captain 200. If it has the ability to adjust wire speed and voltage separate that will be good. In a nutshell wire feed is how big of a weld you want to deposit. Thin metal needs small welds, so you need low WFS. Thick metal needs big welds, so you need more wire. Voltage determines how wide the weld is as well as how well the toes of the weld “wet out”. If the weld sits on the plate like caulk, it needs more voltage. If it’s excessively flat and undercut is present, less voltage should be tried. The limitation of wire welding is that many 200amp class machines can’t handle big wire (.045+) or very high wire feed speeds with .035. So their ability to weld thick steel is limited. Because the wire size controls the amp handling capability, and a lack of overall amperage means lack of root fusion, the ability for a 200amp welder to properly fuse 3/8th+ plate becomes limited. Dropping from say .035 to .030 wire won’t improve root fusion despite being able to push the smaller wire hotter, because the wire will tend to “blow apart” creating excessive spatter before it fuses the root. Video wise this particular video should help explain the balance of WFS to voltage a lot better: th-cam.com/video/rml5SZBy_f0/w-d-xo.htmlsi=D_QLczLxH5mcbMFg
Harbor freight wire is E71T-GS. Lincoln NR-211-MP flux core is E71T-11. The E71T-GS is not rated and going to be different from different manufacturers. They are definitely not all equal. The E71T-11 is standardized to meet AWS specifications. So it's basically the same from different manufacturers. I 100% prefer and recommend E71T-11.
I am a newbie and I am restoring a 54 Chevy. You might already know what I am about to ask. So in welding replacement panels and fixing rust holes, I can only do spot welds, then use compressed air to cool. Man it takes forever, and I deal with blow through. Tips? Can you do a video on this? I have only done this type of welding but your video was great and I have more confidence in tackling bigger tasks. Thank you!
Thanks for the comment 😀. I will be the first to admit that I hate auto body with a passion. Everything about it tends to be the worst case scenario: super thin material, rust, paint/primer, surface contaminates, and on top of it reducing warpage is a serious concern. I have honestly not done much body work but I can tell you what will help. There is a reason MiG welders are used most often in body work, they are really the best tool for the job. Tig can’t handle anything but pristine metal and it makes harder welds than MiG. Flux core wire (in .030) is capable of being used for auto body, but the slag entrapment will be a issue. .023-.025 wire with gas shielded MiG is 100% the way to go. If you are using .030 flux core you’re results will not be as good. When flux core is turned down real low it tends to produce porosity and slag entrapment, which require higher settings to clear up, which of course will blow holes in the metal. I have flux core welded auto body (I have actually even stick welded auto body and it’s terrible) and my take is .023 MiG wire or I won’t do it lol. One thing that will help you is a helper holding a copper bodywork spoon on the backside of the weld or a hole. The metal won’t stick to the copper and there won’t be much melt through. They do make a magnetic one that works well for this, I found one on Amazon: www.amazon.com/Strong-Hand-Tools-Dissipating-AGK320/dp/B07ZG59SHV/ref=asc_df_B07ZG59SHV/?tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=416760125247&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=8189415395119473529&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=m&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9007526&hvtargid=pla-870590117659&psc=1&tag=&ref=&adgrpid=95471650498&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvadid=416760125247&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=8189415395119473529&hvqmt=&hvdev=m&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9007526&hvtargid=pla-870590117659 . Something like that could help a lot. I will be uploading MiG videos soon and I will make one on .23 wire, which would be my preferred setup to weld papped thin material. I don’t have any bodywork projects coming up but I can atleast show welding thin material with MiG to get people up to speed 😀
@@clarkharvell5242 I have a running joke: the worst welders make the best auto body guys 😅. Everything I strive to achieve: consistent, clean, properly penetrated, low spatter, visually appealing, and strong welds on properly prepped material are not applicable to auto body. If you care about making good welds you will become frustrated with auto body lol. In the fall I will be likely building a 40s era truck and will surely be doing some auto body on it, but it will be a while. Good luck with your project 😀.
Another fantastic video!! Just wondering does it make a difference if you knock the flux off when its still warm or if you wait till its cooled off? Thank you
Great question. If you knock it off fast the bead will turn dull grey or blue color as it reacts with oxygen in the air. I would wait until it’s cooled off enough that nothing is clearly glowing red. It will make a shinier weld and be less likely to have molten hot slag wind up on you causing burns lol. Flux core wire (self shielded) is more or less powdery and easy to clean without big hot chunks. Many stick rods produce slag peels that can really burn you if they fall on your pants or something lol.
Great information and communication and as other sites they like to use welding lingo that I don’t understand you use common English as we first time home project dudes like,,,should have been a instructor!
Thanks for the kind comment 😀. I try to make it a point to make things simple so everyone is on the same page. If there is ever something you don’t understand or have a question about feel free to ask. 😀
When you say "lower your settings" .. can you please elaborate? My mastercraft mid/flux core welder 110v (using no gas only flux) burns through often and all i have is a button that says "Voltage" as "min" or "Max", and then "Tension" as "1" or "2" and then a dial where I can select wire speed from 1 to 10 as an adjustment. Thanks for the help!
Ok so I looked up that welder your referencing. Unlike the welder in this video, you don’t have adjustable voltage (well more limited voltage control). More than likely you have 4 voltages to choose from: low 1 and 2, and high 1 and 2. On a welder with more control, you set wire feed to produce a appropriate weld size for the material you’re welding on, and set voltage to “wet” the weld out. Since you have fixed voltages you need to set things a bit differently. You need to start off by measuring your material thickness and setting your welder to the chart it came with for that thickness. If you don’t have a chart then set the machine at 3 or 4 for wire feed speed and low 2 for voltage (if the material is fairly thin. You need to run a short weld, about 3/4in or 1 cm and stop. If the weld burns through the material and you were going at a steady pace, drop the wire feed 1 notch and try again. If you are near the bottom Of the settings and still burning through either you’re moving too slow or your machine isn’t capable of welding that thin of material. Keep in mind if you are learning to weld, it’s best to start with thicker material. Trying to weld thin material is going to cause immense frustration because you have not developed the hand coordination or the understanding of what to do to not burn a hole. A skilled welder can control burn through simply by watching the puddle, and speeding up as needed to avoid melt through. That skill just takes some time to develop. Some welders simply cannot be easily used to weld thin material. .030 flux core wire can easily weld 1/16th thick material (1.6mm) to maybe 1mm. Below that .024 MiG wire and Gas shielding performs far better. However again your controls are more limited and likely won’t run that wire well. So my suggestion is practice on thicker steel than what you’re on, and once you can weld solid beads consistently, then drop in thickness. It is possible to start on thin material. You must have a very high tolerance for failure though, and frustration.
Haha. Back when I was in welding school burning 6010 on uphill I smelled something that was like really strong burning paper. I just thought it was the rod but I looked down after about 2 rods down my duffel bag with notebooks was on fire 🔥 😂. When it doubt check your surroundings lol.
Great instructions, explanations and demonstrations, thanks! Where would I get the type of 1/8” steel like you were using to practice with? I went to a local metal recycle yard and picked up some recycled metal fairly cheap but it was all rusted and bent up and required a lot of time cleaning up to practice with.
Thanks for the kind words. The steel I bought came from menards (like Home Depot here in Wisconsin). Normally I would go to a metal supplier (for new metal) but the cost of driving 30min negates the savings on the material. Recycled metal can be a deal but only if it’s straight and somewhat clean.
@@makingmistakeswithgreg , Thanks for your reply. We have the Home Depot here, no Menards. HD here didn’t have what I was looking for so when I was asked what I wanted for Christmas from my kids and I sent link to some small metal practice pieces from Amazon. 😆 Looking forward to more of your how to videos! Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you and yours!
Turns out HD did have the same steel you were using in this video. I was just looking in the wrong area of the store. 🤷🏻♂️ In fact they had several varieties of plain steel to choose from including weldable 10”x10” sheets. All of it a bit expensive, but what isn’t these days??
FYI to your viewers - the same machine is sold in Canada by Canadian Tire under their Mastercraft brand. Price is higher (even after conversion) than the price at Harbor Freight, but does go on sale every couple of months.
Lincoln electric is about to come to the market with the same welder under their own name too Lol. What does the one you’re talking about sell for in Canada?
@@makingmistakeswithgreg Currently CDN$500but it goes on sale for about CDN$270. If Lincoln is going to brand it too, that shows what a little gem this one is. I haven’t see a bad review yet.
@@T3glider the century 90fc was already out but much lower amperage (which is a Lincoln brand). However they just released the Lincoln badged weld pack 90 I MiG and 90 FC (flux core only). The MiG version has a gas solenoid. Both have a better Lincoln gun on them than the harbor freight version. Despite being called a 90 they actually output 120 amps. They sell for around 250 to 350 US dollars. I might actually pickup the MiG version, perfect size for car work on exhaust and for portable repairs.
Nice to see someone using a cheaper welder. Nice point that some wire brands produce more spatter than others. Do Miller gloves produce a better weld (lol)?.
Haha miller gloves will give you a smoother bead for sure lol. That titanium 125 is probably the most useful sub 200$ tool a guy can own. It welds excellent and is capable of tackling a ton of jobs.
Hello sir, I need your advice. I’m in the market for a smaller packable welder for my farm. New to welding. I have fencing as well as farm equipment. What type of welder/type do you recommend and why. I’m leaning towards either Miller or Hobart. Thank you and appreciate the continued knowledge. I’d be able to hook up to 110 & 220 via generator and socket no problem.
Great question. Being new to welding you’re going to want something that’s easy to work with and likely has stick and MiG/flux core options. You can get a single welder that will take care of those things. There are a few things you want the capability to weld: 1) most stuff on farm equipment is thicker steel, and a 140amp MiG welder isn’t going to cut it. The limit of 140amp wire welder with flux core wire is 1/4in steel. If you want a wire welder you need a 180+ amp machine to know you have enough power to weld anything you need it to. 2) portability will be a nice thing because you can bring it to what you want and run it on a generator like you mentioned. The way I see it you have two options for welders. 1) to get a single machine that does stick and MiG. My suggestions Is a esab rebel 215 multi process. It’s a awesome stick welder, and very easy to weld with MiG/flux core wire because of the built in software. Option 2 is to get a 140amp MiG/flux core welder and a portable stick welder. A standard 140 amp MiG machine will make your life less stressful for welding thinner materials, and you can use the stick machine to weld thicker stuff as needed. Being new to welding you will find stick weldings learning curve to be steep and you will produce far better welds faster (especially in positions other than flat) with a MiG/flux core welder. However like I said unless you get a powerful (180 amp plus) MiG machine you can’t weld thicker than 1/4in plate with proper penetration. Many 180+ amp MiG welders are big/heavy and not portable. . Brand wise miller, Lincoln, esab, and many other companies all make really good machines. I love miller for tig and MiG, however their all in one machines typically won’t run 6010 that well, or 6011 rods that good either. Those rods are very beneficial on a farm because of their ability to weld big gaps shut, deep penetration, and ability to weld through poorly prepped material. ESABs rebel line will run 6010 just fine, are very portable, and better suited for farm work in my opinion. I have owned multiple esab products and like them a lot. From a stick perspective a esab 180 rogue would be a ideal stick only welder around the farm for portability and power. Combine that with really good 140-200 amp MiG machine and you will be able to weld pretty much anything. So my recommendation is to grab a esab rogue 180 for stick, and say a Hobart handler 140 or equivalent MiG welder. Or you could just get a esab rebel 215 and one machine will take care of what your needs are. Miller wise their multimatic 215 is good (just limited on the stick capability end). Hobart makes a 200amp multi process but that isn’t the best stick welder either. So many options but I am sure you will find a solid welder to meet your needs. Also, In 4 days I will be doing a “picking your first stick welder” video where I talk about what features you want and it will have a top 10 stick welders section.
I have been on the teaching side. So well done. Concise to the point, didn’t bore. As a retired Ironworker I think this is precisely what most people are looking for.
Thanks for the kind words and thanks for your time spent building America 😀
You missed your calling. You should have been a teacher. You have a way of communicating that others could learn from.
Totally agree, I like how he described and showing the angle of the weld. He is good.
😅
Very informative!
Wonderful job!!!
@@stevenanderson5355
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Newb here. Bought myself a older Lincoln 180 and can't wait to molt my hibernation blubber and give it a go. Winter is too long in Canada but gives me time to educate myself and make plans. Been watching a ton of videos and have to say yours are fantastic (I dare say the best one I've seen so far)! Despite it's bad rap, I'm going to do flux core and it will likely meet my needs for the things I want to do and where. Having had a long career fabricating plexi cases where I flame the edges and also plastic welding hdpe tanks, I can really appreciate the detail you went into about the angles, speeds, settings, etc because they all apply for what I do too. Definitely an excellent video and great resource I will refer to.
Bonus tip to other Newbs while practising: bang around a bit when you're in the garage, drop a thing or two, swear occasionally. This way the wife doesn't know how much fun you're having.
Thank you kind sir for posting.
You’re welcome. Flux core has a bad rap mostly because of poor quality welders and inexperienced people. If you pick a decent wire (since you have a good welder) you will be able to make excellent welds. If you master running simple beads with flux core, that is equal in width/height and consistent start to finish, you will be able to take that knowledge and apply it to other processes. So much of welding is just moving smooth/consistent/at the right speed, which is a skill that can be built up with any welding process. By seeking information and combining that with practice, you will gain skills really fast. Just make sure to not give up when you get frustrated and you will be doing real well 😀
Thank you. As a beginner do you think it's best to master one technique ie stacking dimes, sawtooth, etc or to practise varying techniques until you get good at all (but takes longer)? Is that answer dependent on the type of welding you would primarily do? eg. vertical instead of flat? Which technique is the most versatile? If you could only do one technique which would you choose?
You’re an excellent teacher in teaching people how to weld. Thank you for your class.
No problem and thanks for the kind comment 👍
Excellent teaching! Dad was a self-taught welder . Didn't teach me because he did not want me to be a welder, I just turned 73 and love learning to weld watching your you tube. (hobby only) Love it!!!
Glad you enjoyed the videos and you picked up welding. No matter the age or skill level being able to join two pieces of metal opens doors that few other hobbies/skills do. 😀👍
This series are some of the most concise videos on weld characteristics and what we should be looking for. I have learned quite a bit as a new weekend welder and appreciate your time and patience putting them together - Thank You!
Thanks for the kind words. I am glad it helped you out, that’s why I wanted to make the videos. As long as you practice a bunch you will be surprised at what you can do with simple flux core. The initial learning curve is a bit steep but after that it’s not hard at all. I will be revisiting some flux core with vertical up and overhead welding once I am done with my stick welding videos (probably about 3 weeks). 😀
I purchased this welder (Titanium 125) to learn welding, got it on sale a year ago for 140. I watched both of your videos and learned a lot. Very common sense and to the point.
Thanks for the kind comment. The titanium 125 is a great welder, and is a great place to start learning. The funny thing is even if you “upgrade” to a more powerful welder, or one that can do gas shielded MiG, it still pays to keep the titanium 125 around. It’s simply too useful.
By far, the best flux core welding video on TH-cam!
Thanks 😱. I am hoping it helps people realize what even simple machines can do and gives them the confidence to build some stuff 😀
Hi again Greg - a safety bulletin for the benefit of fellow metalwork newbies. Earlier I was cleaning up a load of steel prior to welding it, using a brand new (cheap) flap wheel. The bloody thing exploded. Don't know why because I wasn't abusing it, I was just cleaning off mill scale with the wheel tilted maybe 10 degrees. Anyway it dug some deep gouges into the safety guard before some of the bits flew about 10 feet away from me towards my work bench and one piece carved a chunk out of the wood. I was wearing safety glasses and when cutting I also wear a spare cheap welding helmet just in case - for those thinking that these disks can't delaminate and disintegrate I can assure you that they can. The expression is "I nearly shat myself!".
Glad to hear you made it out ok 👍. I have never seen a flap disc explode, but I am sure it could happen. Walter abrasives recalled a ton of their flap discs due to a failure in the glue that held the paper in place. If you ground on a hot weld or used the disc hard enough the glue would heat up and fail, causing the disc to blow apart. High RPM grinders would easily throw parts of it around dangerously. The guards do work, I run them on every grinder I own besides my slow speed Milwaukee.
@@makingmistakeswithgreg Another learning experience - don't buy cheap disks, like I did. I bought 2 at a local store for about $2, one was ok but the 2nd broke - I've just checked and neither has a date, or anything, embossed in the metal part, and the cut-off disks (all a 'reputable' Chinese brand) I bought in the city last week expired in 2022. I've never checked before but I certainly will in future!
Thanks
Lol. You underestimated the titanium 125. I welded a new trailer hitch on a friends heavy duty trailer with mine and surprisingly I could only run it at about half the settings without taking a chance of blow through. These damn things have lots of power with a highly consistent arc. One guy did an amp meter test in his review of these and got a maximum 140 amp reading. Good video man.
I have a video I just shot with it welding 1/4in material and I did a cut and etch. It has no issue with penetration, however it did have some porosity. I am going to do another run on 1/4 with a different wire and I will see if it’s better. For the money it’s a very good welder. Thanks for the kind word too 👍
@@makingmistakeswithgreg Nice man. I'll be looking forward to it.
Wow , I am very new to welding and just researching good tutorial videos and I have to say there is so much knowledge and amazing explanation in this video. Thank you so much ! I have project I would love to complete this fall It’s military trailer which I will be turning in to overlanding camping trailer and want to fabricate frame to hold Roof Top Tent it will be total of 600 lbs weight. I wanted to use 2x2” square tubing and 1/8” thickness. Would you recommend to go thicker or 2x2 1/8” would work ? Thanks you again for your time
Just bought my first welder. This was really helpful. I cant wait to get out and give welding a try!
Awesome and congrats. Just expect to fail a bunch at first but you will improve. Try to be as smooth and consistent with your movements as possible. Also, don’t get discouraged if you get frustrated, that’s part of the learning curve. Stick with it and you’ll be building stuff in no time. 😀
Yes, you do like to talk and thank you for that! I find it very easy to listen to you talk about this subject, and I'm glad I found this video on the first day of researching about welding. I thoroughly enjoyed your delivery about these basics of welding. I've been quite unsure about learning to weld, but I am now SUPER excited to give it a try. Thanks!
Thanks for the kind words. I am glad you are excited, it is a fun skill to learn, and very useful. The best advice I can give to you is expect to fail a bunch, and get discouraged a time or two. Just focus on what you can do better and try to change minor things every weld. After a short period of time the worst you will do will be better than your best you can do at the start. A bit more time and the worst you will do is almost perfect. Don’t give up, practice a lot, and it won’t be long before you can actually build stuff which is the best part.
Also, I may make certain things look easy. I have more experience though. So don’t compare your work to mine, compare your work to where you were last week. You will progress 😀
@@makingmistakeswithgregwow that was inspiring to read. So philosophical. Can’t wait to put your teachings into practice. Thank you.
This second video has solved like 80 percent of my problems with fcaw
Glad to hear 😀. It’s crazy how much a few tweaks will improve things. Dialing in things 100% takes a lot of work, but luckily you don’t need to be 100% to make really good functional welds.
I've done tons of stick but this is my first at flux. All the mistakes you showed I make lol thank you for saving me tons of time figuring this out. now it's off to practice.
Glad to help you out 😀. If you have experience with stick you will find flux core like easy stick welding. Don’t be surprised if you see porosity that you never see with stick. That stick out of the wire is hugely critical and needs to be maintained properly. That is a bit of adjustment over stick but I find the process overall pretty easy. You will find yourself using it a lot for thinner jobs and repairing stuff in odd positions. You can run flux core uphill way easier than stick, especially on 1/8th or thinner material.
Anyway welcome and keep practicing 😀🔥
Glad to help you out 😀. If you have experience with stick you will find flux core like easy stick welding. Don’t be surprised if you see porosity that you never see with stick. That stick out of the wire is hugely critical and needs to be maintained properly. That is a bit of adjustment over stick but I find the process overall pretty easy. You will find yourself using it a lot for thinner jobs and repairing stuff in odd positions. You can run flux core uphill way easier than stick, especially on 1/8th or thinner material.
Anyway welcome and keep practicing 😀🔥
Glad to help you out 😀. If you have experience with stick you will find flux core like easy stick welding. Don’t be surprised if you see porosity that you never see with stick. That stick out of the wire is hugely critical and needs to be maintained properly. That is a bit of adjustment over stick but I find the process overall pretty easy. You will find yourself using it a lot for thinner jobs and repairing stuff in odd positions. You can run flux core uphill way easier than stick, especially on 1/8th or thinner material.
Anyway welcome and keep practicing 😀🔥
I'm JUST beginning to weld and picked up this welder. Your tips are seriously GREAT to know and have under my belt before I really start my practicing. Thanks for sharing and setting us newbies up for success!
No problem 😀. Expect to fail a lot and get frustrated at the start. Treat learning welding like learning to write. Repetitions and practice will iron out everything. Try to focus on consistency as much as possible. Move consistently, and try to be as smooth as possible 😀
I'm the Same boat just got a gasless mig and a stick welder but as I progress I'll move to gas and better welder as the ones I got are about $300ish for both
@@makingmistakeswithgreg Your tip on changing wire saved me. I laid my first weld that wasn't pure spatter. Turns out the wire I was using was garbage. I was very frustrated, but when I changed the wire, I was immediately met with a bead I could see and follow! Thanks for helping me learn a skill I've wanted to know for decades!
Wow great video. The 40 minutes flew by, very engaging and easy to listen to.
Thanks for the kind comment 😀. I am
sure your welds will improve with the info and some practice
😃
It has been several years since I took a welding class. I just got a cheap flux welder and your videos provide an excellent refresher. Time to practice before I tackle a pretty simple project that motivated me to get a welder.
Glad to hear that. Flux core wire is a great process for small projects. Make sure to practice a bunch and get a good wire to make welds that need the most strength. I find Lincoln’s nr211, Hobarts fab shield 21b, or is forges t11 wire to make real clean/solid welds. No need to spend the extra on those wires for practice or simple jobs 😀
Just got this exact machine today. Never welded anything before. Exactly the information I needed. Many thanks for the effort of putting this together.
No problem 😀. Big thing is practice and expect to suck at welding for a bit. If I can do it you can as well. Within a couple spools of wire things will start to come together, and you’ll be able to make some cool stuff/fix things. Welcome to the start of your welding journey 😃
Great video. I have been having so much trouble with my flux core welding and you have just taught me why :) So, like you said, I will be off to my workshop to practice and I will probably be taking a look back at this tutorial from time to time. Thanks again.
I am glad you learned a few things, it’s very easy to have bad results with flux core. Once you dial it in and run consistently decent welds it will open up a whole new door for you 👍
Thanks for putting all this together. Really like the way you explain the whole procedure. You are a great addition to the school of you tube. Thankyou.
Thanks for the kind words 😀. Flux core is a lot easier when you know the details that matter, especially stickout distance. A few small things being off makes it hard not to have terrible welds, which is why a lot of people write off flux core welding altogether. Luckily it is a affordable process that can really help people make some cool stuff once you know what you’re doing 😀
Exactly the series I was looking for. I know there is one of these under the tree right now. Thanks for putting this together. Blessings to you and your family.
Glad the videos helped you. I have 3 more videos welding with it that will be out in the next two weeks. I want to see people putting down good welds with the machine, for the money it’s probably the most useful tool a person can have. Have a great holiday season too, fellow Wisconsinite 😀
I m just starting in flux core welding and your video learned me a LOT because you are explaining what s really happening . Thanks!
No problem, glad you learned a bunch 😀. Flux core works so much better when you do a few things right. 😀
Thank You so much for taking to the time to do all this for us!! I'm Thoroughly enjoying your Videos and Practicing what you Teach
Glad to hear you’re practicing 😀👍. With a bunch of practice and a bunch of mistakes you will be making cool stuff/fixing things 😀.
The reason why it has a bad reputation is that it’s mostly used, on TH-cam, by new welders, using very cheap machines, with cheap wire, with no knowledge on how to use it, often learned from guys on channels who themselves don’t really know how to weld (we don’t read no manuals!). It’s thought of as a beginners method. What people don’t seem to know is that heavy fluxcore is used for large structural work.
It definitely is. With a quality wire and a machine with adjustments, flux core can make really good welds. It’s too bad a lot of people wrote it off as a “joke process” when it really has a lot of practical uses at the hobby level (and structural work with a more powerful welder).
True, fact is there are far more factory and professional welds done by flux core, stick, or a laser on a machine.
It's my favorite process for outdoor work
Dude, thank you so much. You just fixed all my issues in less than an hour.
Glad it helped you out 😀
I am retired glazier who was certified in structual welding. Using 232 flux core. You should talk some about stubbing. All in all, great video.
Holy smoke....you are awesome....your teaching style is so smooth and precise...yea...I don't know if you teach or not...but you would be one heck of a teacher....I have my eye set on the titanium 170 mig welder and waiting for HF to do some special Xmas sale...I started with the HF 90 amp welder and what a disappointment that was...I finally gave that unit a toss in the trash...
Anyway...thanks for all the video series...and yep...I subscribed..👍
Thanks for the kind words and the comment. Luckily youtube allows me to be a teacher and have my “lessons” reach people all over the world, which is ultimately one of the reasons I recently started the channel. I am involved in a lot of stuff far beyond welding (it’s a small part of what I do) so I will have a ton of interesting content in the future.
As far as welders go the 170 seems to be pretty good. I have used the titanium 200 (works real good) and I will be buying the 140 and doing videos on how to mig weld with that coming up. The difference in weld quality with a proper dc output wire welder and the cheaper AC output Chicago electric welders is huge. Not to mention using quality wire vs harbor freights makes a significant reduction in spatter.
I really appreciate the “real time” welding speed
Real time welding speed is actually slower than many would think, the trick is to run settings low enough that you don’t burn a hole through while moving slow. The thinner the material is the harder it is to do that, so travel speed must increase to a certain extent depending on thickness and joint. The key is moving slow enough that material is fusing together.
Great video, I have struggled with fluxcore for years and thought it was just how it was.I am looking forward to giving it another go asap,have just started Tig welding after 40+years of mostly stick and just need more time to practice 👍😉😎
Thanks, glad you liked it 😀. Flux core wire is very useful, so is tig. Tig has a steep learning curve at the start but becomes easier once you train your hands how to move. Flux core wire is actually super easy to learn because it’s far easier to weld out of position and poor fitups than gas shielded mig. Good luck on your skill development journey 😀
I just picked up Titanium 125 from Harbor, trying to learn how to weld so I can do small jobs on my rig. Im a complete noob but thank you for the video it is very helpful to people like me I learned alot but still need alot of practice.
It takes a ton of practice to get good, I won’t sugar coat it lol. You also have to do a lot of repetitive things that are fun, like run beads on a plate, which is boring. Think of it like learning to write, it’s a lot of repetition and it sucks. Once you learn to write can take it with you everywhere and it’s extremely useful, just like welding. If you focus on trying to be as smooth and consistent as possible you will progress fast, especially because you are seeking knowledge on how to do it. Knowledge will shorten the time it takes to get good by a lot.
Wow I learned a lot been thinking about buying a welding machine for around the house hobbies and you told enough to help me make my decision. Thank you
No problem. You won’t regret buying one of the titanium 125s. As long as you follow what I say in the video series and practice a bunch, you will be able to do a ton with it. Probably the most useful 130$ tool you can buy honestly.
First, I don't know of a machine that welds HF flux core wire well. I also wanted to thank you for explaining what a good voltage and wfs should sound like on flux core. I picked up a newer to the market "Warcking" 150 multi process, multi voltage machine, and I love flux core welding in and out of my garage shop. I'm still on the .035 wire that came with the machine, and so far, it has worked well above its price. I like to run a "C" style weld on my fillet welds, but you showed how a steady stringer can really do the job, so thanks for the lesson.
I am glad you got some useful info out of the video 😀. You can do the C style and be ok, the main benefit to that is it keeps the wire eating away at new metal. When you do stringers like I generally do there is a fine line with how much metal you can put down before you will either lose penetration or start to get porosity. The big thing with flux core is you want to get that weld to flow out/penetration and minimize porosity. The E Or C motions in my testing can give good penetration and help keep porosity to a minimum.
I just recently found your channel and I have to say I really enjoy your videos. I have this same welder and I am trying to learn to weld, kind of getting into the game a little late, I'm in my 60's but better late than never right! You are clear and concise with no BS...I really really like that. Yes you do like to talk but you are giving out valuable info and not just talking to be talking. Well done sir, I appreciate your time and willingness to share your knowledge.
No problem and welcome to the channel. Surprisingly enough the titanium 125 is a great wire welder and is totally capable of welding anything between auto body and 3/16th thick material (1/4 if you push it). The video series I made will really help you understand what you need to do, and get you up to speed. The most important things when learning to weld is to accept the fact you will fail for a while before you get the hang of it, that you need to practice a bunch to get good, and that before you know it you will be putting down good welds 😀. With flux core in particular you need to maintain a drag angle, 5/8th or so stickout from contact tip to molten puddle, and you need to move forward slowly/smoothly. It won’t take long for you to start building stuff 😀
No problem and welcome to the channel. Surprisingly enough the titanium 125 is a great wire welder and is totally capable of welding anything between auto body and 3/16th thick material (1/4 if you push it). The video series I made will really help you understand what you need to do, and get you up to speed. The most important things when learning to weld is to accept the fact you will fail for a while before you get the hang of it, that you need to practice a bunch to get good, and that before you know it you will be putting down good welds 😀. With flux core in particular you need to maintain a drag angle, 5/8th or so stickout from contact tip to molten puddle, and you need to move forward slowly/smoothly. It won’t take long for you to start building stuff 😀
thank you Sir!@@makingmistakeswithgreg
I really agree with you on your comment,
Great tip about keeping the wire safe from moisture.
It definitely makes a difference. Old wire is guaranteed to weld poorly.
Wow...I listened to you for 43 minutes and time went quickly...I must really like welding. I still have not done my first mig weld. Tutorials like yours are prepping and motivating me. Many thanks for posting. I had to laugh that you had to try VERY hard to do a bad weld...I will have no such problem...for now.😐👍
Thanks for the kind words 😀. When you get to a certain point it is hard to put down a bad weld (I still do from time to time lol). Think about it like signing your name, at some
point you can get it pretty much perfect every time. Welding also has a lot in common with golf in the sense it’s a stupidly simple concept but in practice it’s deceptively difficult lol. As long as you keep your contact tip to work distance consistent, your travel speed smooth and consistent, and your settings are high enough that a puddle is established that you slowly drag along, you will be good. It just takes some practice and not giving up. You can do it 😀
Many thanks for your time and expertise in helping sluggos become competent welders.
Its no problem 😀. Thanks for taking the time learning how to better your skills. I am just happy to be able to give some advice people can use to become better at something 😀.
I'll probably buy the HB titanium flux 125. Then self-teach (really videos like yours) welding. Eventually, projects planned are lightweight brackets, metal connectors on a bike, and maybe some vehicle body repair. Your video is a great help to me.
You can do it. It will be a bit rough at first but with a little practice you’ll be able to fix/repair/make all sorts of things. 😀
@@makingmistakeswithgreg Well I have some scrap metal. Thanks for the encouragement.
Hello from Northern Ireland, thanks a lot for this series on flux core. I have a cheap dedicated flux core welder that I recently bought from Static Arc in the UK. I have learned a lot from your videos and now know what indicators to look for when practicing. I have saw an improvement already, Cheers!
Glad to hear your improving and thanks for the comment. It’s amazing how a few small changes make a huge difference. I will be diving back in to flux core next week with atleast 3-4 more videos with arc shots and everything. It should help you progress more steps forward 😀
Rookie here. Very very good video learned a lot thank you
Glad to hear 😀
I have this same welder from Harbor Freight, my first experience with an. Invert welder, I'm really impressed on how well it welds, nicer looking and smoother. Great Video
I bought one of the titanium 125s back when they first came out. I was surprised at how well it welded and how useful it is. I am glad harbor freight marketed it because it gives the average person a ton of capability for very little money. Their titanium stick machine is also really good too.
Greg, after 40 years I finally found out that my old Century built Powermate Quick Fix was junk. 🤣😂 I got the gas conversion and only used it on sheet metal. It was the best mig that I could afford at the time. Fast forward to today and I'm going to get a new welder in the next few weeks. I've settled on a Hobart Handler 210 MVP. I believe that it will do everything that I will need. I'll be working on some sheet metal on my "63" Falcon. I would really love to have a Miller but unfortunately that's out of my price range. But that being said, Hobart is made by Miller. Anyway, what I wanted to say is that I learn something from every video that you make. Again, thank you and God bless.
Thanks for the kind comments. The 210 mvp is good from what I have heard. Hobart is owned by miller, and the build quality and parts generally reflect that. Millers prices on a lot of machines are sky high (and unreasonable in some respects, like there 140amp MiG welder at over 1k). The difference a good MiG welder can make is huge on the low end. Welding sheet metal and thin material tends to be far easier with .025 wire and a quality welder with good low end capability. I will be dabbing into MiG shortly, I just need to finish up stick welding videos. 😀
@@makingmistakeswithgreg I'm currently on Part 4 of the video on the Titanium 125. I'm retired and the weather outside is kinda bad and so I'm making a marathon of your videos. It's great having the time to be able to watch them.
Picked up mine for $140 when it was on sale. Pretty nice little flux core welder. I definitely have an addiction problem for welders. Don’t care if they are cheap cause I have 3 of the green harbor freight welders and one AHP I use for TIG. It’s handy to have a machine for each specific process so I don’t have to keep changing settings and electrodes etc… I really appreciate all your videos, very helpful with all your advice.
Glad the videos have helped you 😀. There is nothing wrong with multiple welders, that’s what I prefer too. I have owned two different all in ones (esab rebel 205 and everlast 275) and they worked, but I much prefer stand alone machines. That way the machine can be set the way I want and I use it for that. Not to mention the reliability issue, you never know when one tool may have a issue/fail. I always have a backup, I’ve been burned too many times lol.
Love to do that but now only have room for two. Next place will have a barn.
I appreciate all your knowledge. Still working on sorting out voltage, feed speed, and all the different pieces that works together and how to identify which is off. Might have to watch your video again. Great stuff
Thanks for the kind words 😀. I made a video on what I call heat metal ratio, it can be found here: th-cam.com/video/rml5SZBy_f0/w-d-xo.html . That video should help you a lot. Don’t feel bad if you find voltage and wire feed confusing. In simple terms voltage dictates the width of the weld and how flat it is. Wire feed dictates how much metal you deposit. When you have thicker metal you need bigger welds than thin metal, therefore you need more wire feed. Everything must be in harmony though, if you have high wire feed and low voltage your weld will just be a bead of caulk on plate. If you have high voltage and low wire feed the wire may burn back all the way to the tip. By keeping the ratios close everything will work properly.
I recently picked up a welder after 30 years. I'm trying to weld 14 gauge square tubing that's rusted and pitted. I think what you are trying to show people when it's done wrong is what mine looks like 😖. This was very informative and I'm probably be checking back with this video time and time again as I try to get my bearings with this titanium 140 harbor freight welder. Having a real bad problem blowing holes through. When I'm not doing that it's not getting penetration
Flux core tends to have a bit more penetration than short circuit mig, so no doubt it can be a bit challenging to weld thin material. Here are some tips to help out getting the best results. Make sure you are using .030 wire. Make sure the gaps are minimal/fitup is tight. If you tend to blow holes soon after starting try to lower the wire feed a pinch. If it still blows holes run little 1/4inch welds then stop right before it melts through. Ideally you would run a complete weld start to finish, but sometimes it’s very difficult to do. Doing short welds will be weaker, but on thin material it probably won’t matter. Find a setting that works to run a simple bead on the material that looks decent and doesn’t blow holes. That should be a bit on the cold side for an actual weld between two pieces but if there is a gap it should buy you some time before a hole shows up. Beyond that it comes down to a bit of practice. The thinner material the harder it is without a doubt.
great video! I am planning on buying my first welding machine and I am considering going the flux core route. never welded in my life, but always wanted to. you explaining things really well make me feel like I maybe could do it too! :D
You can do it 😀. Just expect to fail a bunch and get frustrated at first. Flux core is a great place to start, it’s affordable, useful, and fairly easy to do. It has some limitations but for what the titanium 125 welder sells for new, it’s about the most useful tool you can buy for the money. It opens up a ton of capability.
Very informative. Flux core is WAY Underrated!!!
It definitely is 😃. One of these days I need to try the stainless flux core wire and see how that is. I have never ran it and it could be pretty useful if it works decently.
Awesome video. Answered all my questions by example. That's the best way for me at least to learn. I think I'll go out and buy one of these machines tomorrow!
You won’t regret it, they can help you build a lot. Just take the time to practice to get it dialed in. Your first welds won’t be the best but it won’t take long to get much better. On a interesting note Lincoln electric is actually going to be releasing the welder under their own name shortly lol. They will have it as both flux core only and mig/flux (aka gas capability). No idea on pricing but obviously more than harbor freight lol.
Excellent video with great information; it is a really useful resource to watch before each practice session too. Thank you for taking the time and effort to help us novices.
I am glad you are learning stuff and find the information useful. I want to see people struggling less and building stuff more. Keep with it and practice as much as you can, if you can master flux core wire everything else will become easier. Especially Mig 😀
@@makingmistakeswithgreg Thanks Greg
Great detailed informative videos on this particular welder im about to buy this week. Thanks for taking the time!
No problem. I do believe the titanium 125 is 100% worth the money. It’s capable of doing nice welds on a lot of projects, is easy it work with, and has proven to be durable. The fact it’s really affordable is the icing on the cake.
@makingmistakeswithgreg Nice, thanks for the reply I appreciate it, im 39, this is my first time I would be trying out welding, figured it would be a neat thing I would like to learn and have around the house for a couple of projects, I can definitely use one. Im a pretty quick learner, so everything should go well!
really excellent instruction. Thanks. Vulcan and Lincoln wire are spatter lovers. Forney Yeswire Hynide wires are top of the line, according to last head to head comparison that I saw.
You’re welcome. There are definitely differences in wires. Gasless flux core has to be the worst when it comes to specifications. I have been doing some testing on 3/8th plates and having issues (not too unexpected). To help better understand what’s going on I looked into the spec sheets for every manufactures Gasless flux core wire I could find locally. Every manufacture specifies different max plate thickness for their wires, different test results, and literally different operating voltages/wfs settings. I think the key take away is that you need to find a wire that is suitable for what you’re doing (and is multi pass rated if doing multi pass) and that runs good with your machine. Unlike with gas shielded Mig or even stick, switching wires to another brand with flux core is almost guaranteed to cause issues.
100% agree. I found a reasonable priced brand at my welding supply that reduced my spatter by half. obviously more suitable to my "garage welding". You gave me the answer to all of my welding issues: speed, stick out, settings. in that order. @@makingmistakeswithgreg
@@karljolley8346 I am glad the info helped😀. I am sure you saw a drastic difference in how your welds were looking after a few tweaks in what you were doing. Flux core is a great process but it works terribly if something as simple as the wrong stickout is used. Once you realize the “range” you need to be at for everything it works great and gives a ton of capability.
Great detailed video for us newbies! Thanks for posting and take care!
Glad it helped you out 👍. Hopefully flux core wire will be a lot easier for you with what you learned. In about 3 weeks I will be starting a series for gas mig welding, which should also help many new people out 😀.
thanks Greg, great video, just bought a lincoln 140 & love it,your advice will help me so much more.tks ..
WhenI was in high school voced in 1975, we only did arc and oxyacetylene. Never see much of these types of welding.
Just got my first machine. This was an awesome tutorial, thanks!
You’re welcome and you’ll be making some cool stuff in no time 😀. Just expect to really suck at it for a while before you get it, that’s how everyone starts. Practice a bunch and if you don’t get something/have a question feel free to ask 😀.
Outstanding for learners as I am just beginning and know nothing about the terminology or the aspects
Glad to hear it helped you 😀.
excellent video 👍i bought the same welder couple months ago havent used it but to weld rebar so far... hopeful to get enough skil under my belt to replace my rockers on my truck
Thanks 😀. Rockers are doable with the machine. Generally gas shielded MiG is preferred, mostly because at super low values porosity isn’t a issue. However with some fine tuning you will be able to do it with flux core. Definitely practice on the same thickness material as much as possible before trying it. It also helps to have someone hold a piece of copper on the backside of the welded are (or holes you need to fill) to prevent a blow out). Search copper auto body spoon to find cheap ones on Amazon. I will do a auto body video soon that will be of use 😀
Very informative video! Nicely done..I have the chicago but switching to the titanium..this video is what I needed thank you!
The titanium is a much better welder since it welds on DC instead of AC. It should be much easier to get acceptable results with it 😀
Thank you. You saved me much frustration. Excellent video.
Glad to hear than and no problem. If you practice the tips I gave in the video you will be able to progress fast. Flux core is actually a very easy process to learn and is super useful. You won’t regret learning it 😀👍
Thx Greg! You answered a lot a questions I had about fluxcore
No problem, glad the video helped 😀👍
NIce job. I was surprised to see you welding from right to left as a right hander. I usually like to observe the puddle just behind the arc with the tip angled away from view where you are viewing just ahead of the arc. I found if I slowly move side to side for the first half inch or so of my welds that I get better penetration into both sides while the metal is warming up.
So I don’t really know why, but with flux core I weld right to left about 50% of the time. With stick it’s 90% left to right. Mig is right to left as well most of the time. Bizarre lol. Great tip on the starts 👍
Hello young fella , finding your videos very interesting , thank you for your effort . I have 2 questions what is DCEN and DCEP ? And can I use Hydrochloric Acid for etching , seem to remember a welding inspector using it ? Again thank you and kind regards from Australia
@@briansmart2045 DC=Direct Current has 2 choices, EP=electrode Positive, EN=electrode negative, a 3rd choice is sometimes AC=Alternating Current
Thanks for your help, I learned a lot from this section.
No problem, I am glad it helped 😀.
These are amazing tips and demos.
I just got my MIG working and look forward to getting some jobs done at home here.
I wonder, have you done or will you do a vid on how to weld aluminum with one of these inexpensive MIG welders?
Mine does have the option for gas, but I don't use that nor plan to.
Around these parts, it's way over priced and for the few things I have to do, it's not worth it.
Apparently, this welder can do aluminum with or without gas.
So I weld aluminum all the time but with TIG. I don’t technically have the ability to mig weld aluminum (typically you would use a spool gun). In the future I might buy one for the machine I have. You can technically weld aluminum without a spool gun, but you must keep the mig whip straight, use 100% argon gas, and ideally use 5356 wire. 5356 wire is much harder than 4043 so it’s less likely to kink being pushed through the liner. MiG aluminum is a process that’s super hot/fast since it operates under the spray transfer mode. It can be tough to weld thin material, and it tends to have cold starts, and way hot weld ends. That’s why high end mig machines have adjustments to fix those things 😀
@@makingmistakeswithgreg
For me, getting Argon is not going to happen.
I don't know about other places, but around where I am, the price is out of reach for someone who only needs to do a few small things.
Plus, again, around here, it's very difficult to BUY a tank and have it refilled.
Rather, the rip off artists... COUGH... I mean supply places demand that you RENT their tanks and if I remember correctly, they put a time limit on how long you can have the tank out. It's disgusting.
I miss the old days when the family just bought the tanks we needed and could throw them on the back of the truck and get them filled.
So it's not worth it for me. I may have to give up on the idea of welding aluminum, even though, the manual CLAIMS that this MIG can... but I guess, they mean with the Argon tank attached.... sigh...
As I have NO CLUE what I'm doing here, do you think that using a MAPP gas torch to heat up the work are on the aluminum, while welding with the MIG could work?
Or is that just not a thing?
SEE! I have no clue. LOL
Thanks in advance.
Thank you; Greg, I just got my new Harbor Freight Titanium Flux 125 welder, welding has always been a fascination of mine, but I have no idea of what to look for or how to get started, you do talk a-lot, but with great instruction. and as a new beginner, I truly thank you for your no-nonsense approach, One question, how would this machine work on say 1/8 to 1/16 aluminum, Thanks again
Thanks for the kind comment. So unfortunately the machine can’t weld aluminum because the flux core process was not designed for that. You can wire weld aluminum with the gas shielded MiG process (argon shielding gas and what’s known as a spool gun or push pull gun). If you want to weld aluminum there are very few options that are available under 6-700$ and that would be for the MIG process with a spool gun. The titanium flux 125 can weld steel and stainless with flux core wire though.
I learned a ton today. Thank you!
No problem, I m glad to be able to help you out.
You are a great teacher.
Thanks for the kind comment 😀. I really try to be as useful as I can because it’s my hope to help as many people as possible. I am glad I can help out 😀
Excellent video. I would've like to see some stress testing though. To see how much those welds would take.
I have done a few flux core weld tests. One of the big issues with flux core is in .035 wire it seems to be incapable of welding 1/4in without some pindots of porosity. Steel thicker than that (5/16, 3/8th) will have a lot of internal weld porosity with .035. Stepping up to .045 flux core solves most of this (the issue is the weld pool cools too fast and the escaping gas can’t fully escape with .035 on thicker plate). Because of the porosity issues with flux core it tends to perform far less than short circuit mig on bend tests.
In this video you can see what I mean:
th-cam.com/video/lEytWQQPHOU/w-d-xo.htmlsi=7TewILNGprFooqUg
Also, standard store bought flux core wire seems to produce a strong but brittle weld. It doesn’t have much give between its yield strength and its ultimate strength. There are a ton of flux core wires that perform far better than standard store bought wire, but unfortunately they commonly are only available in .045+ diameter and require a lot of amperage to run. This makes them impractical for the average person to use (most home machines can’t run that diameter or handle the voltage/amperage of bigger wires. They are also only available in big expensive spools.
@@makingmistakeswithgreg Thanks for the info,I'm a beginner. I'm subscribing so maybe I'll learn something.
I was getting major anxiety, seeing those cut off wheel marks in your welding table, but then I looked at the name of your channel
With mine US Forge wire i get at lowes works great and INE wire works very good
Great tip. I did a test in a video with the us forge wire and overall liked it a lot. For the price it’s very reasonable and much less spatter than harbor freights wire.
Great instructional video. Thank you!
No problem 😀
I bought a small 110v flux core machine once , and even if im an 20+ years experienced mig welder , i found it really hard to weld with this. Maybe a hobbyist would find it easier but for me , the problem was that it didn't feed well. Im used to quality machines that feed consistently ( i work with an esab warrior 500i ) and the inconsistent feeding was way off for me. I can't do a nice weld with that whatever i do
Feeding is better on higher end machines no doubt, however if decent wire is used (Lincoln nr-211 or fabshield 21b) and the tension is adjusted decently the little titanium 125 can make some really decent welds. Self shielded Flux core in general isn’t the best process for the best welds, it’s highly sensitive to changes in feed rate so you are right, beyond a certain point you’re limited.
@@makingmistakeswithgregi ended up selling it , welding way too cold to my liking. Usually i weld with solid .035 wire , 1/8 thick i set it to 25volt and 500 ipm so im not used to this cold weld. But at least i did what i had to do before selling it. Might try a better quality machine one day. I do a lot of dual shield too so for me , flux core welding is more a hobbyist thing ( at work we have .045 flux core wire too but the spools are just taking dust in a corner we barely use it )
@@Saleen35000 At 25 volt on 1/8 th you must be just ripping along ! Yeah no wonder you dont like flux-cor which for the most part is a dialed down slower process.
Sooner or later I'll pick up one of these, but based on what you're telling us I should get my wire some place other than Harbor Freight- there's a Tractor Supply on the other side of town, and I'm pretty sure they carry Hobart welding products, and Hobart from what I know from welding classes makes a pretty good wire product.
Hobarts fabshield 21b runs really good and I bet they sell it. It’s a e71t-11 wire and suitable for multi pass welds. Highly recommend that wire, it’s a night and day difference from harbor freights wire. 😀
@@makingmistakeswithgreg Thanks bud.
There are a bunch a comparison videos here showing Forney and yeswelder make really good wire
Little late on your video but its awesome i have learned so much your so detailed you rock
No problem, thanks for taking the time to try and improve your skills 😀
Great video. Just bought a Arccaptain 200. I am a totally newbie and all my welds looks like s…. I wish your welder didn’t use ABC etc but amps. Maybe more understandable for a newbie. I am only on my first flux roll so I guess I have a long way to go. But I did learn ;)
Spend the afternoon making huge mistakes. Trying to weld 0’9 and 1,5 mm steel. At low settings I managed to blow holes in the 0,9mm. Do you have a video where you show/explain setting in WF and amps? I wish I had someone like you next to me *lol*
So I have a bunch of advice that should help you. I have not used the arc captain 200. If it has the ability to adjust wire speed and voltage separate that will be good. In a nutshell wire feed is how big of a weld you want to deposit. Thin metal needs small welds, so you need low WFS. Thick metal needs big welds, so you need more wire. Voltage determines how wide the weld is as well as how well the toes of the weld “wet out”. If the weld sits on the plate like caulk, it needs more voltage. If it’s excessively flat and undercut is present, less voltage should be tried.
The limitation of wire welding is that many 200amp class machines can’t handle big wire (.045+) or very high wire feed speeds with .035. So their ability to weld thick steel is limited. Because the wire size controls the amp handling capability, and a lack of overall amperage means lack of root fusion, the ability for a 200amp welder to properly fuse 3/8th+ plate becomes limited. Dropping from say .035 to .030 wire won’t improve root fusion despite being able to push the smaller wire hotter, because the wire will tend to “blow apart” creating excessive spatter before it fuses the root.
Video wise this particular video should help explain the balance of WFS to voltage a lot better: th-cam.com/video/rml5SZBy_f0/w-d-xo.htmlsi=D_QLczLxH5mcbMFg
Harbor freight wire is E71T-GS. Lincoln NR-211-MP flux core is E71T-11.
The E71T-GS is not rated and going to be different from different manufacturers. They are definitely not all equal.
The E71T-11 is standardized to meet AWS specifications. So it's basically the same from different manufacturers. I 100% prefer and recommend E71T-11.
Now theres a good bita info
I am a newbie and I am restoring a 54 Chevy. You might already know what I am about to ask. So in welding replacement panels and fixing rust holes, I can only do spot welds, then use compressed air to cool. Man it takes forever, and I deal with blow through. Tips? Can you do a video on this? I have only done this type of welding but your video was great and I have more confidence in tackling bigger tasks. Thank you!
Thanks for the comment 😀. I will be the first to admit that I hate auto body with a passion. Everything about it tends to be the worst case scenario: super thin material, rust, paint/primer, surface contaminates, and on top of it reducing warpage is a serious concern. I have honestly not done much body work but I can tell you what will help.
There is a reason MiG welders are used most often in body work, they are really the best tool for the job. Tig can’t handle anything but pristine metal and it makes harder welds than MiG. Flux core wire (in .030) is capable of being used for auto body, but the slag entrapment will be a issue. .023-.025 wire with gas shielded MiG is 100% the way to go. If you are using .030 flux core you’re results will not be as good. When flux core is turned down real low it tends to produce porosity and slag entrapment, which require higher settings to clear up, which of course will blow holes in the metal. I have flux core welded auto body (I have actually even stick welded auto body and it’s terrible) and my take is .023 MiG wire or I won’t do it lol.
One thing that will help you is a helper holding a copper bodywork spoon on the backside of the weld or a hole. The metal won’t stick to the copper and there won’t be much melt through. They do make a magnetic one that works well for this, I found one on Amazon: www.amazon.com/Strong-Hand-Tools-Dissipating-AGK320/dp/B07ZG59SHV/ref=asc_df_B07ZG59SHV/?tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=416760125247&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=8189415395119473529&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=m&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9007526&hvtargid=pla-870590117659&psc=1&tag=&ref=&adgrpid=95471650498&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvadid=416760125247&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=8189415395119473529&hvqmt=&hvdev=m&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9007526&hvtargid=pla-870590117659 . Something like that could help a lot.
I will be uploading MiG videos soon and I will make one on .23 wire, which would be my preferred setup to weld papped thin material. I don’t have any bodywork projects coming up but I can atleast show welding thin material with MiG to get people up to speed 😀
@@makingmistakeswithgreg I tend to agree! it sucks!!! lol but what do you do! Thanks for the input!!!
@@clarkharvell5242 I have a running joke: the worst welders make the best auto body guys 😅. Everything I strive to achieve: consistent, clean, properly penetrated, low spatter, visually appealing, and strong welds on properly prepped material are not applicable to auto body. If you care about making good welds you will become frustrated with auto body lol. In the fall I will be likely building a 40s era truck and will surely be doing some auto body on it, but it will be a while. Good luck with your project 😀.
Great, to the point video. Thank you!
You’re welcome 😀
Thanks for the excellent refresher!
No problem 😀
Another fantastic video!! Just wondering does it make a difference if you knock the flux off when its still warm or if you wait till its cooled off? Thank you
Great question. If you knock it off fast the bead will turn dull grey or blue color as it reacts with oxygen in the air. I would wait until it’s cooled off enough that nothing is clearly glowing red. It will make a shinier weld and be less likely to have molten hot slag wind up on you causing burns lol. Flux core wire (self shielded) is more or less powdery and easy to clean without big hot chunks. Many stick rods produce slag peels that can really burn you if they fall on your pants or something lol.
Great information and communication and as other sites they like to use welding lingo that I don’t understand you use common English as we first time home project dudes like,,,should have been a instructor!
Thanks for the kind comment 😀. I try to make it a point to make things simple so everyone is on the same page. If there is ever something you don’t understand or have a question about feel free to ask. 😀
When you say "lower your settings" .. can you please elaborate? My mastercraft mid/flux core welder 110v (using no gas only flux) burns through often and all i have is a button that says "Voltage" as "min" or "Max", and then "Tension" as "1" or "2" and then a dial where I can select wire speed from 1 to 10 as an adjustment. Thanks for the help!
Ok so I looked up that welder your referencing. Unlike the welder in this video, you don’t have adjustable voltage (well more limited voltage control). More than likely you have 4 voltages to choose from: low 1 and 2, and high 1 and 2. On a welder with more control, you set wire feed to produce a appropriate weld size for the material you’re welding on, and set voltage to “wet” the weld out. Since you have fixed voltages you need to set things a bit differently. You need to start off by measuring your material thickness and setting your welder to the chart it came with for that thickness. If you don’t have a chart then set the machine at 3 or 4 for wire feed speed and low 2 for voltage (if the material is fairly thin. You need to run a short weld, about 3/4in or 1 cm and stop. If the weld burns through the material and you were going at a steady pace, drop the wire feed 1 notch and try again. If you are near the bottom
Of the settings and still burning through either you’re moving too slow or your machine isn’t capable of welding that thin of material.
Keep in mind if you are learning to weld, it’s best to start with thicker material. Trying to
weld thin material is going to cause immense frustration because you have not developed the hand coordination or the understanding of what to do to not burn a hole. A skilled welder can control burn through simply by watching the puddle, and speeding up as needed to avoid melt through. That skill just takes some time to develop.
Some welders simply cannot be easily used to weld thin material. .030 flux core wire can easily weld 1/16th thick material (1.6mm) to maybe 1mm. Below that .024 MiG wire and
Gas shielding performs far better. However again your controls are more limited and likely won’t run that wire well. So my suggestion is practice on thicker steel than what you’re on, and once you can weld solid beads consistently, then drop in thickness. It is possible to start on thin material. You must have a very high tolerance for failure though, and frustration.
It should sound like bacon frying when you're welding, if it smells like bacon, you're ass is on fire lol.
Haha. Back when I was in welding school burning 6010 on uphill I smelled something that was like really strong burning paper. I just thought it was the rod but I looked down after about 2 rods down my duffel bag with notebooks was on fire 🔥 😂. When it doubt check your surroundings lol.
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Thanks. Picked up one like for what I do with it.
No problem, glad you grabbed one. They are a awesome tool for building all sorts of stuff 😀
Great information, thanks for sharing.
You’re welcome 😀
Thanks for the tutorial very helpfull I’ll take this on board jimmy Aust
Glad I could help you 😀. With a bit of practice I am sure your skills will jump massively. 😀
Thank you for sharing your knowledge.
No problem, thanks for taking the time in improve your knowledge 😀
Lots of great tips! Thanks!
Great instructions, explanations and demonstrations, thanks! Where would I get the type of 1/8” steel like you were using to practice with? I went to a local metal recycle yard and picked up some recycled metal fairly cheap but it was all rusted and bent up and required a lot of time cleaning up to practice with.
Thanks for the kind words. The steel I bought came from menards (like Home Depot here in Wisconsin). Normally I would go to a metal supplier (for new metal) but the cost of driving 30min negates the savings on the material. Recycled metal can be a deal but only if it’s straight and somewhat clean.
@@makingmistakeswithgreg , Thanks for your reply. We have the Home Depot here, no Menards. HD here didn’t have what I was looking for so when I was asked what I wanted for Christmas from my kids and I sent link to some small metal practice pieces from Amazon. 😆 Looking forward to more of your how to videos!
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you and yours!
Turns out HD did have the same steel you were using in this video. I was just looking in the wrong area of the store. 🤷🏻♂️ In fact they had several varieties of plain steel to choose from including weldable 10”x10” sheets. All of it a bit expensive, but what isn’t these days??
i agree lincolns flux core is the best i ever used
I am definitely a big fan of it too
Extremely helpful. Thanks
FYI to your viewers - the same machine is sold in Canada by Canadian Tire under their Mastercraft brand. Price is higher (even after conversion) than the price at Harbor Freight, but does go on sale every couple of months.
Lincoln electric is about to come to the market with the same welder under their own name too Lol. What does the one you’re talking about sell for in Canada?
@@makingmistakeswithgreg Currently CDN$500but it goes on sale for about CDN$270. If Lincoln is going to brand it too, that shows what a little gem this one is. I haven’t see a bad review yet.
@@T3glider the century 90fc was already out but much lower amperage (which is a Lincoln brand). However they just released the Lincoln badged weld pack 90 I MiG and 90 FC (flux core only). The MiG version has a gas solenoid. Both have a better Lincoln gun on them than the harbor freight version. Despite being called a 90 they actually output 120 amps. They sell for around 250 to 350 US dollars. I might actually pickup the MiG version, perfect size for car work on exhaust and for portable repairs.
15:02 going slower will mean more metal is deposited hence thicker welds.
Great video and good information
Thanks, glad it helped 😀
This man is a hero
Nice to see someone using a cheaper welder. Nice point that some wire brands produce more spatter than others. Do Miller gloves produce a better weld (lol)?.
Haha miller gloves will give you a smoother bead for sure lol. That titanium 125 is probably the most useful sub 200$ tool a guy can own. It welds excellent and is capable of tackling a ton of jobs.
great info my friend. Thanks for this video..
No problem 😀
Great video! Thanks
You’re welcome 😀
Hello sir, I need your advice. I’m in the market for a smaller packable welder for my farm. New to welding. I have fencing as well as farm equipment. What type of welder/type do you recommend and why. I’m leaning towards either Miller or Hobart. Thank you and appreciate the continued knowledge. I’d be able to hook up to 110 & 220 via generator and socket no problem.
Great question. Being new to welding you’re going to want something that’s easy to work with and likely has stick and MiG/flux core options. You can get a single welder that will take care of those things. There are a few things you want the capability to weld:
1) most stuff on farm equipment is thicker steel, and a 140amp MiG welder isn’t going to cut it. The limit of 140amp wire welder with flux core wire is 1/4in steel. If you want a wire welder you need a 180+ amp machine to know you have enough power to weld anything you need it to.
2) portability will be a nice thing because you can bring it to what you want and run it on a generator like you mentioned.
The way I see it you have two options for welders. 1) to get a single machine that does stick and MiG. My suggestions Is a esab rebel 215 multi process. It’s a awesome stick welder, and very easy to weld with MiG/flux core wire because of the built in software. Option 2 is to get a 140amp MiG/flux core welder and a portable stick welder. A standard 140 amp MiG machine will make your life less stressful for welding thinner materials, and you can use the stick machine to weld thicker stuff as needed.
Being new to welding you will find stick weldings learning curve to be steep and you will produce far better welds faster (especially in positions other than flat) with a MiG/flux core welder. However like I said unless you get a powerful (180 amp plus) MiG machine you can’t weld thicker than 1/4in plate with proper penetration. Many 180+ amp MiG welders are big/heavy and not portable. .
Brand wise miller, Lincoln, esab, and many other companies all make really good machines. I love miller for tig and MiG, however their all in one machines typically won’t run 6010 that well, or 6011 rods that good either. Those rods are very beneficial on a farm because of their ability to weld big gaps shut, deep penetration, and ability to weld through poorly prepped material. ESABs rebel line will run 6010 just fine, are very portable, and better suited for farm work in my opinion. I have owned multiple esab products and like them a lot. From a stick perspective a esab 180 rogue would be a ideal stick only welder around the farm for portability and power. Combine that with really good 140-200 amp MiG machine and you will be able to weld pretty much anything. So my recommendation is to grab a esab rogue 180 for stick, and say a Hobart handler 140 or equivalent MiG welder. Or you could just get a esab rebel 215 and one machine will take care of what your needs are. Miller wise their multimatic 215 is good (just limited on the stick capability end). Hobart makes a 200amp multi process but that isn’t the best stick welder either.
So many options but I am sure you will find a solid welder to meet your needs. Also, In 4 days I will be doing a “picking your first stick welder” video where I talk about what features you want and it will have a top 10 stick welders section.
Very, very helpful. Thank you!
No problem 😀
Great Tutorial. Thanks
No problem, glad it helped you 😀