Welding Tips and Tricks

Anyone here do any mobile welding on the low cost side???

By that I mean a standard mig welder and maybe a DC tig unit on a cart of some sort that can be put in a pickup bed???

That's my business. No TIG ... yet. I can MIG or stick though. What would you like to know.

nickn372 wrote:That's my business. No TIG ... yet. I can MIG or stick though. What would you like to know.

For one ......I am trying to figure out the best way to mobilize the equipment. No matter whether I go with an inverter unit or transformer unit the bottles add too much weight. I am thinking..........leave the bottles in the truck and run a long gas line with quick disconnects.

I am guessing there is no way around not going with 220 v.........guess I need a generator???

Do you need to do aluminum? If not then we are in business. If so its still not out of the question. Most of what you will do will be off of an engine drive. I have two actually. One is a Miller Trailblazer the other is a Lincoln SA200. If TIG is what you want there are very few inverter that are actually OK running off of any kind of generator. It has something to do with the raw waveforms that they produce. So your next option is to scratch start TIG or get a high frequency module. There are plenty of options when you start digging. Like the Lincoln LN25 plugs right into the genset leads, get a bottle of argon and your miggin away. If you go to Miller or Lincolns websites and look for engine drives then check out the accessories that they have listed you will see just how easy it can be. I run a Lincoln SG250 spool gun and module for aluminum and a Miller 12VS for MIG steel but I stick weld a lot too.

BTW generally you will be close to the truck so a long gas hose is just a waste of argon. If you are concerned about lugging thebig tank around then you could eeither build a handy little crash cart to tote some of the tools or get a small bottle that is easier to handle for when you mobilize and get away from the truck.