Welding Tips and Tricks

Being relatively new to welding, I do a lot of reading. So I understand the dangers of taking on projects that might be a little dangerous. My latest project is a trailer mounted bbq pit. Here in the south (Arkansas), they're all over the place. I found a little rig that was probably used on a farm, but the welds look stout. My question is what is the best process for mounting my tank to the trailer?

All I have at the moment is a Lincoln Pro MIG 180. I've never run anything through it but flux core. Never used any brands except Hobart and Lincoln's NR 211 MP or NR 212. Is the 212 good enough to mount it and keep it mounted?

All this reading about Charpy ratings and having a little understanding of the specs makes me think I need to get a SMAW setup and do everything with 7018. If I had a little more grown up unit I would do it in short circuit with solid wire, but the 180 is only rated for 3/16" with MIG.

I'll be working with 3/16" or 1/4" mostly. The thickest steel on the trailer is the 2½"x2½"x5/16" tongue, and a couple of pieces of 2"½x ½" flat bar. The only work on the tongue will be some angle from the tongue to the flat bar to mount a propane fryer to and maybe stiffen things up a bit. The propane tank is only 3/16".

A.L. wrote:

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Being relatively new to welding, I do a lot of reading. So I understand the dangers of taking on projects that might be a little dangerous. My latest project is a trailer mounted bbq pit. Here in the south (Arkansas), they're all over the place. I found a little rig that was probably used on a farm, but the welds look stout. My question is what is the best process for mounting my tank to the trailer?

All I have at the moment is a Lincoln Pro MIG 180. I've never run anything through it but flux core. Never used any brands except Hobart and Lincoln's NR 211 MP or NR 212. Is the 212 good enough to mount it and keep it mounted?

All this reading about Charpy ratings and having a little understanding of the specs makes me think I need to get a SMAW setup and do everything with 7018. If I had a little more grown up unit I would do it in short circuit with solid wire, but the 180 is only rated for 3/16" with MIG.

I'll be working with 3/16" or 1/4" mostly. The thickest steel on the trailer is the 2½"x2½"x5/16" tongue, and a couple of pieces of 2"½x ½" flat bar. The only work on the tongue will be some angle from the tongue to the flat bar to mount a propane fryer to and maybe stiffen things up a bit. The propane tank is only 3/16".

My recommendation would be to as you stated to get some type of smaw setup. If you want to get in cheap, there are plenty of inverter options out there in the 160 amp class that can be had for 250$. I have a primeweld 160st that I use for welding on farm equipment off of a generator that works well running 3/32 and 1/8 inch 7018 rods, as well as 6011 in both variants.

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I was thinking that would be the answer. I was hoping for more insight from a few people. I have been looking around for a little while. I ran across this one a few days ago.

https://www.homedepot.com/p/AMICO-POWER ... /304254631

The specs on it look pretty good. If I could get rid of this brand new spool of NR 212 I recently bought, that would help out with the purchase. Having a Stick welder around, I would probably get rid of the .045 liner and contact tips too. No need for .045 if the stick would come out on the heavy projects. Thanks for the reply.

A.L. wrote:I was thinking that would be the answer. I was hoping for more insight from a few people. I have been looking around for a little while. I ran across this one a few days ago.

https://www.homedepot.com/p/AMICO-POWER ... /304254631

The specs on it look pretty good. If I could get rid of this brand new spool of NR 212 I recently bought, that would help out with the purchase. Having a Stick welder around, I would probably get rid of the .045 liner and contact tips too. No need for .045 if the stick would come out on the heavy projects. Thanks for the reply.

Yes, there are a lot of videos on the Amico stuff on youtube. A lot of people like them. I haven't researched them much myself, but I think it would work perfect for what your wanting to do.

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Ironically, I ran across one on Mercari a couple of days ago for $90. I'm going to give it a try. Hopefully it will make it through a couple of these mobile bbq pits. If I like stick enough, I'll sell it and maybe invest in a Thunderbolt or something. If it turns out I'm not all that into it, I'll run this one until it blows and start shooting for a bigger MIG.

Turns out I'm in love with stick. Not as much smoke and a lot more fire. Now I need to get halfway decent with it.