It's time for me to get my own welder. I did arc and oxy-acetelyne in shop in high school, I was good at it.
I've done some wire feed at my friends shop a few times.
I will probably weld the occasional bolt handle. And the occasional small project around the house.
I want to spend as little money as possible, and get something that works just fine for my needs.
Suggestions?

a small mig setup should probably work well for you. tig gets used for gun work more, but for universal use mig is going to the nod. most off is to learn what you are doing and do it. welding is something that the more you do the better you get at it, and unless you do it all the time you loose what you started with. if there is a votech school around you that you can take a night course in it would be very worthwhile

Welding bolt handles and inexpensive welder are 2 mutually exclusive terms...it can't be done. You need a TIG welder for bolt handles, and they are both expensive and hard to master.
ThisMIG WELDERshould fill the bill for your household mild steel projects. But you can only run fluxcore wire for that price. For a true Metal Inert Gas (MIG) welding you also need to purchase a gas bottle full of Argon/CO2 shielding gas.

Although I'm partial to Lincoln Electric products, as I own 2 of them, the reason I picked a national brand over some fly-by-night far east product sold by Harbor Freight is the ready availability of replacement parts for the national brands like Lincoln or Miller. If you have Tractor Supply store in your area, check out their offerings of 120V A/C mig welders. Hobart brand is made by Miller to a lower price point for occasional welding like you'd be doing. But still uses the same replacement parts such as tips and nozzles.

Miller.
Regards, Joe

just a small buzz box will fit you nicely. Mig with a cover gas and I would go with a name, like Lincoln. HF welders are not worth the frustration.
Welding on guns, hmmm, you can do anything, but it will be hard to make it look good, your call.

Wow, for that price I should get it and be done with it. I may just to that.

quote:

Originally posted by onefunzr2:
Welding bolt handles and inexpensive welder are 2 mutually exclusive terms...it can't be done. You need a TIG welder for bolt handles, and they are both expensive and hard to master.
ThisMIG WELDERshould fill the bill for your household mild steel projects. But you can only run fluxcore wire for that price. For a true Metal Inert Gas (MIG) welding you also need to purchase a gas bottle full of Argon/CO2 shielding gas.

Although I'm partial to Lincoln Electric products, as I own 2 of them, the reason I picked a national brand over some fly-by-night far east product sold by Harbor Freight is the ready availability of replacement parts for the national brands like Lincoln or Miller. If you have Tractor Supply store in your area, check out their offerings of 120V A/C mig welders. Hobart brand is made by Miller to a lower price point for occasional welding like you'd be doing. But still uses the same replacement parts such as tips and nozzles.

FYI I'm a very experience welder in just about all phases of welding processes. I'm also very experienced with the little buzz boxes that are marketed to the home shop.

Big piece of advice DON'T BOTHER WITH THEM.

If you need a machine and you are on a budget I would suggest a Miller Diversion tig as a good basic Tig machine. It's not cheep at $1400 to $1800 for the 165 amp and 180 amp machine respectively. But you are getting a true tig machine with true HF start. Not lift arc or scratch start. The benefit is they draw low amp due to the inverter based unit. You can plug it into a dryer outlet. The 180 amp version can be plugged into a 110 VAC outlet and still give you 125 amps max so it's quite versatile.

Now if you need an all around do it all machine Mig is still the way to go. But the little 140 amp units are just a waste of money. they don't weld anything over an eighth of an inch and just plain suck. They are great for sheet metal and little else. The thing is these little machines are just not designed to be anything other then a Hobby machine. You'll understand once you get into Mig welding there's controls on the bigger machines that control burn back, soft start etc. the little machines don't have these features

Step up to a Millermatic 211 at right around $900 and with 200 amps it will weld just about anything around the house you can come up with aside from being on a farm or ranch where a heavy duty machine would be needed.

I personally have a Miller Syncrowave 200 amp Tig/Stick machine. It's AC/DC so I can weld thin aluminum with it. and it's a true HF machine. so arc starting is easy.
I'll be adding a Millermatic 252 here soon and this will cover anything that comes in my shop.

As for the learning curve on Tig. It can be steep, for me it was easy but I've been O/A welding since my dad stuck a torch in my hand when I was about eight years old and stick welding since metal shop in middle school. All I had to do was get my foot coordinated with the puddle.
Mig is by far easier to learn but no where near as clean as tig can be in the right hands. Tig is slow compared to Mig. So you'll have to decide.

Fun costs money how much do you want to have?

A Hobart 135 MIG uses 110V, and can be had from Northern Tool complete for under 500 dollars. Several times a year Northern offers many items on sale w/free shipping.

There is a similar 110V Miller machine that is more expensive.

It is best to have a dedicated 110V/20 amp line for either.

A person should be able to do a decent job welding with either after their initial project (usually a huge cart to carry the machine- making a welder the size of a microwave oven effectively the size of a refrigerator) using the settings and included instructions.

Don't buy a CO2 tank, rent it.

http://www.northerntool.com/sh...ing+wirefeed-welders

quote:

You need a TIG welder for bolt handles, and they are both expensive and hard to master.

FWIW, one of the smiths (I forget who) on the board farms his handles out to a fellow who MIG's them, and does a bang-up job with it.

Frank DeHaas described his handles as being "electric arc welded" without specifying what process.

I don't know why, if good practice is followed, bolt handles could not be successfully and rather easily MIG welded, except for choice of wire- that's a topic I'm limited in knowledge on (and other topics, also).

I wouldn't run Co2....use 75/25 or 90/10 @25

The only draw back to Mig and a bolt handle is not so much what you are weld but who is welding it.

When done properly a Mig weld is stronger then Tig when it comes to bolt handles and such. Tig is just cleaner and easier to control the heat. but again that is the "weldor" not the "welder"

Any ER70S6 wire will do. Don't let the name fool you it's just mild steel wire with a 70Kpsi tensile strength

quote:

Originally posted by kcstott:
When done properly a Mig weld is stronger then Tig when it comes to bolt handles and such.

How do you figure that?

quote:

Originally posted by ted thorn:
I wouldn't run Co2....use 75/25 or 90/10 @25

CO2 to me indicates 75/25- but that's me after years of only using 75/25. I should have been clearer, thanks for the up-grade&clarification.

quote:

Originally posted by M Pursell:

quote:

Originally posted by kcstott:
When done properly a Mig weld is stronger then Tig when it comes to bolt handles and such.

How do you figure that?

How do you figure it don't??

Now I'm picking hairs here and in reality if a weld is a few thousand PSI off in tensile strength. Is it really going to make a difference? No the weld will be strong enough.

But to answer your question you are limited on how much filler you can lay down with a tig and not get an inclusion. Every pass you make with a Tig you risk contamination and inclusions. and with every pass you introduce more heat that weakens the joint by increasing the inter-pass weld temp. With mig it's up to the wire speed and you have the benefit of mechanical feed to maintain consistency in the weld pool. That limits contamination, inclusions and a smaller HAZ, and hence forth a stronger weld. Not a cleaner weld, not a better looking weld, just a stronger one. but is it really going to matter on a bolt handle that will be ground down to be ascetically pleasing?? Nop last time I checked I could not pull 70K PSI on a weld to break it. So Mig or Tig I couldn't break it.

Keep in mind Tig is my weld of choice everything that pertains to firearms.

Metal Inert Gas (MIG) welding is a very common arc welding application. Typically utilized for automotive, trailer frame as well as manufacturing applications, it uses a continuous and consumable wire electrode and shielding gas to create the weld. ( Gases vary depending upon metal being welded )

The Advantages of MIG Welding:


MIG is Faster: If you're looking for speed, MIG provides a fast welding answer. It is a very easy process to automate.

MIG Welding is User-friendly: MIG is typically more user-friendly and easy to set up. The process tends to be more forgiving.

MIG is More Affordable: MIG equipment is less costly and more accessible than other welding equipment.

MIG Disadvantages:
MIG Doesn't Always Work: MIG welding is not the best solution for every type of metal or every type of weldment.
MIG is Messy: The MIG process creates more spatter and smoke than TIG.


Tungsten Inert Gas (TIG) welding is used primarily in the aerospace industry. More complicated than MIG welding, this process combines a non-consumable tungsten electrode, a shielding gas (MIG) and typically a filler metal.

The Advantages of TIG Welding:

TIG is Clean: TIG welding doesn't create as much spatter and sparks as MIG. It creates a better work environment with less smoke and fumes.

Autogenous TIG Welds: TIG welding can create autogenous welds - those that do not involve any filler material. The weld is created when the part melts together. This type of weldment is commonly used for parts in the aerospace community.

TIG is Precise: TIG welding offers more precision when it comes to thin materials. It produces welds without contamination.

TIG Disadvantages:
Cost: TIG equipment is more sophisticated, so it is also more costly.
Time: If you're looking for fast installation, robotic TIG welding isn't your best bet. It takes a while to set up and performs a bit slower than MIG.
Complications: TIG tends to be less forgiving and not as user-friendly as MIG. Parts and components must be in pristine condition for TIG welding.

Tig VS Mig ( IMHO Tig is the way to fly for firearms welding of ANY TYPE ) I believe Frank 4570

would be best served with a Tig set up .

I would venture to say that I've been welding a good deal longer than the vast majority of you combined.

So does this make me an expert ( Yes and No ) I started welding in 1960 as an amateur with Arc stick

and Oxy-Acetylene (OA) welding . I stared welding on Dozers with a 300-500 amp Lincoln 1/8 -3/4 " rod

including hardfacing . I'm still certified for Aerospace Air Frame which includes 6G pipe weld AWS

certification . Do I weld for a living NO , can I weld YES cleanly and effectively on nearly any type metal .
IMHO ; One of the most difficult materials to weld cleanly is hard anodized Aluminum pipe , and have it

look decent . Argon Helium gas mixture is a necessity along with necessary amperage to burn the anodizing

clear . A pleasing weld is referred to as a row of nickels and this unit produces some of the finest I've

ever done . http://www.millerwelds.com/pro...g/syncrowave_350_lx/

Unfortunately I don't own that unit I own an older Airco and Cobra Mig .

The TIG (Tungsten Inert Gas) welding process (also known as gas tungsten arc welding, GTAW, or HELIARC, a trade name of Linde) generates heat from an electric arc maintained between a non consumable tungsten electrode and the part being welded. This process was developed for the aircraft industry back in the early '40s. TIG may be used without the addition of a filler metal or a separate wire filler metal can be added into the puddle when additional material is required, much like the process in oxy-acetylene welding. The puddle, the tungsten electrode and the filler rod are protected from atmosphere by a shield of inert gas to prevent rapid oxidation of the weld and surrounding metal. Argon is the most widely utilized gas. Because the gas shield does not produce the slag that normally is created by flux, the danger of slag inclusion in the weld metal is eliminated. Also, due to the slow speed of the TIG process, gases and other impurities escape to the surface of the puddle before solidification occurs, eliminating pockets called "Porosity" common in weld processes that employ gas shielding but have greater travel speeds than the TIG process. TIG also produces a welding heat is that is confined between the weld and base metal at the point of fusion and produces a narrow heat affected zone. This reduces stress, cracking and distortion in the finished weld. Spatter is not produced by this process, leaving the weld and surrounding metal clean. Because of the lack of spatter and flux smoke, the TIG process allows the operator a clear view of the weld puddle. The torch body in most cases is small enough that the operator can hold it in the same manner as he would hold a pencil allowing easier manipulation. The power source is constant current, either AC, DC, or combination AC/DC. Type of metal determines which type is used. DC (direct current) is most normally used for TIG welding of stainless steels and mild and low alloy steels. AC (Alternating current) is used for TIG welding of aluminum. Surface oxidation is automatically removed by the action of the arc each time the electrode becomes positive, (60 times per. second). Because AC crosses over the zero volt point 120 times per second (once going positive and once going negative each cycle), the arc shuts off 120 times per second. To keep the arc going when using AC, a high frequency "arc stabilizer" is used. The high frequency also allows the start of an arc in DC mode without having to "strike" an arc, thereby reducing the possibility of tungsten contamination. If the electrode accidentally touches the weld pool, it becomes contaminated and must be cleaned immediately to prevent weld contamination. TIG requires an extremely clean surface to weld successfully and is a fairly slow operation. On the plus side, TIG produces high quality work and does not generate slag or spatter. The welder can adjust the heat input while welding by using foot or hand amperage controls.

MIG (Metal Inert Gas), also referred to as wire feed welding, utilizes a consumable arc. The process generates heat from an electric arc maintained between a consumable wire feed electrode and the part being welded. This process produces spatter making it difficult for the operator to see the weld and causing damage to nearby surfaces and objects from the hot particles thrown off. Flux cored "gasless" welders produce smoke from the flux, and pose a cleanup problem. Because of the higher welding speeds of the MIG process, the chance of producing porosity is higher. A common mistake with novice welders utilizing the MIG process is the possibility of producing a good looking weld with little penetration. A MIG can produce an arc into the puddle, allowing one to create a nice looking weld while the base metal underneath is not being properly melted. This cannot be detected before failure without either destructive or non-destructive testing. In the TIG process, the base metal is melted to produce a puddle before any filler is introduced into the weld. This allows the operator to see the penetration during the welding process. Another drawback in MIG welding in restoration of automobiles is the workability of the weld. The wire used in MIG cools harder than in TIG welding, making it harder to hammer and dolly the weld afterwards. Because MIG welding uses a constant fed wire to produce the arc, some buildup of material usually occurs that has to be ground off. This also generates heat in the panel that can cause warpage. With TIG, filler is only added when needed, and the thickness of the filler can be changed by picking up a different size rod. This reduces post weld finishing. While TIG welding requires greater skill, the results are far better than other welding methods. Welders of both types are available from many sources, such as Eastwood, Daytona Mig, and Professional sources such as Miller Electric. A source that I have found to be particularly helpful and has excellent prices is RAM Sales. If you are looking for a welder, I recommend staying away from Flux cored units. They are messy and many do not have the power required to do most welding you will get into. Small 110 volt welders are available that will do a good job with practice, but go with gas for MIG (MIG by definition is metal INERT GAS, not flux) Flux cored units are advertised as "wire feed", Don't assume that they are MIG welders. If you are looking for a TIG, there are also several nice small units available, but consider it only if it has "high frequency" and AC if you don't want to mess with striking an arc and there is a remote possibility that you may want to weld Aluminum someday.

I weld/machine for a living, not a hobby. I am a injection moldmaker. (24 years)

I have used a lot of equipment and will tell you to not waste your hard earned money on a 110 volt unit of any kind.

Back on point:

quote:

I will probably weld the occasional bolt handle. And the occasional small project around the house.
I want to spend as little money as possible, and get something that works just fine for my needs.

This is the newest addition to the factories welding area that I work in. It is the easiest welder I have ever used in my life!! All you do is set the wire size then set the thickness turn on the gas and weld. You need little or no experience to use this welder....but it doest hurt to know what your doing either. I run 25cub. of 75/25 and .035 wire.

http://www.millerwelds.com/pro...ermatic_212_autoset/

quote:

Originally posted by J.D.Steele:
Miller.
Regards, Joe

Miller EconoTig was my choice 10 years ago and I've been very happy, welds TIG and stick, steel and aluminum. Pricey when compared to a MIG but more versatile.
Regards, Joe

Econo tig got replaced with the Miller Diversion. Same type of machine now just inverter powered and two different models.
I welded for years on nothing more then an Econo tig. It's a great machine if you can find one.

And I've been using my Lincoln Square Wave TIG 175 for over a decade, (started on an AC buzzbox in '66) but I doubt very much if Frank4570 is willing to spend the kind of $$$ it's going to take, not to mention the hours of practice, to TIG weld a bolt handle now and then.

I agree, a 120V A/C MIG welder isn't a do-all machine...certainly 230V is better. But not everyone has the 230V service. And after all, 140 amps is 140 amps. A 120V machine can be easily carried to a buddy's garage to weld his busted porch railing.

I doubt frank4570 had that $2K Miller in mind when he asked his question.

Well way back when it was a shocker to me too how much a real machine with real capabilities cost. I just held on save my money and bought a real machine. It's not the machine I want nor the amperage range I wanted either but at half the price I couldn't argue. I still shelled out nearly 3K for it. but it will weld 90% of the stuff I need it too. I just lack the amps to weld aluminum plate.

There comes a time when you have to decide what is important to you and how much you are willing to accept a compromise. Like I have said an other have posted don't waste your money on a 110 volt machine. You will have buyers remorse

quote:

I doubt frank4570 had that $2K Miller in mind when he asked his question.

No, I most certainly did not. And if I need to spend $2000 to get a functional machine, then I am much better off hiring somebody else to to my welding.It would be a lot less expensive.

Would an oxy-acetelene welder do what I need?
I know it isn't that fast, but I was fairly proficient with it.

OA has worked well for about 100 years now for welding bolt handles but the cleanup is murder. You'll get a lot of conflicting opinions here but basically if you're quick and good then you should have no trouble at all.

Use anti-slag paste of some sort and also some sort of heat sink or anti-heat-transfer material; these 2 ARE NOT the same thing! The anti-slag stuff is almost always sacrificial so speed can be even more important here.

With OA you can usually avoid the hard spots that frequently result from electric welding but other heat-treat issues may need to be addressed, depending upon the job.

And did I mention that the cleanup is murder?
Regards, Joe

Don't overlook Ebay. I bought a Miller 450 amp pulsed machine with a Cobramatic wire feed for $1800.00 a couple of years ago. It's almost a ten thousand dollar machine.
For TIG I much prefer a thumb control instead of the foot control.
A TIG machine will be wired for single phase. A MIG machine can be had either single or three phase. You have to know what Amps your building will handle.
A three phase MIG is many times better than a single phase machine. Unless you get into one of those suit case sized five thousand dollar power packs.
Don't even know if they make them any more. Great machines but you know how welders are. They grew legs faster then Miller could make them, so nobody will buy them anymore.

A friend read this post and sent me this in an email. It's apropos so I am quoting him:

"This poor guy wants a car to drive back and forth to work and these clowns are suggesting he buy a Lamborghini or a Ferrari!

For all around use and utility and an occasional bolt handle there is absolutely nothing wrong with Oxy-Acetylne. You don't need electricity, you don't need to dress up like a fucking Afghani woman, and you can work outside in the wind (try that with TIG or MIG using shielding gas)

Plus you can cut, solder, braze, anneal, or just plain heat something up to bend it with Oxy-Acetylne which you can't do at all with TIG or MIG."

"The clean up is murder." It sounds bad enough when you say it once. Let alone when you consider it justified in saying it twice. Sounds ominous.

I have never welded on a bolt handle but have welded plenty of gauge mild steel with Oxy Acy.
Never had a problem with clean up. Welds look like they were TIG'ed.

Chinese from eBay:

http://shop.ebay.com/?_from=R4...t=See-All-Categories

I neither endorse or condemn the above

As to OA, first-rate work can be done- I find the piece being worked on has to be clamped up rather well; a bit of forethought in clamping goes a long way. Also, an OA rig gives the option of brazing or silver soldering which comes in right handy.

Many times the steel tube frames used in homebuilt aircraft are OA'd, and as we don't witness them routinely crashing, I suppose the process is up to the job

quote:

Originally posted by frank4570:
"The clean up is murder." It sounds bad enough when you say it once. Let alone when you consider it justified in saying it twice. Sounds ominous.

-wire bead or cup brush on a 4-1/2" angle grinder should suffice.

You can use various whirligig-type spinners or even a needle gun to remove the slag, but unfortunately anything aggessive enough to do the removal will also leave the surface rough enough to require a re-polishing. Sad but almost always true.

The principal advantage of TIG in welding bolt handles is the super-easy cleanup, no other real advantage except speed AFAICS. Actually the speed of the electric welding is what causes their hard spots, from inadvertant quenching, so it's not a real advantage in some cases.
Regards, Joe

JD, I was not clear and should have been- I wouldn't suggest using a wire wheel on a bolt job, as you point out; I meant the use of the wheels for general work, not the fine stuff.

Frank 4570 ; IMHO You are far better off hiring the occasional welding job done .

Again IMO Oxy-Acetylene produces to much heat for welding on firearms . Bolt handles are an exception as

heat treating isn't a factor but sure wouldn't attempt much of anything else .

To weld takes a machine and that machine is dependent upon three things . Power available

thicker material requires more amperage or Larger torches .

Degree of proficiency an accuracy of welding is dependent on Machine as well as operator experience .



Last but certainly not the least is the Purchasers Pocket book . Occasional usage isn't going to cut it .

IMHO You are far better off hiring the occasional welding job done .

quote:

Originally posted by Doc224/375:
Frank 4570 ; IMHO You are far better off hiring the occasional welding job done .

Doc is spot on here. I 100% agree

quote:

Originally posted by ted thorn:

quote:

Originally posted by Doc224/375:
Frank 4570 ; IMHO You are far better off hiring the occasional welding job done .

Doc is spot on here. I 100% agree

Sure, unless he just wants to do it himself, some folks like the hands-on part of it and I'm one of 'em. Makes things a lot more personal, anybody can sign a check but to me the pride of personal accomplishment is worth all the hassle & expense.
Regards, Joe

quote:

Originally posted by ted thorn:

quote:

Originally posted by Doc224/375:
Frank 4570 ; IMHO You are far better off hiring the occasional welding job done .

Doc is spot on here. I 100% agree

Yeah, try hiring out that "small job" around the house. Not so small when it comes time to pay. One or two of those and you've darn near paid for an AO setup.

As JD said, some folks just wanna do it theirselves! I remember thinking that just before I bought myself a welder.

I went through this not long ago. Finally bought a Lincoln 220 180 Mig, with the bottle. I have used AO mostley cutting. A do it all welder is very hard. Aluminum or anything other than mild steel is specialized. No one welder is a do it all without years of experiance. I wanted one for sheet metal (car restoration) and around the house use. The MIG fit the bill for me. Will not do heavy steel (use ARC) does not do aluminum and low heat special welding as good as a TIG, but for every day simple welding it works well for a novice. I will say that you get what you pay for. The ebay specials look tempting, but will they really be a TIG/MIG/ARC and work? Are spare parts available? for me Lincoln, Miller, Hobart would be a better choice.

We're all talking about various degrees of what is acceptable to us. If a guy wants to buy a $75 mauser, cut and weld the bolt, grind the receiver, tap it himself, spin in a pre-chamber barrel, finish inlet a semi-inletted stock, fit a timney trigger, shoot it and be pleased that it doesn't blow up and that he was able to do it himself, a $50 welder from a garage sale or an inexpensive OA setup, or even a $280 mig will do the job. It won't look like a $90/hour professional welder did it. But what the hell! I'm pleased sometimes that the gun fires, doesn't blow up, and hits the target. AND I DID IT MYSELF!

I broke a lot of coupons in the 4 months I went to welding school 4 hours a day. One of the things I learned is that how pretty a weld looks has very little to do with how strong it is. I had 7 years of experience in a jewelry trade shop with an OA torch when I started welding school. I got a grade of 100% in all my classes. (you could redo work until the instructer called it perfect, and I did) I could make an OA weld that looked like tig. Perfect little overlapping buttons. The instructors were amazed at how good the OA could do. Really just a lot of judgement in how to keep the weld puddle at the right temp an feed in rod to cool it at the right instant. 7 years with a torch every day helps.

But, every time, a slaggy, rough, undercut arc stick weld would break 20% more strength than a perfect OA weld. Mig would usually break about the same as OA, with an occasional one breaking higher. Skill level there, pretty MIG welds usually are not adequate penetration and fusion. I never did get real good with MIG. Tig would always break lower than arc, usually higher than OA. Tig for me is hard to use, without a pressure to put direction to the flame, it's a lot harder to control the weld puddle, unless it's on flat sheets. Inside corners are murder to get good penetration and fusion without meltover.

About the time I went to school, two of my dads co-workers died, both in their 40's, and both of lung diseases. Dad quit welding soon after that, and I decided to finish up going to engineering school instead of getting a nice, high paying welding job, and I haven't welded since. Good choice in retrospect.

I have a $40 garage sale Marquette AC farmer welder in my garage. It sucks to weld with it compared to the nice mig/stick/tig phase generators we had at school. But, it does the job, and with some extra care in cleanup and setup, will do most jobs. It will not do gunsmithing work worth showing to anyone. My experience with OA has been the same. Scaling and distortion with a torch make it hard to do a good job. I did one mauser with an OA setup, and that was enough to convince me to not do it again.

I pay a good professional to do what welding I do on guns. Much cheaper than buying a good tig unit. However, I probably will get one someday, just for the satisfaction of being able to do the work myself without waiting and trying to describe what I want done exactly.

Long answer to say, get what will do a lot of what you do, (not just guns, but other stuff too) and what you can afford. A $100 or less 220 Volt used farmer welder, a $300 flux core mig, or a good OA set will do a lot of things that are useful to you. A MIG will be the easiest to make good looking welds with, the arc stick will be the most versatile, and the OA will be the most suited for gun and hobby work. If you have some pride in just doing it yourself, you'll do fine. If you're a perfectionist, pay someone good to do it for you.

dave

I welded on ONE bolt handle with an O/A torch and lets just say I'll never do it that way again unless I have nothing else to weld with.

I've welded a long time with O/A and nearly as long with tig and once I learned tig the O/A set became a cutting torch, rosebud, and heat for silver brazing. I use it for nothing else. But that's because I can.

With practice the O/A torch can be as ssdave put it as good looking as tig. but like he said as well seven years of a torch in hand helps.

O/A will be fine for welding on the ocasional bolt handle just do your self a favor and follow the suggestions on anti slag past heatstop and the like. Clean clean clean the metal as you have no shielding gas to help float out impurities. RG45 rod works best and is a great all around rod for O/A. Just build up extra weld. as you'll need it to clean up later.

You'll be surprised though long it take to weld on a handle That flame takes time to build up heat. I'm just so use to having instant heat it spoils you after a while.
But yes it can be done but you will need to invest some cash. A decent set big enough to flow the proper amount of gas in going to be around $400. look around for used stuff. Victor, Haris, Smith. rent the tanks

I bought a Lincoln Electric Weldpak 180 HD at Home Depot. Added a tank of MIG gas, a Harbor Frieght welder cart and auto-dimming face shield. Contributed my Carhart coat and my dutch-oven cooking gloves. Utilized my 1982 fresh-man autoshop (part of an industrial arts freshman survey year in high school) and 3 college summers of industrial maintenance crew stick welding experience, and whatever welding videos I could find on Youtube to rebuild a 1963 M101a1 3/4 t army trailer last winter. It turned out functional, but not pretty.

I wouldn't think of touching an arc with it to any rifle I currently own...unless it was the last one I had ammo for and the zombies were beating down the door.

I might try to build a bike rack though.

Jtinidaho
I don't know your welding ability other then the info you posted here about rebuilding a trailer. nor do I know what the trailer is used for.

Over on the Miller web board we get guys all the time with the question "what welder should i buy for my trailer project?" It scares the hell out of me to think someone would try to "learn to weld" on a trailer that will be towed on our nations highways and test the welds at everyone else's expense.

A "be advised" to everyone. Think about what you are doing. Don't attempt a critical weld that will put your life or someone else's at risk if you lack the experience, and if you do seek a professional to oversee your work.

Those welds can fail and when they do it's will most like be a 60MPH with a school bus behind it.