Best Welder For Building a Tuber Frame?

[Rocksolo]

I want t o build a tuber for my next build. I think if I can buy a welder and materials for $200-$350 I might as well try and weld up my own as oppose to buying a frame for $200-$300?
I dont know how to weld, I also dont know what type of welder I need; mig, tig, braze etc.

Any suggestions?
should I just buy a frame or give it a shot?

[ultimate_monkey]

tig would be the best welder to do it, but you wont find one of those in your price range, you could do it with mig but you would want to run somthing like an .025 wire and you would definatly need to run solid core wire with sheilding gas rather then flux core wire

brazing would be the next best IMO (not technically welding since its a surface bond) , all you need is to hit a local hardwear store and buy the plumpers soilder torch set up, but make sure you get Map or acetylene gas not propane. and then brazing rod, you might find that at the hardwear store or you may need to go to a welding suply store. the hole set up could be had for about 35 bucks i would imagine ( its about 50 canadain to get torch, gas and rods)


edit: this is the style i mean

[Rocksolo]

yeah, Im not opposed to brazing. I am(maybe used to be) a cyclist at heart so I have ridden some brazed frames without incident If the option is that cheap I have to consider it.

[ultimate_monkey]

unless you find a really good deal its about the only option you have for your price range. buying cheap tools (in this case a welder) IMO is ALWAYS a bad idea, they tend not to last and you will never be happy with them. that being said if your budget isnt firm you may be able to pick up a 110volt mig from some where like home depo (if you have them down there?) for i would guess 3-400 (sorry dont know exchange rate and all that jazz) but for this application not knowing how to weld and trying to build a tube frame for the 1st time i would definatly go with the brazing set up. far less money and a good braze joint wont break . even if it does it just a matter of pulling the torch out and heating the joint up again

[brokenb4]

I'd have to agree brazing is the way to go if you are on a budget. You will also be able to stick together a wider range of materials. With a mig welder and being a beginner you would be limited to using solid rod or thick material, this makes for a heavy chassis. Brakeline would be next to impossible for a beginning welder to handle, it's thin and wants to burn through.

I've been welding for years but I leave that to the big projects. If I had a tig welder small stuff could work great but I wouldn't use one enough to justify the price.
Anything rc will be brazed, simple and relatively cheap.

[Rocksolo]

thanks for the info guys

I guess I should be concentrating on a good brazing set-up. I know the hardcore welders may scoff at brazing but I dont mind as long as it tuff enough for my application.
I think I'll do the classifieds etc. for a good setup for short money..... a box store is my LAST option.

[MOVIN-SLOOOOOOW]

i noticed mapp gas is finally available in the squatty body bottles.(camping style)

[Rocksolo]

Originally Posted by MOVIN-SLOOOOOOW

i noticed mapp gas is finally available in the squatty body bottles.(camping style)

I am not a welder, I dont know what mapp gas is or what it does.

I am leaning towards the brazing method for now. I am someone that has to do it myself or atleast try. I can buy a tuber frame but I'll never be satisfied until I atleast try to do it myself.

[CSaddict]

I have a Thermal Arc Prowave 185 TIG that I plan on using for mine.

[ultimate_monkey]

map gass / propane / acetelyne are different types of gases , they all burn in different tempiture ranges. they can pretty much all be used in the same aplications but some work better then others in different things.

brazing will be plenty tough for what you want to use it for, if your useing brake line, or even a smaller diam. solid stock it will bend long befor the braze joint lets go

and no the "hardcore welders" wont scoff at the fact your brazing, i know this cuz i am one haha.

[Happy_trucker]

I have access to a Lincoln welder that can Tig and Mig and stick weld. I haven't done any aluminum welding before, can anyone point me to the right light? Sorry for the thread jacking

[ultimate_monkey]

what are you wanting to know?? tig will be the best process to use for sure, you can do it with mig but you have way way way less controll over the weld.

[dkf]

For small tubes a high temp strong silver solder is best IMO. You have to be real good at TIG for the welds to look good. The best bet if using a mig is just having a tack weld or two at each joint but if you need a nice hot flat tack. For a MIG .025 solid wire an shielding gas is a must because flux core sucks.

[yurbuddychris]

Originally Posted by Happy_trucker

I have access to a Lincoln welder that can Tig and Mig and stick weld. I haven't done any aluminum welding before, can anyone point me to the right light? Sorry for the thread jacking

You can't weld aluminum with your welder without gas, such as Argon. And then in that case, you still probably can't weld the aluminum material that you would use to make a tube frame. If you're going to make an aluminum tube frame, your best bet is most definitely brazing. There's probably a thousand threads on here where people have asked the same question and there are some pretty good links and videos, just look for them.

As for welding a steel frame. Your welder sounds exactly like the Lincoln I have, get some steel and get to work if that's the way you want to do it. I don't know if this is your first time or not but if it is, braze aluminum. Good luck.

[rbgerrish]

If you choose a MIG welder, be sure to get one that has infinite voltage and wire control. This allows precise tuning for small tube. I'd suggest the Miller 135 or 140, or the Lincoln 125 plus. If you shop around you can find the mentioned for $350-$500 or so...

[rc-guy]

Originally Posted by yurbuddychris

You can't weld aluminum with your welder without gas, such as Argon. And then in that case, you still probably can't weld the aluminum material that you would use to make a tube frame. If you're going to make an aluminum tube frame, your best bet is most definitely brazing. There's probably a thousand threads on here where people have asked the same question and there are some pretty good links and videos, just look for them.

As for welding a steel frame. Your welder sounds exactly like the Lincoln I have, get some steel and get to work if that's the way you want to do it. I don't know if this is your first time or not but if it is, braze aluminum. Good luck.

you sure can weld aluminum with a mig i have a miller 180 auto set with a spool gun and have no problem welding alum with it take a look at my tube chassis i built using 3/16 alum solid round stock
the best would be a tig but they cost over $3000 canadian

[Happy_trucker]

the Lincoln welder I have access to have a gas bottle on it. I didn't pay much attention to what kind of gas it is, my buddy also have a mig welder with a bottle on it. I was hoping to try to do some tubing so I can make some sort of stuff later I guess. I will try the soldier first to do the tubing. Where do you guys get material for the tubing?

[ultimate_monkey]

if you doing with steel most guys use 3/16" brake line fromt he auto parts store, keep in mind you will need to remove the coating with sand paper or the lines to get to bare shiny metal where you are trying to solder. if you goin with aluminum, most citys will have a metal ware house where all they do is sell metal. just gotta check the phone book and call around

[Crawln Coles]

Originally Posted by Rocksolo

I am not a welder, I dont know what mapp gas is or what it does.

I am leaning towards the brazing method for now. I am someone that has to do it myself or atleast try. I can buy a tuber frame but I'll never be satisfied until I atleast try to do it myself.

Amen

I was at the same place your are right now a few years ago. I wanted a tuber very bad. Especially after meeting Boyer & seeing his work in person.
Well I bought mysely some brazing materials and never looked back. Sure I burnt myself, wasted some metal and gotten headaches from Mapp fumes.
But I learned alot & built some nice frames.

Get the Mapp torch and some silver solder & build yourself a tuber. You might surprise yourself.

[Big Mike]

(not technically welding since its a surface bond)

Brass brazing is plenty strong enough for this application, even though it works through capillary action and there is no actual material penetration

If you'd like to get into small-scale tube work w/o a huge entry fee, brazing is what you want to learn. It just takes a torch. A MAPP torch will struggle to maintain enough heat, an oxy-acetalyne rig would be better. Either set ups are far cheaper than a MIG or TIG machine. Other than the fire, you need brass brazing rod and flux, and some glasses/goggles, that's it. No expensive machines or bottles of weird gasses you've never heard of.

Or Harris Safety-Silv is a silver solder, it takes less heat than brass (Safety-Silv melts at about 475-525, Brass melts at 900-950) A MAPP rig would work for you w/ silver solder, but the solder itself is waaaay more expensive than brass rod. Strength-wise brass and Safety-Silv are about the same.

Score some 1/4" steel brake line, a couple small round files to fish-eye the tube ends, and a tubing bender, and go to town.

Strength-wise, you have no need to worry. A properly applied brazed brass/steel joint may not be quite as strong as a welded MIG/TIG steel joint, but at this scale it's plenty strong. Typically a brass joint is about a third of the strength of the steel it joins, plenty for a 1:10th scale crawler chassis...