It's been years since I welded. Today, since I have to make some modifications to the service body on my Fuso FG, I bought a small Harbor Freight 110 volt flux core wire feed welder ($120).

(http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=44567)

Ooooh! It feels so good to weld again. I have an old arc welder but I don't have any readily accessible 220 volt outlet in a place I can work so it's just been sitting in the basement for the most part. There's something both primitive and cosmic about fusing metals together. I can imagine what those first human metalsmiths felt like.

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1977 300d 70k--sold 08
1985 300TD 185k+
1984 307d 126k--sold 8/03
1985 409d 65k--sold 06
1984 300SD 315k--daughter's car
1979 300SD 122k--sold 2/11
1999 Fuso FG Expedition Camper
1993 GMC Sierra 6.5 TD 4x4
1982 Bluebird Wanderlodge CAT 3208--Sold 2/13

I have the small Lincoln like that. It can take gas, but the flux core works good so I never got any gas yet. I have fixed a few things with it. I was able to turn it down and weld some real thin stuff too. That's a nice thing to have around! There is a great forum www.weldingweb.com. Check it out.

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1998 C230 330,000 miles (currently dead of second failed EIS, yours will fail too, turning you into the dealer's personal human cash machine)
1988 F150 144,000 miles (leaks all the colors of the rainbow)
Previous stars: 1981 Brava 210,000 miles, 1978 128 150,000 miles, 1977 B200 Van 175,000 miles, 1972 Vega (great, if rusty, car), 1972 Celica, 1986.5 Supra

Thanks. That's a great website. Looks like people are having success with the HF welder although it seems unanimous that Lincoln wire is better than HF.

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1977 300d 70k--sold 08
1985 300TD 185k+
1984 307d 126k--sold 8/03
1985 409d 65k--sold 06
1984 300SD 315k--daughter's car
1979 300SD 122k--sold 2/11
1999 Fuso FG Expedition Camper
1993 GMC Sierra 6.5 TD 4x4
1982 Bluebird Wanderlodge CAT 3208--Sold 2/13

Check the link in my sig - they have classes on how to be a blacksmith
(I took one of the beginning blacksmithing classes - it was excellent) All that crap they taught me in Mechanical Engineering school really works =)

-John

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2009 Kia Sedona
2009 Honda Odyssey EX-L
12006 Jetta Pumpe Duse
(insert Mercedes here)

Husband, Father, sometimes friend =)

kerry,

check out metalmeet.com too. i gotothis rec from a fellow forum member. great site