Lincoln Welder and cart

With all the work that has to be done on the chassis, a welder would come in very handy. I'm use to using a TIG welder at work so that's what I bought for home too. My daughter and step boy will benefit from this as well because they both have trucks that need lots of brackets and things welded.

The TIG stands for "Tungsten Inert Gas" which means a shielded gas surrounds the area that is getting welded and keeps the atmosphere out that can oxidize the weld. This makes for a very strong weld and is clean (no slag to mess with).

I went the Lincoln Electric TIG 175 model. This unit has 175 amp output which will weld 1/4" thick steel with no problem. It will also weld Stainless steel and Aluminum too.

Let's go through the controls on the front panel. The large knob at top-left is for the amp adjustment from 10 - 175. Then we have the off-on switch at the top-right. Below that is a selector switch for DC- or DC+ which is for about any kind of steel. By setting the switch to AC, it can weld Aluminum. Moving to the left of that is one last switch and that is use for switching between stick welding and TIG welding. Looking toward the bottom-right is where the torch goes. Now this is for either the TIG or stick torch. It pushes in and turns 1/4 turn and locks in. Very easy to switch between the two (stick or TIG). Over to the left is where the foot-pedal goes. The foot-pedal is used for TIG welding. By pushing the pedal farther down increases the amp output so you have complete control over the amount of amperage used while welding. The last thing is the ground cable and clamp.

In the back we have some vents with a fan on the other side to keep well needed air moving through-out the unit to keep things cool. Over to the right is a brass fitting that is for the shielded gas which is Argon. Argon is an inert gas which means it won't burn but does shield the work-piece when welding. Last but not least is the electrical plug which uses 240 volts. This is one big wire and has #8 wire inside. Because of the large wire, that means it has a large amp draw. We'll take a look at what had to be done later in my garage to accommodate this electric eating beast.

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