Saturday I was working in the garage with a P.O.S. flux core welder I bought about a year ago just to practice with and it died on me. Getting ready to throw it across the garage I looked over at the stick welder and come up with an idea. I took the power wire from the "mig" gun and put it in the stinger of the stick welder so that I would get current from the stick welder but still be able to feed the wire through the "mig" and it worked perfectly. Here is my idea I was thinking of making a box the would sit on top of the stick welder with the wire feeder, valves for the shielding gas and what not inside so that i could hook up the stick welder to it when i needed the capabilities of a mig. I have access to a nice lincoln mig gun and hose, a solenoid valve and Im pretty confident that I could fabricate any thing else it would need. What do ya guys think, would it harm the stick welder at all. I don't have the money to buy a mig welder with the capabilities that I need or else i would just go buy one.?

Thanks
Steve

 

I don't know if it would hurt the stick welder or not but if you can figure out that it won't I'd say go for it. I would say ask an electrician but I know you won't get a straight answer just because its not the smartest or safest idea out there, but you could try asking one.

 

 

unless the stick welder has a trigger, the wire for the mig feeder will always be hot, not always a good thing since if it gets stuck you have no way to shut it down.

also, the MIG is a constant voltage machine where as the stick is a constant current machine. subtle differences in styles will eventually lead you into a roadblock in what you can do with it.

 

Sorry to burst your bubble, but they already exist. I worked at a steel mill for a few years as a millwright, and we used them all the time. Miller markets them as "suitcase" welders. Pretty nice machines.

Miller - Wire Feeders - SuitCase® RC

 

No bursting of bubble here, this is just for me its not like I was getting ready to file for patent or anything and if I dont have the funds right now for a 500 dollar welder I damn sure don't have the money for a 1300 dollar suitcase welder. Bud Green, I know that the wire will be hot all the time and have been thinking about ways bypass that. Idk I'm just brainstorming I love to build things whether they serve a purpose or not certain kind of pride goes in to building something and having it work the way you want it to

Thanks for the replies guys,
Steve

 

glad you got it figured out and hope it works out for you