Oddjob

Using a Hobart Handler 135 (little 120v bench top welding unit).

Anyone use this type of welder for cage building?

Looking for recommended settings for .120 wall tubing. Voltage adjustment is 1, 2, 3, or 4. Wire feed speed, and shielding gas pressure?

Thanks for any tips.

Bill Lehman

You really need a welder with more amperage. Your welder will be at its limit with .120 tubing.

wildcat077

I would use a more serious welder for something like a roll cage ... you definitely want good penetration all around !
I have a portable Lincoln 140 (120v) unit but for precision work my Miller 215 is more appropriate and easier to work with.I don't even use my Lincoln anymore since i got the newer machine ...

Cheers !
Phil

Fabio421

With all due respect. The fact that you're asking this question shows that you have no business building your own cage. Have a pro build it. You will thank me if you ever roll the car.

KaiB

I have to agree.

fatbillybob

A bird poop weld will kill you. I have never seen a 120V welder worth anything. My guess is that a 120V unit will not have the power to produce a good penetrating bead and your welds will look like bird poops. A cage under those conditions would be...well bird poop. Go to some of the welding sites and start your research there. You are going to need a 220V MIG which means you are probably needing to up the supply in your garage. TIG is a arguably a better weld but I like MIG for 90% of DOM cage work. I have both but use the TIG mostly for aluminum...or you would want it for a chromo cage. Do forget to use the proper number high quality welding wire MIG or TIG. Don't use the harbor freight stuff on anything you plan on keeping together.

John H

My first thought when I saw the thread title.

jscott82

Hate to say it, but I agree as well...

Even though I have a 220v welder, can make a decent weld (most of the time anyway), and enjoy doing most work myself, there is no way to test a cage until its too late... For safety related work, leave it to the pros. They do this every day and, if they have been around for any length of time, their work has been tested in the real world..

A decent cage shouldn't be more than 4 or 5 grand, hospital bills are much more expensive.

spare tire

I can weld also and have used a handler. They are absolute junk. If you are welding sheet metal like seam welding the tub then maybe O.K. But not for a cage. A hot glue gun will have more penatration.
To answer your question. "turn it up all the way and it still will not do the job properly" The other thing about cage building is a good fit of tubes. If you are using that under powered of a welder then you do not have access to a good pipe notcher that cuts the tubes with small gaps for fit up. Instead of building your cage, just cut some pipes fit them together and practice welding them. With that equipment you will reject your own workmanship. Another problem is the out of position welding that has to be done where it is difficult because it is against the roof or sides of the tub. In this economy you can find out of work construction workers who can weld professionally to assist you hands on. cash talks

m73m95

Something's up with this thread. OP knows better than that.

I smell subterfuge...

m73m95

Well, that's not very accurate at all.

I have the Handler 140, and its a great machine. Miller owns Hobart. Even though it uses some cheaper components, to make it accessible to "non-professional" weldors, they are of the same design (Open the cases to see).

I wouldn't use it for cage building, but for everyday welding, the Hobarts are great machines.

Dave 86 930 Fl

Nicely said.

Dwane

I say, GO FOR IT! What's the worst that can happen???

Oddjob

Didn’t mean or intend to be vague or misleading, but my application is not for an actual roll cage. I will be welding some 1.5” x 0.120” wall DOM tubing to ¼” plate for another use (project for a relative). Was going to try to knock it out tonight after the kids are in bed, so just looking for a ballpark starting point to save me a little testing/setup time. Been a handful of years since I welded similar material w/ the Hobart, and don’t remember what settings I used. Since the 1.5 x .120 is common cage tubing, I figured some experts here would have offhand experience with welder setup from doing cage or other work.

The 120V Hobart welder is rated for 140 amps – what do you need to get full pen on approx 1/8” wall material? Product information claims it can weld ¼” material single pass. I don’t recall having penetration problems on relatively thin wall material when I used it in the past. I sure wouldn’t use it to weld the tongue on my trailer, but it should not have a problem full penning 1/8” tube, and I have the feeling it will also adequately cut into the ¼” plate to solidly attach the tube - maybe.

Since there is so much skepticism, I will run some test coupons and cross section them to check for full pen. If the welder can’t do it, I will bring the project into work and use the 220V Millers we have in the shop.

I am relatively aware of the importance of quality welds. Probably more so than many here (with all due respect...). As an ME for a process and equipment engineering firm w/ “Iron Works” in the company name, I deal w/ weld design and inspection almost daily. ASME Boiler and Pressure Vessel Code books and WRC (Welding Research Council) bulletins are on a shelf behind my office desk. Could talk longer than anyone would care to about groove, bevel, fillet, root, partial/full penetration and other design factors that apply to welded steel fabrication of structural and high pressure containing equipment. If we have welds fail due to inadequate design or poor weld quality, there is risk of hundreds of thousands of pounds of equipment falling, 150 psig steam rupturing shell walls, or high pressure explosive vapor leaks. Dye penetrant and x-ray testing of welds for porosity and laminations of the base material is standard practice. Welder’s certification levels are documented and inspected by 3rd party ASME Authorized Inspectors.


Which leads me to a side note – with that said, I would highly doubt that most “pro” race shops building cages for amateur/club cars have any welders that are AWS (American Welding Society) trained and certified, which is what heavy industry uses to determine a welder’s skill/qualification. Not implying that it should be required for cage building, as MIG welding 1/8” wall tubing doesn’t require significant training, but I have seen some very questionable welds and cage designs come out of shops.


This is a problem w/ a lot of weld-in cages built by even "pro" shops. In order to get clearance to get a full 360 deg wrap, you either have to remove the roof skin or bore holes thru the floor/sill and drop the cage down to get access to the roofline joints (primarily the front header bar and all upper attachments to the main hoop). A lot of shops will not take the time to do that right. Looking at many cage build project pictures posted on the internet, you can tell by the sequence of installation that there are not full wraps on the upper roofline bar welds. I think its more common than most realize.

In fact - the reason I am using 1.5 x .120 wall tubing for the project is because I have some leftover bars from a roll cage that I cut out of a car. Cage was SCCA and PCA approved and installed by a "pro" shop, but it had a sectioned (cut - two piece split by the horizontal harness bar) main hoop diagonal bar that was not in plane w/ the main hoop, and none of the top welds were fully wrapped.

Recommend that everyone take a good look (with a small mirror) at the top side of your roof bar welds.

Phokaioglaukos

Think PCA GTC classes....