New to me, old to the world, welder

[coinoperated40]

Slowly, like a snail with a cane, I am getting my welding stuff together. This came to me in a trade for something I had no money in, so cost is at zero right now. Century is a Sears product and this one is 13 years old. Haven't tried it yet, but the feed works. Will either buy flux core or gas bottle and regulator and go that route. Maybe not top of the line for now, but I can't beat the cost so far for this and the helmet.
Anybody heard stuff on this. Both rollers are metal, which I think is a plus after doing some reading on here. You can change the welder polarity for flux or gas MIG.

 

[climber8483]

I've used one before with good results. You just need to remember duty cycle and size of material. I used it for mostly 1/8" metals and then when I went above that I started making more passes and making sure to prep the metal better before welding.

B

 

[coinoperated40]

Ke

Checked the wire and saw it was flux core so I took it for a spin. It works so far. Now I need to learn to weld on non structural things.
Not sure what the duty cycle is for this machine. It will probably show somewhere.

 

[brian]

not a bad power source. i had one for a while. down sides include the constant "hot tip" feature, the short lead and the lack of decent heat control.
however all in all it really is not a bad welder. works much better on gas for sheet metal...the thinner the wire the better. iirc i was running .020 or .025 er70.

 

[coinoperated40]

not a bad power source. i had one for a while. down sides include the constant "hot tip" feature, the short lead and the lack of decent heat control.
however all in all it really is not a bad welder. works much better on gas for sheet metal...the thinner the wire the better. iirc i was running .020 or .025 er70.

The "hot tip" I'm not sure what that means.
The roller on the bottom has an 80 and a 90 written on either side of the wheel where a groove is, so I am wondering if I need a 70 for the smaller wire?
I am working on the gas hookup, but for now, I have a large roll of flux to splatter.

 

[brian]

the tip and the wire are always hot, all the trigger does is feed wire and gas if you have it.
meaning contacting the feed wire on your grounded work will arc off your wire prior to you being reading to do so.

the gasless wire is more like sticking welding from a spool than it is mig welding.

 

[coinoperated40]

the tip and the wire are always hot, all the trigger does is feed wire and gas if you have it.
meaning contacting the feed wire on your grounded work will arc off your wire prior to you being reading to do so.

the gasless wire is more like sticking welding from a spool than it is mig welding.

Thanks,
I'll have to check that out. Guess I didn't notice that when I tried it the other day.